2025

On Tuesday, with a 30 day reprieve on the tariffs, the S&P 500 was up 0.7%  and Toronto was up 0.15%.
Cameco was up 4.3%.
Hopefully, the rest of this week will be less eventful. Lots of Q4 earnings reports are coming in now.
 
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The report on Starbucks is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $108. Analysts appear to be confident that its turnaround will work. But meantime it looks expensive to me. Given its powerful brand and strong economics I won't call it a Sell. But I no...

At the end of the day, the S&P 500 was only down 0.8% and Toronto was down 1.1%.
Linamar was down 4.9%.
CN Rail was down 5.3%.
The Canadian dollar is currently at 69.4 cents U.S.
The five year government of Canada bond is down to 2.75% after dipp...

Given the tariffs, and the lower dollar, some of the stocks that I thought would be hurt are indeed down today.
Canadian Tire is down 3.7%
CN rail is down 4.0%.
Linamar is down 4.9%. (Will be interesting to see if they will buy back stock at the low ...

Okay, well, 25% tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. except for Energy which is 10%. Some retaliation by Canada. (Strong speech by Trudeau, which I think even Trudeau haters would acknowledge if they are honest - unless they are completely off the...

On Friday, which now seems like ancient history, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.1% as the tariff announcement loomed.
Some of the Canadian stocks that were down on tariff worries included:
Linamar down 4.1%. Extremely well manag...

If you are interested in investing in individual bonds you may find that the discount brokers don't offer a lot.
And I am leery to buy anything other than new issues due to a typically wide and usually hidden bid / ask spread.
And if you buy a new is...

There is of course huge uncertainty regarding tariffs and their impacts.
There was some indication that oil might be exempted.
I decided to nibble a bit on Canadian Natural Resources and the Energy ETF (XEG) this morning. If there is good news for oi...

For those interested in preferred shares the reset dividend on ENB.PF.C has now been announced. The new yield is about 6.86%. If long-term interest rates decline this should offer a modest capital gain along with the eligible dividend and can be a go...

Markets were mostly higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 1.3%.
TransAlta was up 6.2%.
Shopify was up 2.4% to a 52 week high.
Toll Brothers was up 3.6%.
I'm not sure what pushed Toronto up 1.3% in the face of threatened 25% t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
The Bank of Canada reduced its overnight interest rate by another 0.25% while the U.S. FED held rates firm.
The U.S. FED is concerned about inflation related to tariffs while in C...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Shopify was up 9.6% and has recovered essentially all of its recent losses and is near a 52 week high.
The Bank of Canada is expected to lower interest rates by another 0.25% this mornin...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 1.5% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
TFI International was up 3.7%. It's been a tremendous long-term winner.
Toll Brothers was also up 3.7%. It has a history of volatility and is linked to new home construction and sale...

With year-end financial reports soon starting to come in I plan to get back to more updates soon.
I find it interesting that the preferred share CWB.PR.D is at $27.99 -call it $28. It pays a high dividend of $1.9275 per year for an attractive yield o...

The last day of trading on week one of Donald J. Trump version 2.
The S& P 500 is down 0.3% and Toronto is up 0.2% this afternoon.
While Canada's economy seems very likely to be harmed by the tariffs it has to be remembered that the Toronto stock...

Trump is NOT backing down on tariff threats.
In a speech to Davos today he said that America does not need Canada's autos, oil and gas or lumber since they have their own. A 25% tariff could be applied by next month. America can't really wean itself ...

Markets are nudging higher again today with the S&P 500 up 0.2% and Toronto up 0.4%.
AutoCanada is up another 4.0%. Hopefully a sign of even better times ahead.
Canadian Tire is up 4.0% which surprises me given the lower Canadian dollar and possi...

On Wednesday afternoon the S&P 500 is up 0.7% and appears to be benefiting from a bit of a "Trump bump" so far. Toronto is up 0.2% and has also increased this week despite fears of tariffs that Trump might impose on Canada.
AutoCanada is up 4.6% ...

U.S. markets are closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday - which is probably a good thing so that the markets can have time to digest Trump's speech and first day.
Toronto is up 0.25%.
For high interest cash accounts there are some ETF funds th...

Checking for press releases I saw where the Melcor REIT made a sort of non-cash distribution that amounts to absolutely nothing in substance.
For their own corporate income tax purposes they sort of pretended to pay out 36 cents per unit in the form ...

Markets are strong again to day with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.9%.
The S&P 500 is back above 6000.
Perhaps this is driven by excitement about Trump's inauguration on Monday.
AutoCanada is up 3.2% (for what that's worth on this vola...

The S&P 500 is about unchanged while Toronto is up 0.3%.
TransAlta and Capital Power are both up 3.5%. They had both risen a lot last Fall and then slipped back. I think their gains on optimism about data centers in Alberta may have been too opti...

Markets are strong today with the S&P 500 up 1.7% and Toronto up 0.8%.
This is in reaction to strong earnings reports from J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo and perhaps more so to a U.S. inflation report which at 2.9% is not low but came in as expected...

Markets are modestly higher on Tuesday afternoon with the S&P 500 up 0.35% and Toronto up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers is up 3.4%. New Home builders had been benefiting from a shortage of existing homes for sale as people held onto to their low rate mortg...

Further to my earlier comment today:
lululemon reported that it now expects its Q4 (which ends at the end of January) to be somewhat better than earlier expected. Not a blow-out quarter but another quarter of growth. The stocks was up a modest 0.9% o...

Markets are moderately negative today with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.8%.
Shopify is down 3.8%. I had lighted up on that and it kept going up. But now it looks like lightening up was a good idea. Shopify is powerful and will gain in...

Markets are always uncertain - even when they seem predictable.
This next few weeks seem particularly uncertain as Trump's inauguration approaches.
What will he do in the first week in office? Will markets focus on the good (lower corporate income ta...

Markets are down somewhat today with the S&P 500 down 1.4% and Toronto down 1.0%.
Long-term bond yields continue to rise.
It seems likely that markets will continue to be nervous as Trump's inauguration approaches and we see what he does in the f...

U.S. markets are closed today for a day of mourning for Jimmy Carter.
Toronto is up 0.2%.
Yesterday, after the close, Costco reported very strong same-store sales growth for December. The 9.8% gain in U.S. same-store sales was the highest in about a ...

Markets are about unchanged for the day at the moment.
With Linamar down 3.4% I decided to add modestly to my position just now. I see also that CEO Linda Hasenfratz bought 3 million dollars worth of shares in December despite her already massive hol...

With about 40 minutes to go in the trading day markets are fairly quiet. They were higher earlier today.
Congress has peacefully certified Trump's election, What a difference from four years ago! I never would have guessed that the U.S. having a peac...

Greetings from Hawaii (Big Island) - will be here all month.
On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Basically, all is pretty calm in the markets. The preferred shares continue to do well.
Oil prices have risen which is good...

On this first day of trading in 2025 the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.7%.
lululemon was down 2.6%.
Cameco was up 1.6% despite announcing that production was unexpectedly suspended at it Kazakhstan venture mine (not managed by Came...

2024 is now wrapped up and here are some high lights (these exclude dividends):
The S&P 500 index was up 23.3%
The Toronto stock index was up 18.0%
The NASDAQ index was up 28.6%
A traditional 60/40 balanced and geographically diversified portfoli...