On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell a hefty 1.4% while Toronto was down 0.2%
Shopify was down 6.9%.
Most stocks were down. But some hung in for small gains including Restaurant Brands, Fortis Inc, TFI International (rebounding a little from yesterday’s decline), Visa, Dollarama, Couche-Tard and CN rail.
In general it seems to be a stressful time to be an investor. Higher interest rates are a definite headwind. Companies with high debt and modest cashflows are especially vulnerable.
There will be lots more Canadian companies reporting Q3 earnings in the next couple of weeks.
I noticed a report today for Sales at Food services and drinking paces. August was down 1% versus July. This is consistent with a couple of banks mentioning that credit card sales at restaurants have started to decline. It may be that a more noticeable percentage of the population is stating to cut back.
It will be interesting to see Canadian tire’s Q3 results. Q2 was weak. Q3 could also be weak. And it will be particularly important to see how their credit card delinquencies are developing.
Unfortunately, there never seems to be a dull moment for investors.
Those with higher allocations to cash are in a good position to snap up bargains but need not be in a rush.