On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
CN rail was down 3.1% after reporting earnings. Melcor was up 2.0%.
The federal budget was investor friendly. It’s nice to get a bigger opportunity to shield investments from tax including a lower tax for those with profitable small businesses. But I don’t see why investors needed any more tax breaks. I doubt if more than 1% of people were able to use all of the already substantial breaks available such as TSFA, RRSP, pension contribution deduction, and RESP.
And I have not been in favor of lower RIF withdrawal minimums. Contrary to some opinion the RRSP offers big tax savings even net of taxes on withdrawals. As noted before an RRSP in substance at a 40% marginal tax means the government contributes 40% at the outset through the refund and then gets 40% in the end. In that scenario (setting aside clawback etc.) your 60% share grows completely tax free. It’s a great deal already and did not need to be sweetened, especially when if there was more money withdrawn than needed it could be put into RRSP. (A better change would have been to lower the clawback impact)
Overall, the budget looks like gains for retirees at the expense of younger people. And I say that as one who will benefit from several of the budget measures. (TFSA and small business changes)