2022

Markets rebounded a little on Friday with the S&P 500 up 2.4% and Toronto up 2.0%.
Shopify was up 12.4%
Linamar was up 6.5%
Most stocks were up.
What's next? Futures markets on Sunday evening suggest that stocks will open modestly higher on Monda...

On Thursday, markets were volatile and ended the day with the S&P 500 down just 0.1% and Toronto down 0.7%.
Shopify bounced up 11.5%.
Linamar was up 3.7%.
Toll Brothers was up 4.0%.
Couche-Tard was up 5.15%.
Canadian Tire was up 6.2%. This was af...

The report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $6.76 to yield 7.1%.
With the improving Alberta economy, this REIT should continue to improve slowly. There is some risk of higher vacancies over time but the vacancy rate could also improve. ...

I am in the process of updating the Melcor REIT again mostly because I am preparing some questions for their annual meeting.
They have a debenture out that will yield about 5.2% on your money from now until the end of this year so about 7 and a half ...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down another 1.65% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
U.S. inflation came in at 8.3%, a bit higher than expected although slightly lower than the 8.5% of the previous month. The market is more and more worried about interest ...

Tuesday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.25% while Toronto was down 0.55%.
RioCan was down 3.45% to $20.99. Yet they are back to a 97% committed occupancy. I think RioCan is good value at this price and I bought some today. The market may be upset t...

I updated the Aecon report becasue it is an interesting and commendable company. It builds some of the most impressive and large projects in Canada including the Gordie Howe Bridge, other huge bridges and major subway projects and the Kicking Horse P...

Monday was another non-boring day in the stock markets.
The S&P 500 was down 3.2% and Toronto was down 3.1%.
Among the more notable decliners were: lululemon - down 7.7%. 
Shopify down 9.9% 
AutoCanada down 6.3%
RioCan was down 4.25% to $21.83. A...

Friday's action in the markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% and Toronto down 0.3%.
Shopify was down 8.2%. lululemon was down 7.7%. 
AutoCanada was up 4.0%.
Despite already having quite a large position in it, I added to my Canadian Western Bank posi...

The report on Starbucks is updated.  Starbucks is currently facing headwinds in terms of unionization drives in the U.S. where is it is increasing pay and benefits to improve employee relations. The severe lockdowns in China will also have a noticeab...

On Thursday the markets took back all of that strange gain yesterday and a good deal more.
The S&P 500 was down 3.6% and Toronto was down 2.3%.
Shopify was down 14.3%.
Apple was down 5.6%. I bought a few shares in this great company today. 
Starb...

Stocks are down fairly sharply this morning. Never a dull moment it seems. The rally yesterday afternoon seemed strange and is now more than reversed.
Those looking to nibble on bargains should probably do so but not be any hurry. It's not a bad idea...

On Wednesday, the market waited with baited breath for the FED's interest rate announcement and following press conference.
As expected the FED raised interest rates 0.5% and announced it will begin to reduce its balance sheet. Bot of these moves are...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 1.0%.
TFI International was up 4.35%. It's going to be interesting to see how the fuel prices are affecting them. They have fuel surcharges but those tend to work on a somewhat lagged basis. ...

Monday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Shopify continues to bounce around and was up 6.1% today.
RioCan was down 4.2%.
The rate reset preferred shares that I follow were mostly up modestly today.
Alimentation Couche-...

After rising sharply on Thursday, markets fell even more sharply on Friday.
The S&P 500 was down a very hefty 3.6% and Toronto was down 1.7% on the day.
Amazon tumbled 14%!
Costco was down 5.3%.
Rate reset shares were mostly up modestly, proving ...

Our report on Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $32.41. 
Quite simply this is a profitable bank earning 11.6% on equity and trading at book value and 8.4 times trailing earnings. On its face, that is quite attractive. T...

Markets staged a big rebound on Thursday with the S&P 500 rising 2.5% and Toronto 1.8%.
The gains seemed to be tied to some good earnings reports. U.S. GDP came in at a surprise 1.4% decline for Q1 when a 1.0% gain was expected. The market took t...

Markets had bounced back a little on Wednesday but most of the increase fizzled out by the end of the day as the S&P 500 ended the day up just 0.2% and Toronto ended the day up 0.3%.
Visa Inc. was a standout, gaining 6.5% after posting a strong e...

Markets continued to not be boring on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 ended the day down a hefty 2.8% while Toronto was down 1.5%.
Among the biggest decliners for stocks that I track: Shopify was down 6.0%, Amazon was down 4.6%, Visa was down 4.2% (but then...

So, markets are down again this morning. Again, this is not shocking given the interest rate hikes and fears of what inflation is doing.
I am surprised though how the rate reset preferred shares keep dropping. They were always touted as a preferred s...

Monday was another volatile adn non-boring day in the market The S&P 500 had a swing of 2.3% from its low to its high for the day but ended the day up 0.6% after having been down 1.7% at the low of the day. Toronto finished the day down 0.8% as o...

I mentioned the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred shares in my comment earlier today. Given that I now find one of those attractive due to its price decline since the start of this year and in part also due to the higher projected yield at r...

On Friday the markets took greater notice of rising interest rates. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.8% and Toronto was down 2.1%.
This is not a shocking decline. In fact what is more surprising is how the equity markets have help up as high as the...

Markets are moderately weaker this morning.
Statistics Canada reported Retail sales for February and a preliminary number for March.  I find this confusing to interpret.
Firstly, I see BNN reporting it as a 1.4% gain for March. But they don't say if ...

Thursday was a negative day for the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.5% and Toronto down 1.6%.
BHP was down 7.1%
Shopify was down 8.1%. It's now at its lowest level since April 2020. It may well still be way over-valued. But it does have lots of c...

The report on Ceapro is updated and rated Speculative Buy at 51 cents. This company has a base business that is profitable and which funds its research efforts which it hopes will payoff in a big way. Its okay for a small investment but is definitely...

Wednesday was a somewhat "mixed" day in teh markets. The S&P 500 and Toronto indexes were both down 0.1%.
Shopify was down 13.9%.  But then there was news after the clsoe about it buying another company and the stock was up modestly in U.S. after...

Tuesday was a nice day to be an equity investor. The S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Some of the notable gainers were: Shopify - up 4.25%, Toll Brothers  - up 3.8%, WSP Global - up 3.0%, AutoCanada - up 4.7%, Amazon - up 3.5%...

U.S. markets gyrated between negative adn positive on Monday but ended the day with the S&P 500 essentially unchanged and Toronto up just 0.1%.
Among the bigger moves today:  AutoCanada was up 2.8%.  Stantec was down 3.1%. 
I did buy a modest amo...

Markets were closed on Friday for the holiday. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Shopify was down 3.6%.
TFI International was down 2.8%. It's a stock that I am interested in adding to as it has come down from its h...

Starbucks is returned to our list of stocks after a brief hiatus. Without question Starbucks is a great company with a powerful brand and a great long-term profit history. But is has run into some recent problems with unionization drives and employee...

Markets rebounded somewhat on Wednesday as the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
lululemon was notable with a gain of  5.0%.
Penny stock Ceapro was up 5.8% after announcing record results for 2021.
Amazon was up 3.15%.
I did a bit of b...

There is seldom a dull day in the markets.
Today's excitement started with an inflation reading of 8.5% in the U.S. The highest in 40 years!
That should add to the fear/ expectations of higher interest rates. But apparently the market liked the fact ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 1.7% and Toronto as down 0.4%.
It looks like being cautious on the markets has been wise.
AutoCanada was down 5.5%.
I sold my shares in BHP today. I was up about 40% on those shares and it can be a volatile...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Shopify was down 6.5%.
As of this evening, futures suggest that markets will open moderately down on Monday morning.
In my own investing, I am continuing to be cautious, still raisin...

Yesterday (April 7, 2022) I saw news that Walmart was increasing the STARTING pay of its long-haul truckers to $95,000 to $110,000.
This may sound too high to be believable. And apparently this is up to double the industry average for long haul truck...

Markets were initially down on Thursday but finished the day with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.2%.
Costco cruised past the $600 mark and ended the day up 4.0% at $608. About 49 times trailing earnings is very expensive. On the other hand ...

Markets are down modestly today.
Costco is a standout. It's up 2.9% to $602 after releasing its March sales results. I decided to sell my small position in Costco. This may be a mistake given that Costco is certainly an absolute powerhouse. People ar...

Markets were negative once again on Wednesday as the war and higher interest rates were in focus.
The S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.65%.
Infrastructure builder Aecon group was down 4.8% to $16.20. This seems to be a laudable compan...

Markets were down on Tuesday apparently becasue investors focused on the war and the potential for the FED to begin selling off its vast  amounts of U.S. federal treasury bonds.
The S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
AutoCanada was ...

On Monday, stocks were mostly up as the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Toronto rose 0.6%.
Shopify was up 4.9% to $908 in Toronto. 
lululemon was up 4.6%
Going the other way, TFI International was down 4.3%. 
I did end up selling most of my small position ...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $352. It's up a whopping 40% since it was rated a (lower) Buy just over a year ago at $251. Certainly its improved results , stock portfolio gains and the improved economy justify some of tha...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each ended the day up 0.3%
CN Rail was notable with a 4.6% decline to just under $160. My recent rating was (lower) But at $158. It's a very high quality company, one to add to on dips.  
FedEx was down 4.4%.
Th...

Thursday marked the end of the first quarter of the year and was a negative day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was down 1.6% while Toronto was down 0.8%.
Toll Brothers got hammered down another 4.9%. At last word company management was very upbeat a...

On Wednesday, markets took a bit of a breather partly becasue Russia has not backed off in the Ukraine despite whatever peace talks occurred.
The S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
lululemon however was up 10.2% due to a rosy outloo...

It seems my comment from Monday did not get uploaded, here it is:
Markets had been moderately lower on Monday but at the end of the day the S&P 500 was up 0.7% although Toronto as down 0.1% as oil was lower.
Couche-Tard was notable with a 2.0% ga...

Tuesday was another positive and optimistic day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Notable gainers included:
AutoCanada, up a hefty 10.4%
Shopify, up 5.8%.
Toll Brothers, up 4.4%
Starbucks up 3.2%
Linamar, up 3.0%
Fe...

TD Direct is out this afternoon with a new convertible bond issue. This one paying 5.2% and maturing December 31, 2027. The company is AG Growth which closed today at $44.05. The conversion price is far higher at $70.50. It may or not sell out fairly...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Strong Buy at $49.11. I had rated it a Strong Buy back on December 26 at $70.08. Since then it reported another very strong quarter and yet the stock is down 30%. I did say some caution was warranted due to its cycl...

On Friday the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Stocks markets have been rising in spite of higher interest rates. The rise in Toronto is more understandable due to the heavy exposure to energy and material. There is definitely a risk ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 1.4%. That seems surprising on a day when President Biden appeared to be ramping up the reaction against Russia.  So far the market is certainly taking the trend to higher interest rates in stride. As well as the po...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 down 1.2% and Toronto down 0.6% as concern about interest rate hikes came into focus.
Most stocks, other than oil and materials sector, were down. Melcor Developments managed a 0.7% gain and has poked its head a...

Yesterday stocks were up in spite of the FED's indications that they will likely raise interest rates 0.50% in the next couple of months and with more to come after that.
Today the headline says that markets are down on that news. Today's action make...

On Tuesday, I saw financial headlines that said the markets were higher despite "hawkish" talk from the Fed chair. The Federal Reserve chair has signaled that it could raise interest rates by another 0.50% in the next few months. All else equal this ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto set a new record high and finished the day up 0.9%.
BHP was up 4.1%.
Toll Brothers was down 4.9% $50.92. The market seems to really fear that interest rate hikes will significantly cool the...

On Friday, markets moved higher for the fourth straight day as the S&P 500 rose 1.2%. Toronto rose only 0.2% but it is at a record high. Apparently investors do not think that the Ukraine situation poses much risk for stock prices. That ultimatel...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated Buy at $16.40. The Buy rating is based primarily on the continued low price to book value ratio of 0.49 and the attractive P/E of 8.2 plus the fact that the Alberta economy and demand for new homes is on the u...

Thursday was the third day of this market rebound. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 1.4%
Shopify was up another 5.0%. American Express was up 3.5%. Couche-Tard was up 3.7%.
Melcor barely noticed its earnings release and dividend increas...

Markets were decidedly higher on Wednesday as the latest rebound was buoyed by comments from the FED Chair and the fact that the interest rate increase was only 0.25% rather than 0.50%.
The S&P 500 was up 2.2% and Toronto was up 1.3%.
Notable gai...

This morning I was thinking about the risks of holding too much in equities. It's usually a mistake to think that we can see a major market decline coming and get out of the way. On the other hand having also a good exposure to fixed income and cash ...

Tuesday was a bounce back day for the markets as the S&P 500 rose a hefty 2.1%. Toronto, with its heavy exposure to oil was about unchanged.
Notable gainers included: West Fraser Timber up 4.6%, Shopify up 7.6%, Starbucks up 4.8%, AutoCanada up 5...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.7% while Toronto was down 1.3% as the price of oil slipped somewhat.
Shopify was down 5.3%.
Starbucks was down 4.2%
Toll Brothers was down 4.1% to $48.53. This company predicts very strong earnings this year and t...

The report on TFI International is updated and rated Buy at $118.45.
This is an extremely well managed trucking company that has been compounding wealth at a good rate for many years.
I had sold my shares in early 2020 when they rocketed higher after...

Friday's session saw the S&P 500 down 1.3% and Toronto down 0.6%.
There are some potential bargain to choose from.
Starbucks was down 5.1% on Friday to $82.73. That's a big decline from its high of $126.
My next update will be for TFI Internation...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.4% while Toronto rose 0.4%.
I notice Amazon was up 5.4% as it announced a 20 for 1 stock split. But Shopify was down 6.2%.
Canadian Tire announced huge spending plans and ambitious profit growth targets ov...

Wednesday was a bounce back day for markets and a bounced down day for oil
The S&P 500 rose 2.6% and Toronto rose 1.2%.
Shopify has a huge bounce, rising 14%. see the updated report.
AutoCanada bounced up 9.4%. 
Many stocks on our list has quite ...

Shopify is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $747 Canadian dollars or $583 U.S. dollars. Be cautious given that it is still very expensive in relation to earnings and revenue. But it has fallen a withering two-thirds from a peak of $2,229 Canadian...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.7% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Shopify was down another 7.6% in Toronto. I will update the report on Shopify tomorrow. It's still very expensive at about 15 times revenue and 83 times adjusted trailin...

On Monday the market reacted negatively to the situation in the Ukraine. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.95%. Toronto was down only 0.5% since oil stocks were up.
The only surprise here is that the market has taken this long to react to this exten...

The report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $6.99.
...

On Friday (which in some ways was ages ago) the S&P 500 was down 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.7%.
Shopify was down another 6% to $765 on Toronto. It's high was $2,229. Ouch. 
Linamar was down 5.1%. 
With AutoCanada down 4.9% I bought a few shares....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Melcor Developments managed a 4.2% gain.  They will report earnings next week.
After the close today, the Melcor REIT released Q4 earnings. It looked pretty good but this is ...

On Wednesday markets were higher apparently based on the market liking comments from the Fed Chair.
The S&P 500 was up 1.9% and Toronto was up 1.2%
BHP was up another 5.1%. CN Rail was up 4.0%. lululemon was up 4.7%.
West Texas Oil soared as high...

On Tuesday, as the market continued to react to the war in Ukraine, the S&P 500 was down 1.55% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
American Express was down a hefty 8.5% as it severed ties with Russian banks.
Linamar was down 4.0%.
AutoCanada was down 5.1...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 2.2% and Toronto was up 1.7%. That could be called a heartless and embarrassing response to the war situation in Ukraine. But stock markets are by nature driven by self interest including the ebb and flow of fear and...

Nothing to see here?
On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Those figures don't suggest an extraordinary day. But of course with the Ukraine invasion the S&P was down 2.6% at one point and so there was a huge recovery a...

On Wednesday, markets started out to the positive but declined throughout the day and the S&P 500 ended the day down 1.8% while Toronto was down 0.7%. As of this evening the futures data suggests the markets will open just a little lower. But a l...

Markets were nervous on Tuesday. Futures markets has suggested a decline at the open but then turned around and the open was flat. But markets fell moderately during the day (Yes a 1% decline is moderate).
The S%P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was do...

On Monday, North American stock markets were closed for a holiday.
Futures markets are open and there was some indication that markets will open lower on Tuesday due to the Russia / Ukraine situation.
You can check futures markets at the following li...

On Friday, markets were somewhat weak as the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto declined 0.8%.
WSP Global was one of the weakest stocks on my list with a 3.8% decline.
Canadian Tire was up 2.0% adding to its gains from Thursday when it had released Q4...

Fear was the dominant emotion on Thursday as the S&P 500 declined 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
Shopify was down another 11% as analysts reacted to slower growth projections. These analysts might be quite right to suggest the stock is over-valu...

Markets are definitely skittish and I think rightly so with the Spector of higher interest rates as well as world political events including the Russian / Ukraine situation.
This morning the S&P 500 is down 1.4% and Toronto is down 0.5%.  Shopify...

It seems that markets remain nervous about the impact of higher interest rates and other risk factors.
Markets were down modestly most of the day but then rallied somewhat after the FED minutes contained no surprises.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and ...

RioCan is updated and rated Buy at $24.52. It has staged a huge recovery since plummeting to under $15 at the height of the pandemic panic in 2020. There was a lot of fear about the future of retail. But RioCan really hardly missed a beat although th...

On Tuesday markets rebounded on news of easing tensions in the Ukraine situation. 
The S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto rose 0.7%. Oil fell modestly to U.S. $92.
There are always reasons to fear a sizable decline in stock prices. But that rarely hap...

Markets were moderately negative on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.9%.
Accordingly, most of the stocks I monitor were down but nothing of much note although Enbridge was down 3.5%.
Oil was strong with West Texas Intermediate...

On Friday the markets were mostly negative which was blamed on fears that Russia might invade Ukraine.
The S&P 500 was down a hefty 1.9%. But Toronto was up 0.1% as West Texas Oil rose to about $94 due to the Russia situation.
Notable decliners i...

Stocks were mostly lower on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 1.8% and Toronto down 0.3%.
In the U.S. inflation was measured and reported as 7.5% year over year in January. That's an epic increase. The highest in 40 years. The market is somewhat wor...

Our report on Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $158.55 or US $125. (It closed today slightly lower than that).
This is an extremely high quality company in that it consistently makes a high profit level on the boo...

Wednesday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.45% and Toronto up 1.1%.
Shopify bounced up another 4.9% in Toronto.
TFI International was up another 5.5%.
CN Rail was up 1.3%. I will post an update for CN tomorrow and it ...

Equities moved higher on Monday with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 0.7%.
TFI International was up 8.1% after it's strong earnings. I really like the long-time CEO there (Alain Bedard). Interestingly he said that vaccination status has not be...

Our report on lululemon is updated. It's a great company but is expensive and therefore remains rated at only a Speculative (lower) Buy. I think its worth taking a small position in this company especially if you are a customer and fan. It reached a ...

Markets were relatively calm on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.2%.
AutoCanada was down 3.2%.
BHP was up 3.5%. It's up 13% this new year to date. It has long has two classes of shares but that has now been unified and the BBL...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Shopify bounced up 8.8% in Toronto.
Amazon was up 13.5% after posting strong earnings and a strong outlook.
As of Sunday evening at 9 pm eastern future markets suggest stocks will open m...

The report on Andrew Peller is updated. Although the stock seems cheap, I have rated it only a Speculative (lower) Buy due to quite poor earnings in the latest two quarters reported.  
Wine production is a tough industry because there are so many com...

Thursday was another interesting day in the markets. Facebook / Meta set the tone with a massive 26% decline.
The S&P 500 ended the day down 2.4% and Toronto was down 1.3%. 
Shopify was down 8.6%. Although it remains very expensive in relation to...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.9%. Toronto was up only 0.2% weighted down by Shopify which was down 10%.
Costco was up 2.7% and is back to $522. After the close, Costco reported yet another month of strong sales growth. 11% same-store sa...

Tuesday ended with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 1.05%.
lululemon was up 3.3%.
Couche Tard was up 3.6%.
TFI International was up 3.9%.
Starbucks reported earnings after the close that were apparently disappointing. Inflation and higher wages...

After a strong day on Monday, U.S markets are about unchanged at this moment on Tuesday while Toronto is up 0.65%
Some recent strong performers are on the rise again today. Visa is up 2.2% to $231. Not back to its $250 level of August but probably on...

On Friday, markets finished strongly into the close and the S&P 500 was up 2.4% on the day. Toronto was up 1.0%.
West Texas oil is at U.S. $87 or Canadian $110. This is highly profitable for the oil companies and as mentioned is leading to gushin...

Markets are strong as of early afternoon on Friday.
Visa is up 8.6% after posting earnings.
Apple is up 5.8% after posting earnings.
Oil is at US $87. Money is gushing into the Alberta treasury. And oil investors are doing extremely well. Drivers, no...

At end of day, Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.25%.
Shopify was down 6.1% in the U.S to $816. Down over 50% since November. 
Futures market at the moment suggest markets will open higher on Friday.
It seems clear that m...

Markets were moderately positive  this morning  apparently based on better economic news. But have turned negative this afternoon and the S&P 500 is currently down 0.7% and Toronto is down 0.3%.
The grocer / pharmacy Metro Inc is up 3.2%. Dollara...

Markets gyrated on Wednesday first rising but then falling after FED comments. 
The S&P 500 ended down 0.15% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Most of the stocks I follow were somewhat higher on the day.
CN Rail initially rose after reporting very...

Markets are fearful again on Tuesday mid-day with the S&P 500 down 2.0% and Toronto down 0.8%.
Shopify is down 7.2% in Toronto to $1103. The highest flyer stocks are the most volatile at this time. Amazon is down 3.9% to $2779 - and down 26% from...

On Monday, the markets erased big losses from earlier in the day and the S&P 500 closed up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Shopify had been down about 10% to $990 before finishing the day up 7% at $1188. The turnaround was partly the general ma...

Markets are solidly down on Monday as of mid-day. The S&P 500 is down a hefty 3.2% and Toronto is down 2.9%.
Almost every stock that I follow is down. Shopify is down another 9.9%!
The likes of VBAL proves its worth today as it is down a more mod...

Markets were negative on Friday with the S&P 500 down 1.9% and Toronto down 2.1%.
Shopify was down a huge 13.4%. This was blamed on a report that Shopify is canceling some fulfillment contracts. Apparently there was  fear that this meant that sal...

I'm in Maui (Kapalua which is near Lahaina for those familiar with Maui) until the end of this month which is why I am posting at a different time of day than usual. The weather here has been consistently great day after day.
The property values here...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 is down 0.3% although it was up earlier in the day. Toronto is down 0.2%.
Shopify had been up slightly but is now about unchanged. Although very expensive in relation to earnings and sales, those who like to buy dips on ...

Markets are down this Tuesday afternoon with the S&P 500 down 1.8% and Toronto down 1.5% 
West Texas Oil is at $85 and that has pushed the Canadian dollar up to 79.6 U.S. cents. Good news for the Alberta budget certainly.
Shopify is down 6.7% to ...

U.S. markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King jr. holiday and rose 0.1% on Friday.
Toronto is up 0.8% today. 
Canadian Western Bank is up 2.0% today.
West Texas oil is now at $84.35. This is highly profitable. Oil companies are doin very w...

NOTE the date, this post was meant to be seen yesterday but failed to load due to a connection problem. My apologies.
I'm liking seeing Canadian Wester Bank back over $40. Looks like 2022 should be a great year for Alberta companies. 
The Zara founde...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Shopify was down 8.8% as mentioned in my last comment.
Linamar was up 4.0% and CWB was up 2.3%
Today, Friday, the S&P 500 is down another 0.7% and Toronto is down 0.5%. American...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
BHP was up 4.4%
Canadian Western Bank was up 2.1%.
U.S. inflation in 2021 was an epic 7.0%. It's amazing that this has not spooked markets which are implicitly betting that inflation ...

Markets were initially down noticeably on Monday but recovered almost all the ground as the S&P 500 and Toronto each finished down 0.1%.
Costco was down 3.2%. According to TD Direct analysts still rate it mostly Strong Buy. No analyst in their li...

Markets are down today with the S&P 500 down 1.65% and Toronto down 0.9%.
Shopify is down 5,8% and getting close to where it bottomed out last time it swooned Which was about $1275 in Toronto last May, very briefly it $1250). 
Costco is down 4.9%...

Greetings from Maui (Kapalua) 
On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.1%. 
Shopify was down 2.8% $1446 Canadian.  Possibly it will soon turn around. But with a forward P/E of 278 according to Yahoo it's just not the kind of c...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.15%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 4.6%. Nice to see but I'm not sure why it went up today in particular. But oil is up and the Alberta economic indicators are up so perhaps the market ...

Wednesday was a rate down day in the markets. The S&P 500 fell 1.9% and Toronto fell 0.9%.
This came after the FED released minutes that alluded to earlier rate hikes and earlier tapering of the FED's bond buying. Bond yields rose and stock price...

Preferred shares can be attractive for yield especially in taxable accounts given the dividend tax credit.
But my experience has been that buying them near (much less above) the normal issue price of $25 has not worked out well.
Rate reset pref share...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1%. Toronto was up 0.1%.
Shopify was down a huge 10.9%. One article I saw blamed this on simply " a rotation out of high flyers and into value stocks". 
Berkshire Hathaway was up 2.6%. Never count Buffett out...
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January 3, 2022 – The US markets were open today and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to set another all-time high. Apple was up 2.5%, Visa was up 2.1% Toll Brothers was down 3.0%. I understand this was due to higher yields on U.S. bonds that caused th...

Wow, 2021 turned out to a surprisingly stellar year in the markets. The S&P 500 gained 2.9% and the Toronto index gained 21.7%. The 25 stocks that were rated (lower) Buy or higher on this site rose an average of 29.5%. 
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