It seems there are few dull days in the market. Today we had the Dow up 95 points or 0.7%. But Toronto was only up 0.2%. The larger gains among our stock picks were Bank of America, up 3.5%, Toll Brothers up 3.4%, Stantec up 2.4%, Constellation Software up 2.8%.
Also Wal-Mart up 1.8% to $77.15. I suppose it was a mistake for me to have sold recently but I was looking for something to sell to raise cash… Wal-Mart is now up 29% this year. Over the past few years (before this big gain) I explained how Wal-Mart the company had strongly outperformed Wal-Mart the stock. You may recall many analysts harping that the stock was still (then) down from its historic high of around $69 back around year 2000. Many analysts said it had been “dead money”. Yes it had, but that fact was not relevant to what the stock was worth in 2010 or 2011 or 2012. I would not likely be a buyer of Wal-Mart right now since it has gained 18% since we rated it a Buy back in May. (but I might change my mind on the next update, depending how the analysis looks then). I notice when I read the analysis that we knocked it down a bit due to the scandal in Mexico at that time. That seems to have gone away at least for now and so while I am not going to buy, I don’t think the stock is a bad one to hold onto.
No doubt the market will continue to thrash to and fro based on the latest economic news and earnings news. The low points always test our resolve and courage while also often providing opportunities. That is the nature of the markets.