On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
BHP Billiton was up 3.1% (the BBL American Depository Receipts in New York).
The Enbridge pref share ENB.PF.A on our list was up 3.2% on news that Enbridge is selling some assets. It may not be clear if the asset sale will be good for common share owners but is should definitely be good for the debt holders and preferred share holders as it strengthens the balance sheet.
Toll Brothers was down 3.2%. They will report earnings on May 22. I very much expect that report to include a strong earnings increase versus the prior year. I believe that is basically baked into the numbers since most of their earnings in any quarter relate to home sale contracts signed an average 9 to 12 months earlier. However, what the market will pay more attention to is the outlook and the contracts signed in this quarter. I expect those numbers to be strong.
Melcor was up 1.3% as a thin 4,100 shares traded hands or only about $62,000 worth. Basically it appears that very few investors know about or care about this company. The Q1 numbers were relatively good. Perhaps there will be a bit more interest after the annual meeting tomorrow.
Costco just reported April sales figures and same-store sales were up 7.3% after adjusting downwards to reflect higher gasoline prices and adjusting for foreign exchange. Costco shares will likely rise on this news .
Liquor Stores N.A. is changing its name to Alcanna Inc. Valeant is changing its name to Bausch Health Companies Inc. I consider such corporate name changes to be cowardly and a bad sign. In both cases they are probably changing more to distance themselves from their own past records than anything.
Yesterday I converted my DLR units and some American cash to Canadian dollars. I did that because the Canadian dollar was then down. That may have been good timing as the Canadian dollar has since risen.