This is the close brief for Tue, May 12, 2026. View latest

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Close Edition. Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Market context for passive investors.

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$43.37
-0.14%

Headline

South Korea and Taiwan sink the EM sleeve, pulling XEQT lower.

XEQT fell 0.14% on Tuesday, a modest decline that masked a sharp divergence beneath the surface. The emerging markets sleeve dropped 2.96%, making it the day's dominant drag by a wide margin, as South Korean and Taiwanese equities suffered steep losses. Canada offset a portion of that pressure with a 0.40% gain, while the U.S. sleeve finished nearly flat and international developed markets slipped 0.34%.

How large is today's move?

Typical day · Today's -0.14% move is 0.2× the 20-day average move.

This scale measures size, not what to do. Larger moves are a normal part of holding a global all-equity fund.

The Regions

  • Canada

    25.34% of XEQT

    • XIC.TO
    +0.40% +0.10 pts to XEQT

    Energy was the clear driver of Canada's gain, rising 2.40% and contributing the largest positive impulse among the sectors tracked. Materials added 1.10% and financials contributed modestly. Technology and real estate pulled in the opposite direction, each declining, though their combined weight limited the damage. WTI crude surged above $102, consistent with the energy sector's outsized move.

    Canada market region icon

  • United States

    44.92% of XEQT

    • XTOT.TO
    • ITOT
    -0.03% -0.01 pts from XEQT

    The U.S. sleeve ended the day nearly flat at -0.03%, a resilient result given the headwinds. Technology fell 1.51% among the sectors tracked, and consumer discretionary declined 0.90%, but health care rose 1.96% and financials gained 0.78%, largely offsetting those losses. A hotter-than-expected inflation report and Middle East uncertainty weighed on sentiment early, yet the sleeve absorbed those pressures without meaningful net movement.

    United States market region icon

  • Intl Developed

    24.53% of XEQT

    • XEF.TO
    -0.34% -0.08 pts from XEQT

    European markets led the sleeve lower, with Netherlands-listed equities falling 2.20% and German equities down 1.39% among the markets tracked. France and Australia each declined roughly 0.84-0.91%. Fading hopes for a US-Iran ceasefire rattled risk sentiment across Europe. Japan, the sleeve's largest single weight, held up comparatively well with a modest 0.22% decline.

    Intl Developed market region icon

  • Emerging Mrkts

    5.04% of XEQT

    • XEC.TO
    -2.96% -0.15 pts from XEQT

    South Korean equities fell 7.44% and Taiwanese equities dropped 3.48% among the markets tracked, together accounting for the bulk of the sleeve's 2.96% decline. India fell 1.86% and China slipped 0.83%. Geopolitical anxiety around the fragile Iran ceasefire weighed on emerging market sentiment broadly, compounding losses in markets where semiconductor-heavy indexes had recently run to concentration extremes.

    Emerging Markets market region icon

Colored bars represent biggest contributors to XEQT's move today (threshold = ±0.1 percentage points). Returns are daily ETF price moves for tracked regional or sector categories and may differ slightly from raw index movements.

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The Hold Line

Emerging markets represent just over 5% of XEQT, which is why a nearly 3% sleeve decline translated into only 15 basis points of drag on the fund. The structure held: Canada's energy-led gain absorbed roughly two-thirds of that pressure before it reached the fund level. XEQT remains 26% above its 52-week low and within 0.3% of its 52-week high, a context that a single sharp session in one small sleeve does not alter.

Signals

  • 01

    South Korea and Taiwan concentration risk

    South Korean equities fell 7.44% and Taiwanese equities fell 3.48% among the markets tracked within the emerging markets sleeve, reflecting the concentration of those indexes in a small number of semiconductor names whose valuations had recently surged to record levels. For an XEQT holder, the sleeve's 5% weight limits the structural damage, but the episode illustrates how a single sector theme can amplify volatility in an otherwise diversified sleeve.

  • 02

    WTI crude above $102 lifts Canada

    WTI crude oil, which tracks the price of North American benchmark oil, rose 4.11% to $102.10, providing a direct tailwind to Canadian energy equities, which advanced 2.40% and contributed the largest positive sector impulse in the Canada sleeve. Because Canada sits at roughly 25% of XEQT and energy is a substantial part of that sleeve, crude moves of this scale can meaningfully offset weakness elsewhere in the fund.

  • 03

    U.S. health care offsets tech weakness

    Within the sectors tracked in the U.S. sleeve, health care rose 1.96% while technology fell 1.51%, a rotation that helped the sleeve finish essentially flat despite early pressure from inflation data. For a long-term XEQT holder, this internal offset within the U.S. sleeve, the fund's largest at nearly 45%, was a key reason the headline decline remained so contained.

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