Canada’s main stock index captures investor attention as AI disruption hedge
BNN Bloomberg
Investors are turning to Canada’s resource-rich stock market for shelter from the turmoil around artificial intelligence — and on hopes the new technology will ultimately boost productivity for some of its biggest names.
Shares of software and other companies with business models considered vulnerable to replacement by AI have been selling off for months, dragging down major indexes like the S&P 500, the U.S. benchmark. But the TSX is packed with the type of capital-intensive, economically important companies that analysts say could evade disruption.
These so-called ‘HALO’ stocks, or companies with heavy assets and low obsolescence, include energy producers, metal miners, industrials and utilities. Together, they account for 51 per cent of the Toronto stock market’s weighting versus 16 per cent for the S&P 500.
The recent move into HALO stocks could help the TSX sustain recent outperformance compared to Wall Street. The Toronto market was up 28 per cent in 2025, while the S&P 500 added 16 per cent.
“It’s fantastic for the TSX,” said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at PenderFund Capital Management, which has cut back on some technology stocks and added stocks that are tied to physical assets like commodities.
“The knock on the TSX forever has been that we don’t have enough tech companies and we’re way more focused on value and resources and heavy industries. And that now is what everyone wants to buy,” Taylor said.
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