This week’s tech market round-up

The tech space was marked by heightened volatility this week, with sharp swings driven by concerns over inflated artificial intelligence (AI) valuations and mixed economic data.

Global markets gained early in the week, driven by optimism over a US-China trade truce, along with a US$38 billion AI cloud deal between OpenAI and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).

However, gains were tempered following comments from the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, where Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO David Solomon warned of a likely 10 to 20 percent pullback in equities within the next 12 to 24 months. Other panelists at the event offered similar projections.

Futures tracking the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) weakened ahead of the release of Canada’s federal budget, which promises C$925.6 million for sovereign compute capacity, quantum tech funding and support for open banking and stablecoins. The government aims to attract C$500 billion in private sector investment over five years.

US tech stocks sold off again on Wednesday (November 5) amid uncertainty over the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and short positions by Michael Burry on NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR).

A stronger-than-expected ADP report helped stabilize the tech sector midday, but October jobs data weighed on markets again Thursday (November 6), cooling risk appetite, especially for AI momentum stocks.

Wall Street’s main indexes extended losses to a second session on Friday (November 7) and posted weekly declines as the Volatility Index (INDEXCBOE:VIX) hit its highest level in a fortnight, just one week after the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) notched their longest winning streak in four and seven years, respectively.

Traders were pricing in a 70.2 percent chance of a 25 basis point interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve in December at the time of this writing, down from 90 percent last week.

3 tech stocks moving markets this week

1. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR)

Palantir reported a strong Q3 earnings beat with a year-on-year revenue increase of 63 percent to US$1.18 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of US$1.09 billion.

Earnings per share were also above forecasts, coming in at US$0.21 compared to expectations of US$0.17.

The company’s total contract value rose to US$2.76 billion, a record high, driven by a 121 percent rise in US commercial revenue and a 52 percent increase in US government revenue.

The company also raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to around US$4.4 billion, driven by continued strong AI demand and government contracts. On the earnings call, management expressed confidence in continued growth fueled by AI, emphasizing strategic partnerships with companies like NVIDIA, while acknowledging challenges in the European market and operational scaling.

However, Palantir’s share price dropped about 3 percent in after-hours trading. Analysts attributed the market reaction to concerns over the prolonged US government shutdown potentially impacting contracts, alongside a large bearish bet revealed by Michael Burry’s fund.

The company’s stock is down 14 percent for the week.

2. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Shares of Amazon rallied on Monday morning after announcing a US$38 billion multi-year partnership with OpenAI to run its advanced AI workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, providing access to hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and specialized AWS chips.

The deal significantly strengthens AWS’s position in the AI cloud market. Investors had a marked reaction to the news, driving Amazon’s shares price to a record high of US$US$254.

However, gains were partially erased during the broader tech sector pullback. Its stock ultimately closed the week down 4.28 percent.

3. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Shares of NVIDIA have been dragged down this week due to valuation concerns and fears related to US export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China.

During a 60 Minutes interview with Norah O’Donnell on Sunday (November 2) evening that covered a range of topics, President Trump stated NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chips would be reserved exclusively for US companies. The market reacted by sending shares of NVIDIA (up or down?) on Monday morning.

Also on Monday, Microsoft provided an update on its US$15.2 billion planned investment in the UAE, which will include increasing its AI computing power in the UAE by four times to reach the equivalent of 60,400 NVIDIA A100 GPUs in compute power in the country.

NVIDIA shares, also boosted by Loop Capital raising its price target by US$100, rose by over four percent from Friday’s closing price in early trading.

However, a large bearish position against NVIDIA was disclosed from Burry’s fund on Wednesday, adding to downward pressure already on its shares amidst a tech stock sell-off.

During a Thursday press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “was not interested in selling (the Blackwell chip) to China at this time”.

Meanwhile, during the Financial Times’ Future of AI Summit, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the West is being held back by “cynicism” and reportedly told the outlet, “China is going to win the AI race.”

Huang has previously warned that US restrictions could backfire by accelerating China’s domestic chip development, arguing the US should stay engaged with Chinese developers to maintain leadership. The company’s shares are down 9.53 percent for the week.

NVIDIA, Palantir and Amazon performance, November 3 to 7, 2025.

Chart via Google Finance.

Top tech news of the week

Tech ETF performance

Tech exchange-traded funds (ETFs) track baskets of major tech stocks, meaning their performance helps investors gauge the overall performance of different sectors.

This week, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) declined by 4.81 percent, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) saw a weekly loss of 5.2 percent.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) decreased by 5.41 percent.

Tech news to watch next week

Next week, investors will hear earnings results from Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), due to report its Q1FY26 earnings on November 12. The company is expected to deliver a year-on-year increase in earnings on higher revenues. Semiconductor equipment supplier, Applied Materials, is also set to report its Q4 earnings on November 13.

AMD will have its Financial Analyst Day on Tuesday (November 11), providing further strategic updates and outlook.

Analysts and investors will also be watching for any sign of an end to the 38-day government shutdown after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unveiled a plan to attach a one year extension to the expiring Obamacare subsidies and to create a bipartisan committee that could negotiate further on how to deal with the subsidies after the government reopened. Majority leader John Thune reportedly told CBS News that the Democratic proposal is a ‘nonstarter’.

Markets and commodities react

Canadian equity markets were down this week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) lost just 0.15 percent over the week to close Friday at 29,912.19.

Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) had a much more challenging week, falliing 7.63 percent to 885.31. The CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) also had a bad week, plunging 7.35 percent to close out the week at 163.51.

The gold price ended the week flat, closing at US$4,000.20 per ounce by 4:00 p.m. EST Friday. The silver price fell slightly, dropping 0.66 percent to US$48.35.

Meanwhile, in base metals, the copper price shed 2.72 percent to US$5.01 per pound.

The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) fell 0.2 percent to end Friday at 553.62.

Top Canadian mining stocks this week

How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop?

Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.

Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.

1. Quarterback Resources (CSE:QB)

Weekly gain: 160 percent
Market cap: C$11.36 million
Share price: C$1.3

Quarterback Resources is an exploration company focused on exploring the Twin gold property in Northwest British Columbia, Canada.

The project is located in the Omineca Mining District near Fort St. James, and consists of 16 mineral claims covering 11,110 hectares. The site has a history of mineral exploration dating back to the 1970s, including 109 drill holes.

Quarterback holds an option to acquire a 100 percent stake in the property through an earn-in agreement in exchange for C$800,000 in cash payments and C$4.74 million in exploration expenditures over a six-year period.

According to a technical report released in November 2024, the company relogged three of the historic holes from the Takla-Rainbow zone, with one hole returning a grade of 2.26 parts per million (ppm) gold, 2.15 ppm silver and 0.19 percent copper over 22.52 meters.

Shares in Quarterback were up significantly this week. Its most recent news came on Wednesday (November 5) when it filed its monthly progress report on the Canadian Securities Exchange website. The company noted that it was proceeding with a Phase 1 exploration program, which is planned to include LIDAR and induced polarization surveys.

2. Mont Royal Resources (TSXV:MRZL)

Weekly gain: 62.5 percent
Market cap: C$47.55 million
Share price: C$0.26

Mont Royal Resources is an Australia-based exploration company focused on a trio of projects in Québec, Canada. The company began trading on the TSXV on November 5 following a merger with Canada-based Commerce Resources.

The merger combined Commerce’s Ashram rare earth and flourspar project and Eldor niobium projects, with Mont Royal’s existing Northern Lights gold-copper-lithium project, all of which are located in Quebec.

In the October 22 news release announcing the completion of the merger, it stated its core focus would be on the Ashram rare earth and flourspar project and that the deal provided a compelling opportunity to establish a new source of rare earths in North America.

Ashram, located near Nunavik, Quebec, has received more than AU$50 million in investment for exploration activities, development studies and resource definition.

According to the project page, a mineral resource estimate from April 2024 produced an indicated resource grading 1.89 percent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 6.6 percent fluorspar from 73.2 million metric tons of ore.

Although the company did not release project news this week, two of its projects contain minerals that were added to the CMETC as part of the fall budget.

3. Royalties Inc. (CSE:RI)

​Weekly gain: 38.46 percent
Market cap: C$11.36 million
Share price: C$0.09

Royalties is focused on building cash flow through the acquisition of mineral and music royalty assets.

The company has a 100 percent interest in the Bilbao silver property in Zacatecas, Mexico, which hosts silver, zinc and lead deposits. As silver prices improve, the company is seeking to monetize the property.

In June, the company reported that its subsidiary, Minera Portree, won its lawsuit against Capstone Copper (TSX:CS,OTC Pink:CSCCF), asserting its ownership of a 2 percent net smelter return royalty on five mineral concessions at the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas.

The protracted legal dispute began after Capstone re-assigned the royalty to itself through a 2019 contract without informing or paying Minera Portree.

Under the terms of the judgment, the 2 percent NSR will revert back to Minera Portree along with royalties for the exploitation of concessions between 2002 and 2019. The amounts for those royalties will be set at the execution phase. Capstone Gold is also ordered to pay royalties from the Portree 1 concession from August 2019 to present.

​While Capstone appealed the decision, Royalties announced on Thursday (November 6) that an appellate court had upheld the original June decision, deeming the appellant’s arguments inoperative and inadmissible.​

4. Africa Energy (TSXV:AFE)

​Weekly gain: 31.82 percent
Market cap: C$64.69 million
Share price: C$0.145

Africa Energy is a South Africa-focused oil and gas exploration and development company.

Its flagship asset is Block 11B/12B located approximately 175 kilometers off the south coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of 18,734 square kilometers and depths between 200 meters and 1,800 meters.

It holds a 4.9 percent interest in the asset through its investment in Main Street 1549, a 49/51 joint venture with Arostyle Investments. The three other partners in the asset announced plans to withdraw from the Block 11B/12B joint venture in July 2024, and announced a definitive agreement for the new ownership structure of the Block 11B/12B asset in May of this year.

The restructuring would result in Africa Energy holding a 75 percent stake in the block, with Arostyle Investments holding the remaining 25 percent. This is contingent on the asset being granted the production rights, which requires approval of its environmental and social impact assessment.

Shares in Africa Energy were up this week. Its most recent news came on October 9, when it provided an operational update from Block 11B/12B. The company announced that it had been granted an extension to submit its environmental and social impact assessment until May 4, 2026.

5. Highland Critical Minerals (CSE:HLND)

Weekly gain: 26.87 percent
Market cap: C$79.73 million
Share price: C$4.25

Highland Critical Minerals is an exploration company focused on advancing its flagship Church lithium property in Ontario, Canada.

The project, located near Thunder Bay, Ontario, is situated within the Quetico region. A preliminary exploration program at the property conducted in August 2023 discovered five pegmatites hosting quartz, feldspar and muscovite and returned high lithium grades up to 3 percent lithium dioxide.

In addition to Church, Highland has been working to acquire other critical mineral properties, with the most recent announced on Friday. In the news release, the company said it had entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire mining claims covering 3,138.874 hectares in the Yathkyed Lake Greenstone Belt in Nunavut, Canada, expanding Highland’s critical mineral portfolio.

FAQs for Canadian mining stocks

How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?

There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.

The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.

These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.

How do you trade on the TSXV?

Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.