On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
Couche-Tard was down 2.5%. The Liquor Stores N.A. convertible debenture was down 6.8% to $102.54 indicating that yesterday’s rise to $110 was, as suspected, some kind of anomaly.
After the close, Canadian Western Bank announced it is selling its stock transfer, corporate trust and employee plan business (what kind of employee plan was not stated) for a maximum of $33 million (no minimum was indicated). This will likely be positive as far as the short term stock price of CWB goes since there is likely a substantial gain on the sale. It indicates that management is active in looking to strategically change the business. It also provides (in my opinion) the second clear message in a month to employees that CWB cannot be counted upon for loyalty to either its employees or its customers. I am not sure that this is a good approach.
In any case, it may boost the stock price somewhat. Also, after the close tomorrow, CWB will report earnings. I expect the earnings to be strong but the outlook could be somewhat muted. I suspect that overall the stock price will rise after the earnings report but that remains to be seen.