The Toronto Stock Exchange Index closed at a new record high on Thursday, up 0.4% on the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.
Most of the stocks on our list were up modestly. Dollarama had a strong day, rising 3.3%.
Statistics Canada released figures for Food Services and Drinking places as of February. I focus on year-over year changes. Alberta was up 1.6%. Ontario was up 5.4% and BC was up 5.0%. Even with its concentration in Alberta and considering that these figures likely reflect more restaurants in 2019 versus 2018, this should bode well for Boston Pizza to achieve some same-store sales growth for February (and Q1) – unless they are losing market share. The report also shows that February saw little growth (0.6%) versus January for Canada and was down 1.6% in Alberta. So that is a weak trend to start the year.
Retail sales were also re[ported and there was not much growth year over year but February was stronger than January on a seasonally adjusted basis.
I mentioned I put in an order to participate in the offering of 6.75% convertible debentures from Surge Energy. I see I was allocated only 25% of what I offered to purchase. So, apparently investors found this to be attractive. I would not be surprised if this trades right around par so I can buy more if I want to when it starts trading.