Canadian, U.S. markets rise after raid on Venezuela as oil market comes into focus

The S&P TSX composite index screen at the TMX Market Centre in Toronto is photographed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

Canada’s main stock index rose to new highs Monday, helped by gains in the basic materials sector, while U.S. markets also finished higher as investors assessed the impact of the U.S. raid on Venezuela.

The move for the Toronto market came despite losses in the energy sector after the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the weekend and President Donald Trump floated a plan for U.S. oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry.

“They acted over the weekend, and I think the knee-jerk reaction is to make the quick but not necessarily correct inference that this is disadvantageous to Canadian energy producers,” said Brian Madden, chief investment officer with First Avenue Investment Counsel. 

Shares of Canada’s big oil companies lost ground on Monday. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 6.03 per cent, while shares in Cenovus Energy Inc. lost 4.82 per cent and Suncor Energy Inc. finished 1.65 per cent lower. 

Overall, the TSX energy subindex was down 3.6 per cent.

The February crude oil contract was up US$1.00 at US$58.32 per barrel. 

“We know that Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves of oil, and we know they’re certainly underproducing their prior peaks by quite a wide margin, just about one million barrels of oil versus peak levels of over 3.5 million decades ago,” Madden said. 

“But I think it’s a leap too far to think that all those barrels are going to come immediately back to market and flood the U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest refineries with Venezuelan heavy crude.”

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 336.58 points at 32,219.95.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 594.79 points at 48,977.18. The S&P 500 index was up 43.58 points at 6,902.05, while the Nasdaq composite was up 160.19 points at 23,395.82.

Madden said that after the Santa Claus rally “didn’t really deliver” to end the year, “buyers are back and they’re in the driver’s seat here today with high volume-broad-based buying” across major stock indexes.  

Thomas Mathews, the head of markets, Asia Pacific, at Capital Economics, said in a note that while Maduro’s capture has dominated headlines, “financial markets seem unperturbed.” 

He said that the key channel which turmoil in Venezuela could impact the global market is through energy. 

“Venezuelan supply accounts for about one per cent of the market, and even if production returned to its glory days of a decade ago it would only be about two per cent of it. So, it’s not surprising that so far the effect on oil prices has been limited,” the note said. 

Madden said he thinks the situation in Venezuela will have a muted impact on the U.S. market. He said Venezuela is a smaller player in the global economy, with a mostly non-existent trading relationship with the U.S. due to sanctions. 

“I think the market is signalling that it’s business as usual, so I think we have to distance the legal and the moral value judgments from the economic reality of it,” he said. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has floated a plan for U.S. oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry. Chevron jumped 5.1 per cent, Exxon Mobil rose 2.2 per cent and Halliburton jumped 7.8 per cent for some of the strongest gains in the market.  

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.63 cents US compared with 72.80 cents US on Friday.

The February gold contract was up US$121.90 at US$4,451.50 an ounce.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press