Markets were surprisingly strong on Monday with the S&P 500 up 1.5% and Toronto up 1.8%.
Among the bigger gains were Couche-Tard, up 4.6%, Canadian Tire; up 3.8%; Toll Brothers, up 3.2%; Boston Pizza Royalty units up 2.2%; Stantec up 2.1%.
Stocks that fell included most or all of the rate reset preferred shares on our list but most notably, the Enbridge rate rest pref shares which were down 4.4%, perhaps on leak of news of their layoffs that came out after the close. Also Valeant was down another 2.7%.
AutoCanada is continuing to make dealership acquisitions. It is facing declining sales in its all-important Alberta market but it seems the company is still confident of the future. I plan to update the report on AutoCanada in the next day or two.
Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets subsidiary is taking delivery of the first Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet as the launch customer. It is very important for Bombardier to remain on good terms with NetJets which is a major customer. Several years ago NetJets had placed a HUGE order for up to 275 Challenger aircraft. It may have cut back that order since then but certainly remains a very important customer. I suspect NetJets is not too pleased with the fact that Bombardier is on such shaky ground financially.