Markets were down on Thursday as the S&P 500 declined 0.85% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Restaurant Brands was one of the very few gainers on my list and was up 2.6%.
Markets may continue to slide with higher interest rates or they could turn around at any time. The Q3 earnings reports are coming in and could certainly spark push individual stocks in one direction or the other. For Canada the bank of Canada rate decision next week will be important as the market hopes for a continues pause.
It continues to be prudent to have a balance of equities, fixed income and cash equivalents. Fixed income and cash yields are attractive for the first time in years. Buying fixed income securities in the past few months may have been a little too early but was nonetheless prudent.
I’m surprised to see RioCan down to $17.29 at the close. Just one month ago I thought it was a decent investment at $19.76. I did say it was ultimately a low ROE business but I thought the discount to book value and low P/E ratio made it attractive. I added to my position today.
Canadian Western Bank announced that it will be moving its headquarters into an existing Manulife Place Building. The move will not occur until very significant renovations take place and is scheduled for toward the end of 2025. They had been planning to move into a new tower but that tower has been canceled by the developer. CWB’s name will be at the top of the renamed Manulife tower. This is a logical move. There is little point to building new office towers in Edmonton while a lot of existing prime space sits empty. This announcement is also a positive in terms of the “back to the office” momentum. Big corporations are not going to continue to let most office workers work from home most days.