Markets were relatively quite on Tuesday…
This morning they started off strong buy then started to fall and are down modestly at the moment.
As expected, the Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged in its decision today. Bond yields are down modestly today. The perpetual preferred shares should be moving higher with lower interest rates. The last I checked they had mostly not moved much. But check the price history if interested. See link to price for those listed on the Subscriber Home Page. Rate reset preferred shares are always tougher to predict and the effect of interest rate moves depends partly on how many years or months until the next reset.
Toll Brothers is up 2.5% after releasing earnings. As expected actual earnings were down in the quarter versus 2022 because they are driven by contracts to build homes that were signed 9 to 15 months ago. But contracts for homes to be delivered in future were very strong. This company has been a star performer this year.
I don’t shop that much but here are my recent observations.
On a weekday afternoon last week Costco was quite busy. Next door Lowe’s was extremely quite. Lowe’s is not exactly a Christmas destination but it was really quiet.
My local large Canadian Tire I have noticed has been loaded with inventory – And it appears to be getting whittled down. I think their sales will be softer but should not be too bad.
I was at our local Outlet Mall near our Airport yesterday just before noon. Very quiet but that may not be unusual for that outlet mall. Under armour had almost everything 50% off which is not a great sign. That’s a discount off supposedly already discounted prices. The Nike store had lots of items 30% off.
I’m wondering how lululemon will do. If people really do cut back they should be vulnerable. But people like the quality and so I’m not going to bet against them.