Visa Inc. is added back to the list rated Buy at $119.35. I had removed it from the list in late December because the rating had gotten well out of date.
A search of the comments below will confirm that over the last couple of years I referred to VISA several times as being “monopolishious”. With the recent share price rise it is no longer the bargain it was. But it is certainly a high quality company and worth considering for the long term. (What’s in YOUR wallet?, well probably a Visa card in most cases).
The Canadian market was down 0.8% today, apparently mostly due to weakness in “materials” stocks. The DOW was down 0.5%. So given that kind of day, it was pleasant to see Toll Brothers up 2.7% and Wells Fargo and Bank of America both up as well.
On Thursday Research in Motion will report earnings. This may draw more interest than the Federal Budget…
Speaking of budgets, the Ontario budget put certain corporate tax rate cuts on hold. I think that was completely appropriate. Corporate tax rates in Canada are significantly lower than they are in the U.S. and there is no reason to lower them. In fact, I think a large number of corporate tax breaks should first be taken away, and then perhaps the overall corporate tax rate can be lowered.