Why AMD Stock Is Up 5%: Third Day of Chip Buying, No News Required
AMD closed at $545.09 USD on Thursday, up 5.02%, the biggest move among the widely held names in our large-cap scan, and it did it without a single piece of company news. Yahoo Finance reported the gain as the third straight session of a semiconductor rebound, a rally it described as driven by sector flows rather than any company-specific catalyst, with Broadcom and Nvidia climbing alongside. When the market’s most-watched chip stock rises 5% on no news, the news is the market itself: a day after the Federal Reserve raised rates, equities decided the hike was a reason to buy.
The session around it
The TSX rose 1.08% to 35,874.26. The S&P 500 gained 1.14% to 7,637.76 and the NASDAQ added 1.69% to 26,418.30. All of it came a day after the Fed lifted its target range to 3.75% to 4.00% while marking up its own growth forecasts, a combination we walked through in detail earlier today. Even so, the TSX remains down 1.09% in September after five straight positive months, so this rally has so far only repaired damage done earlier in the month.
The chip bid needed no headline
AMD led, but the buying ran through the whole US megacap complex: Nvidia rose 1.70% to $219.34 USD, Tesla 1.76%, Amazon 1.37%, Apple 1.07% and Microsoft 1.06%. Canadian technology captured much less of it, finishing up 0.58%, with Celestica the standout at up 2.10% to $461.88. The gap is worth noticing: three sessions into a chip rebound, the US names have been re-rated and the Canadian sector has mostly watched.
Gold miners led the TSX, and the metal did not help
The best Canadian sector was materials, up 3.63%, with the gold subgroup up 3.17%. Wheaton Precious Metals rose 3.75% to $213.03, Agnico Eagle 3.22% to $282.15, Franco-Nevada 2.92%, Barrick 2.84% and Kinross 2.47%. Gold itself gave them no push, slipping 0.11% to $4,382.80 USD. Our read is that this was equity money catching up to a metal that has already repriced: at these bullion prices the question for the group is what each producer keeps per ounce, which is why our ranking of Canadian gold stocks scores them on margin rather than ounces.
The rest of the tape
Utilities gained 1.15%, energy 0.72% even as WTI crude fell 1.22% to $101.18 USD, and financials added 0.69%. Real estate barely moved, up 0.13%, and consumer staples, down 0.05%, was the only sector to decline. That is not the tape of a market bracing for more tightening: a day after a hike, the rate-sensitive utilities were the third-best sector on the index. The Canadian rate path is still live, though. Montreal Exchange one-month CORRA futures price a 54% chance the Bank of Canada raises its 2.25% policy rate on October 28, so the market’s base case, narrowly, is that the Fed’s hike gets a Canadian echo. Among the laggards, Restaurant Brands fell 2.28% to $102.46, the worst large-cap move in our scan, and Thomson Reuters lost 1.72%.
What’s next
The Canadian calendar is quiet until next Thursday, September 24, when Statistics Canada releases July retail trade and payroll employment together. July GDP follows on September 29, the last major growth reading before the Bank of Canada’s October 28 decision.
Market and stock data as of the September 17, 2026 close.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Market and stock data as of the September 17, 2026 close, from live market data. Bank of Canada rate pricing derived from Montreal Exchange one-month CORRA futures settlements on September 17, 2026.
