The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Dec. 5, edition that three of Canada's biggest banks have beaten analysts' profit expectations, topping off a year when markets shrugged off economic concerns over trade disputes while deal activity surged on renewed interest in key resource sectors. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and CIBC capped off a string of strong earnings results from the country's largest lenders this week. Even as consumers and businesses navigated uncertainty and high costs caused by tariffs, the banks' capital-markets and wealth-management units were inundated with advisory and trading activity that spurred a surge in profits. Earlier this year, the U.S. trade war sparked concerns about an economic downturn, and businesses put their growth investment plans on hold. Those fears eased as markets climbed higher and as sectors seen as instrumental to redrawing Canada's trade routes attracted renewed interest, including energy and mining. The Canadian banks also have large businesses in the United States, where bankers were busy brokering deals as the American economic outlook improved in the latter half of the year.