TSX falls nearly 250 points, U.S. markets post mixed results as big tech stocks gain

Specialist Michael Pistillo. Left, and trader Fred's Demarco work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Canada’s main stock index fell on Wednesday, while U.S. markets were mixed as large tech stocks south of the border saw gains.

“The divergence is what we’ve seen for a while now. It’s the AI and tech story in the U.S. that’s dominating. Semiconductors have been really strong over the month of April and continuing into May, and those sectors are heavily favoured into the U.S.,” said Adam Ludwick, director of asset allocation at NEI Investments. 

“That’s what’s really driving the upside today from the U.S. side and Canada’s lack of exposure there; it’s obviously suffering relative to the U.S.”

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 249.30 points at 34,041.43.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 67.36 points at 49,693.20. The S&P 500 index was up 43.29 points at 7,444.25, while the Nasdaq composite was up 314.14 points at 26,402.34.  

Nvidia, the chip company that was among the first faces of the AI boom, rose 2.3 per cent and was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500 because of its immense size. Its CEO, Jensen Huang, got an invitation to join U.S. President Donald Trump on his trip to China, where they could discuss allowing shipments of Nvidia AI chips to the world’s second-largest economy.

Ludwick said the news of Nvidia’s CEO being invited on the trip appears to have translated into excitement for the stock. 

But the majority of companies outside of the technology industry saw their shares fall, as pressure builds on Wall Street. 

A report on Wednesday showed that inflation at the U.S. wholesale level was considerably worse last month than economists expected. That came after a report on Tuesday showing accelerating inflation at the U.S. consumer level.

“You’re starting to see some of the high cost of energy flow through on the producer side. We saw it on the consumer side with CPI, the other day so we are seeing inflation tick up and this is really an impact of the war and the price of oil,” Ludwick said. 

Prices are rising for fuel, transportation and other products because of tariffs, bad weather affecting food prices and other reasons. But atop them all is the jump in oil prices created by the war with Iran, which has slowed the global flow of crude to customers worldwide.

On Wednesday, oil prices moved more modestly after big gains early in the week, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell two per cent to settle at US$105.63.

The June crude oil contract was down US$1.16 at US$101.02 per barrel.

On the TSX, most sectors were negative, with tech stocks acting as the biggest weight.  

Shopify Inc. fell 4.5 per cent, taking the most points off of Canada’s benchmark index. 

Investors also sifted through the Bank of Canada’s summary of deliberations ahead of its late-April decision to hold the policy rate steady for a fourth consecutive time. The central bank’s governing council says it’s weighing a range of different paths for its benchmark interest rate to cope with inflation risks from the Iran war. 

Ludwick said the war in Iran has created additional uncertainty for central banks, which have to wait and see what happens with inflation and the possible flow-through impact to the economy and labour market. 

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.98 cents US compared with 72.94 cents US on Tuesday.

The June gold contract was up US$20 at US$4,706.70 an ounce.  

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press. With files from The Associated Press.