On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% as was Toronto.
For Canadian investors who own U.S. shares the modest market losses this week have been offset to a certain degree by the lower Canadian dollar.
This morning there was news that would normally send the Canadian dollar higher. First Canada today reported a small trade surplus for the latest month, the first surplus in 22 months. Second, oil prices have climbed this week. The Canadian dollar, however continued to fall due to some indications that the Bank of Canada would not only not raise interest rates but could possibly cut interest rates.
With these few negative days, my thoughts naturally turn to potentially trimming some positions to raise my cash level and lower risks. The thought occurs to me that I could sell some Wells Fargo and although it is down a bit from its highs that is probably offset by the lower Canadian dollar and I would effectively be selling at about the recent highs in terms of Canadian dollars. Again, I don’t really want to to trim Wells Fargo since I rate in the strong Buy range but if the mood strikes me to raise my cash position I may trim that a bit, possibly Toll Brothers as well.
Canadian Western Bank came out with earnings this evening that look quite good.