12:18 PM EDT, 04/15/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 213 points at midday, adding to two successive days of gains. The index is at its highest level in nearly two weeks, with strong gains in tech and materials stocks.

Telecoms is the sole decliner, down 1%.

U.S. President Trump has suggested a delay in implementing tariffs on autos while here the Canadian Government released details of a 'remission framework' for the auto industry, even though details have not been made public as yet. The federal finance ministry moved to support domestically based automakers by waiving some of the counter measures it had imposed on U.S. imports. It added: "The remission granted to these companies is contingent on these automakers continuing to produce vehicles in Canada and on completing planned investments."

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was told by the president of Honda Canada that a report suggesting some production in Canada and Mexico will move to the U.S. is "not accurate at all", CTV News is reporting. Ford also told reporters Tuesday that the company plans to send out a statement clarifying the situation, CTV News said.

Over at Wedbush, Dan Ives noted President Donald Trump yesterday floated the idea of delaying/pausing the auto tariffs facing the Detroit Big 3 and Tesla among foreign automakers. Ives said he continues to believe the 25% auto tariffs will ultimately be focused on finished cars vs. auto parts which would be a clear positive vs. the original auto parts tariffs.

Staying on the subject of tariffs, CIBC said Canadian CPI for March provided a reprieve ahead of tariffs. It noted that following a couple of months of upside surprises to inflation, the Bank of Canada received good news in the March data as prices moderated notably.

The easing in price pressures is consistent with the BoC cutting interest rates by 25bps at tomorrow's meeting, with the downside risks to growth from the trade war outweighing any upside to inflation from tariffs in our view, CIBC added. CIBC expects the negative demand impact from higher unemployment due to tariffs and the deterioration in sentiment since March to be more worrisome for the BoC than temporary upward pressure on prices from tariffs ahead, and CIBC continues to look for the overnight rate to reach a trough of 2.25%.

For its part, RBC said the bottom line is that although it was still higher than the pre-tax holiday figure of 1.9% in November, the headline reading says inflation risks ahead of tariffs were subsiding, and the BoC can afford to opt for an insurance cut like it did in March.

But RBC said its forecast for the Canadian economy this year has weakened since March. Tariffs are still expected to hurt Canadian exporters, but concerns have also grown around a substantially softer U.S. outlook due to reciprocal tariffs and how that can spill over to impact Canada. Prices are expected to rise as a result, although to an limited extent as importers substitute purchases to less-tariffed regions and with downward pressure from the end of consumer carbon tax in April. RBC sees one more 25 bps rate cut from the BoC after tomorrow, for the overnight rate to lower to a terminal of 2.25% in June.

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