This is the close brief for Mon, May 25, 2026. View latest

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Close Edition. Monday, May 25, 2026

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$44.76
+1.77%

Headline

Iran peace optimism lifts XEQT 1.77%, setting a new 52-week high before closing at $44.76.

XEQT gained 1.77% on Monday, 2.6 times its recent daily average, as hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal to end hostilities sent equities higher across every sleeve. The fund touched a new 52-week high of $45.00 intraday before settling at $44.76. With U.S. markets closed for Memorial Day, the session's breadth was especially notable: Canada, international developed markets, and emerging markets each contributed positively, while Canadian-listed instruments filled in the picture for U.S. exposures. The United States sleeve, at 2.62%, supplied roughly 57% of the fund's total gain.

How large is today's move?

Notable day · Today's +1.77% move is 2.6× 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

    25.28% of XEQT

    • XIC.TO
    +1.20% +0.30 pts to XEQT

    The S&P/TSX Composite closed up more than 350 points, with basic materials the clear leader. Canadian materials surged 4.39%, likely aided by gold's elevated price level, contributing nearly 0.77 percentage points within the sleeve and more than offsetting a sharp 3.25% decline in energy, where the prospect of Strait of Hormuz reopening weighed on oil prices. Financials and information technology added steadily, rounding out a 1.20% sleeve gain.

    Canada market region icon

  • United States

    45.29% of XEQT

    • XTOT.TO
    +2.62% +1.18 pts to XEQT

    The U.S. sleeve rose 2.62%, the strongest of the four, with technology leading among the sectors tracked. Canadian-listed technology exposure gained 1.75%, and industrials and consumer staples also posted solid advances. Energy was the exception, falling 3.45% consistent with declining oil prices on Iran deal optimism. Consumer discretionary and communication services data were unavailable for this session, leaving roughly a quarter of the sleeve untracked.

    United States market region icon

  • Intl Developed

    24.46% of XEQT

    • XEF.TO
    +1.90% +0.46 pts to XEQT

    Iran deal hopes drove broad gains across developed markets outside North America. Japan was the standout, with the Nikkei surging past the 65,000 mark for the first time, and Japan-linked equity exposure rising 2.63%, the single largest contributor within the sleeve. Germany and France each advanced more than 1.7%, with Spain also closing higher. The sleeve returned 1.90%, contributing 0.47 percentage points to XEQT.

    Intl Developed market region icon

  • Emerging Mrkts

    4.86% of XEQT

    • XEC.TO
    +2.75% +0.13 pts to XEQT

    Emerging markets posted the session's strongest sleeve return at 2.75%, with Taiwan the dominant driver. The Taiwan index gained 3.26%, contributing the bulk of the sleeve's move, buoyed by AI-related demand for semiconductor and chip infrastructure names. China and India advanced more modestly at under 1%, while South Africa added 2.45% among the markets tracked.

    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.

The Hold Line

A gain of this magnitude, with all four sleeves advancing on the same session, is uncommon. Emerging markets are up 23.75% year-to-date, well ahead of the other sleeves, and their outsized run has quietly pulled XEQT's blended 12.21% YTD return above both Canada and international developed markets individually. The fund's 52-week low now sits 29% below Monday's close, a useful reminder of how much ground has been recovered. Sessions like this are worth appreciating in proportion: they reflect genuine risk-asset strength, but long-term returns are built from many such days, not any single one.

Signals

  • 01

    Energy-materials divergence within Canada

    Canadian energy fell 3.25% while materials surged 4.39% on the same session, a split driven by Iran peace optimism depressing crude prices while gold held at elevated levels. For XEQT holders, this internal Canadian divergence illustrates how sector composition within a single sleeve can pull sharply in opposite directions even when the sleeve-level return is solidly positive.

  • 02

    Iran deal optimism as cross-sleeve catalyst

    Hopes for a U.S.-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz produced positive returns in every sleeve tracked, a synchronized global risk-on move spanning Canada, developed Europe, Japan, and emerging Asia. Broad cross-regional alignment of this kind, driven by a single geopolitical catalyst, is relatively infrequent, and it accounted for most of today's outsized move relative to the 20-day average.

  • 03

    Emerging markets YTD lead widens

    Taiwan's 3.26% session gain extended a year-to-date run that has left emerging markets up 23.75%, roughly double Canada's 10.29% and well ahead of the U.S. sleeve's 13.07%. The AI-infrastructure theme centered on Taiwan's semiconductor sector has been a key contributor, and its weight in the emerging markets sleeve means continued momentum there carries meaningful influence on XEQT's blended return.

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