On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged.
So far, it appears that the market is ignoring Trump’s problems regarding favors from Ukraine. But it does look like those problems are real.
The most notable move in the stocks on our list was TFI International, up 1.9%.
After the close Canadian Western Bank announced that it has approval to buy back up to 2% of tis shares starting October 1. However, I don’t expect them to actually buy back any shares unless the price goes back to about $28. They had authority to buy back shares in recent months. They bought back a few shares in May and June but ceased buying when the price went over about $28.20. They prefer to hang onto their cash and equity capital (two different things, by the way) for potential use in some kind of business expansion.
Checking some other companies: Melcor has bought back their tiny allowed maximum of 1000 shares on many but definitely not all days since they resumed buying on August 9th. They had not previously bought any since the end of March. CRH Medical continues to buy steadily but they only report it monthly so the last month reported was August. TFI International was buying steadily until September 3 but thereafter has stopped buying (except for a very tiny amount on a few days). This may be due in part to the price going over $40 but it may also be that they think the share could get cheaper as the economy softens and/or trade tensions continue. Stantec resumed buying back shares in August after having stopped buying at the end of March. They paid about $28. They have not yet reported September.