On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
U.S. GDP for Q4 came in strong which could have spooked markets due to inflation concerns but apparently a price index came in showing lower inflation.
Toll Brothers was up 2.3% recovering a portion of its recent decline.
Visa Inc., reported earnings after the close with adjusted earnings per share up 11% and beating estimates. But the stock declined modestly in after-hours trading. I think it continues to be a strong buy and hold stock.
The Royal Bank rate reset preferred share RY.PR.S that is on our list announced its reset dividend today. And the information is updated on the Subscriber Home Page. At today’s closing price the yield is 6.7% and the dividend (with first payment April 24, 2024 will not change for 5 years). This could offer a capital gain of several dollars if interest rates decline.
On thing I found confusing is that Yahoo Finance indicates it paid a dividend yesterday at the old rate but the prospective indicates that the new dividend is set to cover the period beginning February 24. Something seems strange here. The Prospectus seems to say that the dividend is paid in February, May, August and November. But according to Yahoo Finance it has been paid always in January, April, July and October. It seems the date that Yahoo is giving is the ex-dividend date. Checking further I now see that the ex-dividend date was yesterday January 24 but the dividend is not paid until February 23 or 24 which I think is an unusually long time after the ex-dividend date. If you buy tomorrow you don’t get the first dividend until almost four months from tomorrow.
I usually don’t pay a much attention to ex-dividend dates because I find that stocks often change in price by more than the dividend amount many days. And in general in the past I have almost always bought stocks for the capital gain potential and not so much for the dividend. So buying based on the dividend date is just not something I have done. But it can make sense on thinly traded stocks and/or higher dividend stocks to be more aware of the ex-dividend date. And it makes sense to look at that with preferred shares.