Well, who’d a thunk the DOW would rise 287 points today, 2.4%? or the TSX 126 points or 1.1%
Apparently the market rose on hopes of government intervention (interference?) into the economy including bank bailouts in Spain and additional monetary easing in the U.S.
When we get gains based on rumors of government actions, those gains can certainly reverse in a hurry. In the long term what matters is holding good companies at reasonable prices.
I am currently reviewing FirstService. It had a good 2011 but its Q1 was weaker. I expect to update the report within a few days.
Canadian dollar rose almost 1 cent today to 97.35 cents after getting down close top 96 cents lately. If the dollar rises that hurts the U.S. investments of Canadian Investors. But long term I don’ think the level of the dollar is that big a deal as far as investments. If a stock doubles in ten years and the dollar moves 15 cents that is not a huge big deal.
I figure the Canadian dollar has an equal chance of rising or falling from here. If it fell to low 90’s I’d be tempted to sell some American stocks but then again my plan was just to keep those funds in U.S. dollars so why should I speculate on the currency? It is easier to find stocks that will be good investments (there are lots of them) than to try to predict currency movements. so why noit play the easier game. In stocks the average investor can win (average investor collects profits from customers of the business) and get a positive return. In currency trading there is a loser for every winner and it is a zero-sum game, negative after costs. Currency trading is more like Vegas, stock investing is more like being a business owner.