Wednesday was yet anther strong day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
It’s easy to get complacent but I’d like to be prepared for any pull back with some cash on hand as well as an allocation to dixed income including rate reset shares to cushion the blow if markets do head lower.
CN rail was up 5.2% on its good earnings report.
Toll Brothers was up 2.6%.
Costco was up 0.6% to $470. I was tempted to reduce my position just a little a few days ago at about $460. Instead I put in an order to reduce it if it gets to $474. It hit $472.50 today. It’s a fantastic company and selling has been a mistake in the past. But it is richly priced. I would not be at all surprised if it announced another special dividend of $10 to $15 in mid November. It’s same store sales have been roaring ahead. The danger is that this is now the expectation and any return to more modest same-store sales growth could push the stock down at least temporarily.
I mentioned yesterday that I had put in an order for some of the 6% ECN Capital debentures that TD Direct was selling in its new offerings category. I got allocated 70% of what I asked for which indicates the issue was fairly popular with investors. But I have no idea of the extent to which it was sort of flogged to full service investors. I believe this is the only non-convertible bond/debenture that I own. I will be interested to see what price I would be able to sell it at if I choose to sell later. My assumption is that I will face a substantial discount (3% at a very minimum) to sell and that I might have little choice but to keep it for the five year term. And as long as it pays its promised 6.0% and redeems the principal in 5 years, that will be fine. I could also see what the price would be to add to my position later. But if TD is not going to be a market maker for this bond, will I even be able to buy more? This I will soon learn.