Monday was a solidly positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto rose 2.05%. The last four trading days have been a yoyo ride of down, up, down, up.
Top gainers included TFI International which rose 6.45% after announcing ano...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.9% and Toronto was down 1.8%.
Notable decliners included: Apple down 3.7%, CN Rail down 2.7%, FedEx down 3.1%, Linamar down 3.3%
The Melcor REIT managed a 2.95% gain, but it is thinly traded.
As of Sunday evening...

The report on Visa Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $193.25. This is a fantastic company that is very central to commerce and especially online commerce and the digital economy. Unfortunately it does seem expensive. Still, it would likely...

Thursday was another exciting day in the markets. The S&P 500 ended the day up 1.0% and Toronto ended 1.3% higher.
AutoCanada was up 5.1%. American Express rose 4.3%. Constellation Software was up 4.0%.
Toll Brothers was down 1.9% and Melcor Deve...

Markets moved noticeably lower on Wednesday with the S&P 500 falling 2.6% and Toronto down 2.0%.
Notable decliners included: Linamar- down 6.8%, Starbucks - down 6.5%, Shopify - down 5.1%.
C.N. Rail was down 4.7% despite a dividend increase and s...

The report on Dollarama is updated rated (lower) Buy at $50.77. It's a great company. It usually seems expensive and that is the case now. But over time will probably do well. I held none and bought a small amount today and will add to that if the pr...

On Tuesday markets were mostly down somewhat as the S&P 500 fell a modest 0.15% while Toronto was down 0.7%.
TFI International finished the day up 3.0% at $88.66. First thing this morning it was as high as $98.75. At that price it was up fully 50...

Markets were somewhat volatile on Monday but ended the day with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.3%.
The big news today was that TFI International soared 32% after it announced a major acquisition. TFI will acquire UPS's freight division for ...

TFI International is up a whopping 24% this morning after announcing it will purchase UPS's less-than-truckload freight business. This a large business and will be purchased for $800 million on a "no-cash, no-debt" basis. I don't know what they mean ...

I am taking a quick look at Aphria becasue a family member of mine owns shares.
I don't know much about the various Cannabis companies but here is what I found out:
Aphria is one of the bigger Cannabis companies  and is going to be the biggest when i...

Markets were down modestly on Friday as the S&P 500 fell o.3% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
Stocks rising included Apple Inc. up 1.6% to  $139.  And Toll Brothers up 1.6% to $50.82.
There was news that West Fraser Timber's all-stock acquisition of Norbo...

Markets were a bit weak on Thursday as the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.55%.
Apple was up another 3.7%. 
Toll Brothers was up 2.8% to just over $50. West Fraser Timber was up 2.3%. both of these had also risen in recent days...

Biden is in and Trump is out and the stock market went up once again on Wednesday
The S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was up 5.5%.
Alcanna gained 4.9% presumably related to the share issue by by it's soon to be subsidiary...

Tuesday was another positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.8%. Toronto only managed t o edge up 0.1% despite oil rising almost $1.00 to U.S. $53.16.
Toll Brothers gained 3.4%. American Express was up 3.8% perhaps linked to some America...

Having just updated our report on the common shares of Fortis Inc., I also took a look at their preferred shares. Fortis has seven different preferred shares outstanding. Four are rate reset style shares, one is a floating rate and the other two are ...

U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday. Toronto was up 0.2%
We had a very nice gain from Alcanna, up 19.1% after headlines that it would "spin-out" its retail Cannabis stores.  Alcanna is combining its retail Nova...

Our report on Fortis Inc. is updated and rated Buy at $52.13. The 3.9% dividend is reasonably attractive. And that dividend has now been increased 47 years in a row. The stock is attractive for its low risk. I don't own it but would like to add it to...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto as down 0.3%.
AutoCanada bounced down 6.9%. 
Melcor Developments was up 5.5%. 
Couche-Tard was up 4.7% possibly because its deal to buy Carrefour in France looked in doubt and analysts dod not like...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto edged up 0.1%. 
Oil is up to $53.56 U.S. which is good for Alberta although it is offset somewhat by the higher Canadian dollar.
There were no particularly noteworthy moves in the stocks on our...

CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $2.23 or Canadian $2.83. This is very much a niche business as it provides anesthesia services for colonoscopies at some 66 walk-in clinics. It operates exclusively in the U.S. and mostly in th...

With the S&P 500 up 0.2% and Toronto down 0.3 % it would appear that as fat the markets were concerned, Wednesday was a slow news day. Donal Trump has been impeached again and the market is unfazed.
Couche-Tard was down 10.2% based on its own new...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is down about 10% this morning due to its proposed takeover of France-based Carrefour.
This would be a HUGE acquisition at $20 billion U.S. Consider that Couche-Tard has a market cap of $41 billion Canadian. Indications are t...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto as up 0.3%.
AutoCanada was up 8.9% despite not releasing any news. And in spite of the various Canadian economy lock downs.
Couche-Tard was down 2.2%. That was in spite of or perhaps becau...

On Monday, markets were down modestly with the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down 0.6%
Melcor was up 3.9% and Stantec was up 3.6%.
I trimmed my position in Canadian Tire and TFI International today in order to move towards a more balanced allocat...

On Sunday night futures are suggesting that the markets will open moderately lower on Monday morning. At some point even a market that is giddy for stimulus can't ignore the risk of whatever might happen between now and inauguration day.
Meanwhile I ...

Stocks continued to set higher record highs on Friday  with the S&P 500 rising 0.55% and Toronto edging up 0.1%.
I'm really starting to wonder if the market is not under-estimating the chance of turmoil in the U.S.  Out of 75 million Trump suppor...

Thursday was another strong day as the markets said never mind the insurrection, think about the stimulus package that the Democrats are likely to offer.
The S&P 500 gained a hefty 1.5% and Toronto gained 1.1%.
Toll Brothers was strong with a 4.7...

Today was not exactly a boring day for news.
Overnight, President Trump shamelessly claimed that the Georgia Senate election was not a fair election. He described the last batches of voted to be counted as "vote dumps" when in reality they were just ...

Markets were higher on Tuesday as the S&P 500 gained 0.7% and Toronto gained 0.9%.
Oil surged 5% to trade over U.S. $50 for the first time in almost a year. This pushed the Canadian dollar to 79 U.S. cents. Oil increased because Saudi Arabia anno...

On Monday, the first day of trading for 2021,  U.S.  markets were down, although not as low as they had been earlier in the day.  The S&P 500 was down 1.5% but Toronto was up 0.5%. Alcanna (Alberta liquor store chain owner) was up 7.1%.  Melcor D...

The first few comments for 2021 will appear here until I get a new page setup for 2021.
January 3, 2021
Our report on TFI International (a large Canadian trucking company with now substantial operations in the U.S) is updated and rated (lower) Buy at...

On Wednesday. the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was virtually unchanged.
Melcor Developments was up 14.5% to $9.79. It's nice to see it showing some life. But even with the volume higher than normal today, it is a thinly traded stock. Only 27...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Stantec was up 2.2%.
Melcor showed a bit of life rising 4.4% and with the Melcor REIT rising 3.6%. 
...

On Monday, Toronto markets were closed. But the S&P 500 rose 0.7%. 
Apple was a notable winner, rising 3.6%. And Amazon was up 3.5%. Starbucks was also strong, rising 2.3%.
The usual pattern would be that Toronto will play catch-up tomorrow. But ...

Our report on American Express is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $117.35. Its revenues and particularly its earnings are down due to the pandemic such that it looks somewhat expensive in relation to earnings. But if we assume that it will recover a...

On Monday, the U.S. markets will be fully open while Toronto will be closed. 
Trump has signed the COVID relief bill which should be positive for markets.
I am working on an update for American Express. It should be a decent long term hold. I expect ...

On Christmas Eve, markets were mostly positive as the S&P 500 rose 0.35% and Toronto rose 0.2%.
There were no big movements in the stocks on our list. But Shopify was up 1.7% and Visa Inc. was up 1.7%.
 New York markets and probably most world ma...

Our report on Royal Bank of Canada or RBC trading under symbol RY is updated and rated (higher) Buy.  This is Canada's largest bank and it continues to grow in size year after year. It is has five major divisions all of which are consistently profita...

An otherwise good day in the markets on Wednesday was rather spoiled by bad news from one of the stocks I own and that is on our list.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.9%.
CRH Medical was down 21% to...

CRH Medical is down about 25% this morning after announcing that one of its major contracts representing 20% of its EBITDA is set to not renew as expected at the end of 2021. This is an ugly development. CRH operates in various clinic and relies on c...

Markets were "mixed" on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto up 0.3%.
Shopify surged 7.3% to a new record high close. Apple was up 2.85% and Constellation Software was up 4.6%. A great day for these digital economy stocks. 
RIWI was dow...

Markets were mostly down on Monday although the Dow Jones ended the day up 0.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Canadian Tire was down 3.3%, RioCan was down 2.5% - both of these probably related to the Ontario lockdowns. Lin...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.35% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
AutoCanada slipped 4.8%. Possibly it just ran up too fast, so not a surprise.
FedEx was down 5.7% despite supposedly beating estimates and have a very strong quarter. I will likely ...

My "links" page is a collection of links that I found useful over the years. some of those links I use a lot and some I had not looked at in years. I just went through and made sure all the links worked and deleted some that no longer worked. I added...

Some investors really like dividend reinvestment plans. They allow your dividends to be used to purchase more shares and with no broker fee. And sometimes you even get a discount of around 2% or even 5%!
I can definitely see the attraction when there...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.5%
The Boston Pizza units were up 6.7% to $10.82 after it announced the 20 cent special  distribution. The 20 cents really just results from the six months of zero distributions as cash bu...

Markets were mostly up moderately on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.35%.
Shopify surged another 8.3%. And Amazon was up 2.4%.
But many of the stocks on our list were down somewhat.
AutoCanada was down 5.7%. This morning Des...

Air Canada managed to sell its desired $850 million worth or 35 million shares in the over night marketed deal. As I expected the price came in at the lower end being $24.
Also as would be expected this has knocked the share price down in the market....

Our report for Linamar is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $68.65. Its results in 2020 are not indicative of normal because of the pandemic. But even with the pandemic it has done okay. There was a loss in Q2 despite the federal wage subsidy but they...

Air Canada is out with a share offering attempting to raise $850 million in "an overnight marketed deal".
I'm certainly not surprised that they need money. I saw the CEO claim recently that their balance sheet is very strong. I am not going to attemp...

Markets rose on Tuesday apparently due to hopes that a stimulus / COVID relief package would be passed soon in the U.S.
The S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Apple was up 5.0%. Alcanna was up 4.3%.
TFI increased its quarterly dividend ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 finished the day down 0.4% while Toronto declined 0.9%.
Constellation Software was up 2.85%.
RioCan was up 2.5% and has help up surprisingly well after its distribution cut and in the face of the challenges to the physical ...

There is nothing more central to economic activity than banks. Our pay cheques are deposited to bank accounts. The great majority of our spending and bill paying consists of the money in our bank accounts being transferred to the bank accounts of var...

Our report on Canadian Western Bank is updated rated Speculative Buy at $29.00 (it closed today at $29.09)
There are many pluses and minuses to consider about buying shares in CWB at this time:
The biggest minus is that it is already expecting a cont...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.25%
About the biggest gainer on the list I monitor was WSP Global up another 2.0%.
lululemon was notable to the downside with a loss of 6.7% despite a strong earnings report. But it has ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.45%.
Shopify was down 6.0%.
Toll Brothers was down another 2.9% to $43.99. I read through the conference call transcript today and and most of the call discussed all the ways Toll has...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was down 7.9% to $45.32 despite its strong earnings report. It remains one of my larger positions. If that were not the case I would be very tempted to buy more shares at this p...

Monday's session saw the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto up 0.35%.
Shopify was up 2.9%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 3.5% after analysts suggested its non-interest (mostly staff) expenses were too high. It has added staff to position itself for g...

Markets pushed higher once again on Friday as the S&P 500 rose 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Intact Financial was up 3.7%. 
Canada's energy exchange traded fund XEG was up 5.6%
WSP Global was up another 5.6% as the market digested the news of its...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 finished the day down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers had a strong day, rising 4.3%. 
WSP Global jumped 11.6% after announcing it will acquire the large environmental consulting firm Golder Associates. Golde...

On Wednesday, markets edged upwards once again. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.35%.
Linamar was up another 2.5%.
AutoCanada bounced up 3.6%
Couche-Tard was up 2.5%
RIWI was down 8.4% to $2.61. It's speculative but worth considering ...

Markets rose on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 1.1% and Toronto up 0.6%.
Linamar jumped 5.2% which may have been due to analyst recommendations to buy.  After the close, DesRosiers reported that light vehicle sales in Canada in November were down 10...

Markets gave back a little ground on Monday as the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.2% 
Shopify had another strong day gaining 4.1%.
RioCan was down 3.5%. That is not surprising after the recent gains and given the partial lock-downs ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
There were no particularly note worthy movements in the stocks on our list.
As of Sunday evening, indications are that he markets will open modestly down on Monday morning.
We have had a...

Our Tiny R&D penny stock company Ceapro is out with Q3 earnings this morning. At a QUICK look:
Definitely looks good. Seems like we are back to the point where the legacy products are allowing  cash to build and maybe almost justifies the share p...

U.S. markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Toronto was up 0.2%.
Alcanna continues to rise and was up 2.45% today.
The Boston Pizza units were up 4%. This may have been driven by Ontario's decision to cap the fees that the like...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% but Toronto was up 0.2% as the price of oil continues to rise.
West Texas Oil, WTI is now just over U.S. $46. That's about $60 Canadian which is actually not a low oil price except in relation to some of th...

This post was sent by email on November 24th:
Anyone trying to log into investorsfriend.com in the past couple of days will have seen a security warning and not been able to get in. My apologies for that. I need a new SSL security certificate and it ...

Markets ended moderately higher on Thursday after starting the day in negative territory. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Futures markets on Thursday evening are suggesting that the market will be moderately weaker on Friday. App...

Markets were down somewhat on Wednesday as the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto ws down 0.3%.
The Boston Pizza Royalties units were up 8.4% to $9.76 and yielding 8.0%. The gain surprises me given the current virus situation but it may be that th...

U.S. Markets were slightly negative on Tuesday as the S&P 500 fell 0.5% but Toronto managed a 0.3% gain.
There were no many stocks on our list rising or falling more than 2% or so. The Melcor REIT was up 5.4% to $4.77. It had spend most of the la...

Markets were strong on Monday on the news that a proposed vaccine has achieved a 94.5% success rate so far in a Phase III clinical trial.  And this one does not require ultra cold storage in distribution. While it would be some months before the vacc...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
AutoCanada was up 10.6% after releasing earnings. This has been a story of good management since the new management took over a couple of years ago. Part of the story is that auto sales ...

In updating the report on Alcanna, I noticed it has a convertible denture that pays 4.7% and is trading right around par value and maturing in 15 months. The symbol is CLIQ.DB
This might be of interest as a fixed income investment. It is also temptin...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated Buy at $7.00 This has admittedly been a poor and frustrating investment for a long time. It's now trading at just 21% of book value and is still profitable although with low profits. For those holding it, I ca...

Alcanna Inc. is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $5.47. This is the formerly named Liquor Stores N.A. It came under new management over two years ago and they have taken a lot of actions to improve things. It reported good earnings on Friday afte...

On Thursday the markets took more notice of the pandemic and the S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 1.1%.
Alcanna was down 4.3%. I like its chances of doing well as lockdowns lead to more home consumption of alcohol as restaurants and bar...

Although it was Remembrance Day in Canada and Veteran's Day in the U.S.; the markets were open today.
The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 1.0%. 
Linamar surged 16% after releasing earnings.
Some of the "tech" stocks that had declined on Mo...

Our report on Canadian Tire is updated and rated Buy at $165.25.   The Canadian Tire stores came though the pandemic extremely well. Even in Q@ when stores in Ontario were shut down for several weeks sales were up 20% for the quarter. Then in Q3 same...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% (but the DOW was up 0.9%) and Toronto was up 0.85%.
Toll Brothers bounced up 7.3%
Canadian Western Bank was up 3.8%.
Melcor Developments was up 6.6%. It then reported Q3 earnings after the close which were pr...

Monday was a very strong day in the markets after pfiser reported extremely promising preliminary results from its Coronavirus vaccine phase II trial.
The S&P 500 closed up 1.2%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 2.95% and Toronto was up 1....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down a tiny 0.1%.
Aurora Cannabis was up a huge 56% but still remains down 62% year to date. There was no news from Aurora to explain this gain. There was speculation it was due to the em...

Despite some uncertainty in the election result and despite Trump's antics, markets were strong once again on Thursday.
The S&P 500 was up 1.95% and Toronto was up 1.9%.
Notable gainers included:
Canadian Tire - up 6.65% after releasing strong Q3...

For most of the last four years the market has greatly cheered the Trump Presidency. In the lead up this election it cheered the hoped for a decisive Biden victory. Today as it appeared that we will instead get a squeaker of a Biden win, the market (...

Markets were fearless on election day as the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 1.5%.
The vast majority of stocks were up. Once again there were no notable declines among the stocks on our list with the exception that ...

On Monday there were images of U.S. store fronts being boarded up out of fear of rioting and associated property damage and/or looting that could occur with the U.S. election.
There is also more and more news about second-wave economic shutdowns happ...

Election day looms. The big question is whether markets are likely to rise as soon as the election is out of the way - in which case deploying some cash on Monday or Tuesday would be wise, or will they decline on Wednesday especially if Trump loses b...

I have never analyzed any convertible debentures and I don't recall ever owning one. In updating the Aecon report I also took a look at its convertible debenture.
Aecon has $184 million worth of convertible debentures that were issued by prospectus i...

Our report on Aecon is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold at $14.22.  The company reported sharply higher earnings in Q3. But it seems that this was entirely due to government emergency wage subsidies without which earnings would have declined. Perha...

On Thursday, markets recovered a portion of yesterday's losses. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
This week stocks are reacting to the pandemic as well as numerous earnings reports and the pending U.S. election.
Oil prices have dec...

The report for FedEx is updated and it is rated Weak Buy / Hold at U.S. $264.  I had rated FedEx a Sell in early February becasue it had reported a string of very weak quarters and was forecasting that to continue in the short term. It had already ta...

On Wednesday it seems that the markets accepted a doze of reality regarding the pandemic and the S&P 500 fell 3.5% while Toronto fell 2.7%.
FedEx was one of the bigger decliners - down 5.25%. I have been working on an update for FedEx. It's lates...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
It appears that the market is taking more notice of the worsening pandemic situation.
Stocks on the rise included Shopify (3.7% after announcing a deal with TicToc that is intended ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 1.9% and Toronto was down 1.4%.
This is really a minor pull back and should come as no surprise given the worsening pandemic and the U.S. election risk.
The biggest decline in the stocks I follow was Toll Brothers, dow...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.15%.
TFI International (formerly Transforce) was up another 3.8% after releasing earnings. 
Toll Brothers bounced up 3.3%.
American Express was down 3.6%. It releases earnings on Friday. Its...

CN Rail is updated but rated only Weak Buy / Hold at $138. It looks somewhat expensive but this has been a tremendous company to own over the long term and it will continue to increase earnings. It suffered an earnings decline with the pandemic but i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
AutoCanada was up 4.9% and is basically at a 52 week high. Analysts mostly rate it a Buy. It will be interesting to see how their Q3 went.
Toll Brothers was down 2.6%. 
After the close...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was down 4.3%. 
CN Rail was down 6.1% after reporting Q3 earnings. This gives back a little of its recent strong gains. I plan to update the report on this company a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was unchanged.
CRH Medical bounced up 5.6%. Linamar was up 3.2%.
AutoCanada was down 3.7%.
CN Rail reported earnings after the close which were apparently a little below analyst expectations. Tran...

Markets were lower on Monday due to fears that a U.S. economic stimulus package may be delayed.
The S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
However, AutoCanada was up 7.8%. It has been bouncing up and down without any apparent news to ex...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.4%.
Canadian Tire was strong with a 2.8% gain.
Toll Brothers was down 2.4%.
Stock futures suggest that stocks will rise on Monday du to optimism about economic stimulus talks in ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.15% and Toronto was up 0.3%. 
Ceapro was up 10.9%. But it's a penny stock and tends to be quite volatile.
Canadian Tire was up 2.3%. One aspect of Canadian Tire that looks weak to me is its Party City chain. I ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
CRH Medical was down 4.4%. Possibly this is due to fears that the clinics provides anesthesia services in will  be closed due to lock-downs or that patients will stay away due to ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
AutoCanada was down 4.8% giving back a little of its recent strong gains.
RIWI was up 4.1%.
The Boston Pizza units were down 3.3%. After rising in response to the resumption of mont...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up another 1.6%. Toronto was closed for the holiday.
Most of the recent U.S. market strength is ties to hopes for a giant government stimulus package. There is something pathetic and wrong when the private sector stock ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 gained another 0.9% and Toronto rose 0.2%.
Amazon was up another 3.0%.
AutoCanada was notable with a 5.1% gain to close at $22.18. I am surprised how strong it has been. Apparently the analysts that cover it have mostly bee...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.65%.
Toll Brothers was up 3.8% to $49.23. It's very close to a 52 week high. It got over $50 in February. But it was also over $50 in late 2017. Before that it had an all-time high of some...

Market were up sharply on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up 1.7% and Toronto was up 1.2%.
Among the bigger gains were:  TFI International - up 4.1% to a new high. Shopify - up 3.0%, Alcanna- up 5.6%. FedEx - up 3.5%, AutoCanada - up 7.9%,  Linamar - ...

On Tuesday, stocks were down after President Trump announced that he would end negotiations (with the Democrats) on a hoped for stimulus package until after the election. 
It's rather sad and ironic  that the private sector and stock markets, the sup...

Monday was a very positive day for stocks as the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and Toronto gained 1.3%.
Among the more notable gains: Boston Pizza Royalties was up 7.1%, TFI International was up 4.7%, AutoCanada was up 3.9%,and  Andrew Peller was up 4.3%.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.5%. That was a modest decline in the face of news that the President has the corona virus.
Apple was down 3.2%, Amazon was down 3.0%.
The big winner was the Boston Pizza Royalties Income...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Shopify was up 2.9%.
Constellation Software was up 3.5%.
AutoCanada was up 3.7%. September light vehicle sales were released today (amazing that we get them this quick). and showed...

Markets apparently took little notice of last night's presidential debate as the S&P 500 rose 0.8%. Toronto, however was down 0.6%.
Toll Brothers bounced up 3.3%.
I notice Bombardier is down to a pathetic 33 cents. That's basically pricing in the...

Markets were negative on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.5% and Toronto down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was down 4.5%.
Melcor Developments was down 4.55% to $5.87. Today's dip may have been related to lower oil prices. I continue to find it difficult to...

Markets were strong on Monday as the S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto rose 1.1%.
Some of the more notable gain on our list were: AutoCanada - up 4.2%, Canadian Western Bank up 3.2%, and Linamar - up 3.4%.
As mentioned this morning, our report on Tol...

Markets are noticeably higher this Monday morning.
AutoCanada is up 8% and Canadian Western Bank is up 3%.
The report on Toll Brothers is updated and rated (lower) Buy. It has done very well and its next quarterly report should be very strong. New ho...

Friday's trading session ended with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.6%.
Costco reported earnings after the close that were said to exceed expectations for both revenue (where expectations were already high) and earnings. But the shares fell ...

Wednesday was a negative day for markets which was blamed on the U.S. FED suggesting that the government needs to act to stimulate the economy while the market fears this will not happen anytime soon. The ongoing pandemic as we roll into the Fall of ...

Markets were positive on Tuesday with the S&P 500 and Toronto both up 1.0%.
Notable gainers included lululemon, up 6.1%, Toll Brothers up 2.5% and Canadian Tire up 3.3%.
Indications are that the market will open moderately higher this morning.
Ca...

Monday was a negative day for most stocks as the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and Toronto fell 1.3%. During much of the the trading day the decline was closer to about 2% but there was some recovery near the end of the trading day.
AutoCanada was one of the...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Shopify was up 4.0%. 
Apple was down 3.2% to $106.84. That's a significant drop from its peak of $137.98 reached at the start of September when there was a lot of excitement around i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
RIWI, which has been volatile was up 10.8%.
Toll Brothers was down 1.3% and announced before the close that it had made a small acquisition in Colorado which has has been one of th...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Shopify was down 4.9% to CAN $1166 or U.S. $ 885 as it announced that it will issue about 1.3 million shares in the U.S. at U.S. $900. This will increase the share count by only a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose another 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Restaurant Brands was up 3.1%.
AutoCanada was down 3.5%. As mentioned, I took advantage of its higher price yesterday to sell about 40% of my shares in this company. I was over-ex...

Markets rose once again on Monday with the S&P 500 up 1.3% and Toronto up 0.85%.
American Express was up 3.8%. Restaurant Brands was up 3.5% and Apple was up 3.0%.
Riwi Corporation was down 12.1% and is worth considering as a speculative pick.
Au...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.05% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
AutoCanada was up 7.4%. It has made a very strong recovery off its lows. At this point, it might be wise to trim the position for those who are over weight it. It has had a history of c...

On Thursday, markets bounced down with the S&P 500 down 1.8% and Toronto down 1.2%. 
Apple was down 3.3%.  Couche-Tard was down 3.7%.
Possibly the market is starting to focus on the U.S. election which certainly appears set to be ugly and divisiv...

Stocks moved higher on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 2.0% and Toronto was up 1.7%.
Notable gainers included: Couche-Tard up 5.0%, Metro Inc. up 3.3%,  Apple up 4.0%,  Toll Brothers up 3.7%, Amazon up 3.8%,  AutoCanada up 3.5%, And Andrew Peller u...

Markets were down on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 2.8%. Toronto was only down 0.7% and that was in spite of a big drop in oil prices.
The recently high flying tech names that I follow were down. Apple - down 6.7%, Shopify - down 4.4%, Amazazon d...

Markets declined on Friday as the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto fell 1.4%.
Notable decliners included:  lululemon - down 4.4%, Shopify - down 4.5%,  Dollarama - down 3.1% and Constellation Software -down 3.0%.
As of Monday evening, stock futures ...

On Thursday, markets had their first significantly down day in quite some time. The S&P 500 fell 3.5% and Toronto was down 1.5%.
Accordingly, most stocks were down on the day. Some of the biggest declines among the stocks on my list were:
Apple- ...

Wednesday was a very strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.5%. Toronto, however, managed only a 0.3% gain.
Notable gainers included:
Couche-Tard up 7.5% on its strong earnings report.Restaurant Brands - up 3.9%.Fortis - up 2.6%Starbucks...

Stocks were mostly higher on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was up 0.75% and the Toronto index was up 0.8%.
Shopify was up another 6.7%. lululemon was up 4.2%. Apple was up 4.0%, Toll Brothers was up 4.0%. AutoCanada was up 7.3%.
After the close, Couche-Ta...

Stocks were mostly lower on Monday as the S&P 500 declined 0.2% and Toronto was down 1.15%.
But Apple was up 3.4% as it began trading on a four for one stock split basis. And Shopify was up 2.3%.
AutoCanada closed down 2.85%.
RioCan was down 1.7%...

The report for Stantec is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $42.35. 
Penny stock Ceapro has doubled since it was last updated in June and is now updated and rated Speculative Buy at 80 cents. After a few years of reporting losses it is once again ...

Friday was yet another positive day for U.S. stocks as the S&P 500 rose another 0.7%. Meanwhile, Toronto was down  0.15%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 7.6% after reporting good earnings on Friday morning. It's provision for loan losses was lower ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 managed yet another small gain - rising 0.2%. Meanwhile, Toronto was down 0.35%.
American Express was up 3.2% and RIWI, which is a very small company was up 9.0%. 
My next update will be for Stantec. 
 
 
...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up another 1.0%. Toronto was also up 1.0%.
Shopify was up an impressive 5.1%. Canadian Tire was up 3.4%. Constellation Software was up 3.3%.
AutoCanada was down 5.9%
The latest rail car loading report out today shows...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose another 0.4% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Starbucks was up 5.1%. Shopify was up 3.8%.
After the close, Toll Brothers reported strong results. How the stock price reacts will depend on the extent to which strong result...

Monday was another positive day for stocks. In large part due to hopes for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines as Trump accelerates certain approvals.
The S&P 500 was up 1% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Among the gainers: Linamar was up 3.25%, AutoCanada...

On Friday. the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.5%.
Penny stock Ceapro continued to climb, rising 6.7% to 96 cents. 
Toll Brothers rose 3.7% as American home building continued to be surprisingly strong.
Apple soared another 5.1%.
Aut...

Having just updated the Melcor REIT and RioCan REIT it seems appropriate to compare the two.
Looking at yield, the Melcor REIT is at 9.1% and RioCan at 9.3%.  On that basis (in isolation of other facts) RioCan would be the clear choice.  However, the...

The report for RioCan is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $15.56. The yield is attractive at 9.3%. There is some potential for a cut to the distribution due to the impacts of the pandemic. But management maintains they are comfortable with the curre...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Various "tech" stocks continue to soar including Amazon - up , Apple - up 2.2%, Shopify - up 2.6%, and Constellation Software - up 3.5%, 
Ceapro was up another 9.9% after reporting a s...

Markets were mostly moderately lower on Wednesday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.3%.
My next update will be for RioCan. Reading its (very detailed) Q2 report I was very impressed with this entity and its prospects. Sure, it has its...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 closed at a new record high as it rose 0.2%. Toronto was down 0.2%
Penny stock Ceapro was up 21% to a 52 week high  after it announced progress on its research into "an inhalable therapeutic for COVID-19.  However, this is ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.9%.
Toll Brothers was up 6.1% to $42.15 as U.S. home builder sentiment was reported to be very strong.
Going the other way, AutoCanada gave back 7.9%. This comes after its recent sharp inc...

Friday was a relatively quiet day in the markets with the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto down 0.1%.
Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund was up 10.3% after reporting (obviously very weak) Q2 results and indicating it will reinstate some level ...

Markets were modestly lower on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.3%.
CRH Medical bounced up 9.2%. 
AutoCanada was up 7.1% and has certainly had an impressive recovery from its lows.
 
...

Greetings from Waterton National Park Alberta.
On Wednesday, markets continued to push higher as the S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto rose 0.5%.
AutoCanada was up a further 8.0% on its Q2 earnings release.
Apple was up another 3.3%.
Checking the lat...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.65%. 
AutoCanada was up 7.3%. That suggests maybe a leak of information since it reported results after the close that appear to be good results given the virus situation.  There has bee...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
FedEx surged 9.0%. Apparently at least partly due to an analyst upgrade. 
Canadian Western Bank was up 5.2% probably linked to higher oil prices.
Toll Brothers was up 3.2%.
Overall, it w...

On Friday the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
I am certainly surprised at how strong the markets have been. low interest rates are  a key driver as is expectations for a virus vaccine.
I'm surprised that some of Trump's actions h...

Markets were higher once again on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was down 6.3% after reporting a loss in Q2 . Its sports stores were closed for much of the quarter and the Canadian Tire stores had limited ope...

Markets were once again higher on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto gained 0.8%.
Some of the gainers included lulu lemon - up 3.7%,  Canadian tire up 3.3%,  Linamar up 4.9%.
After the close, Stantec, WSP and Andrew Peller reported ea...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%. Toronto which was playing catch-up, due to the holiday yesterday was up 1.2%.
Costco was up 3.2% 
I mentioned Ceapro in my last post. I bought some  in a family member's account that I manage. It was down 2.9%...

I got an interesting email from a local business.
"Evolution Golf Sherwood Park will be closed for the month of August due to a shortage of staffing. The hours at the North and South locations will remain unchanged."  (This is an indoor golf simulato...

Canadian markets were closed on Monday but the S&P 500 was up another 0.7%. 
Shopify was up 5.8%. 
The owner of the massive 7-11 chain of stores made a huge U.S. $21 billion deal to buy some 3,900 gas stations from Marathon Petroleum. The headlin...

It's Monday but the Canadian stock markets are closed for the civic holiday while the U.S. markets are open.
On Friday Toronto was down 0.8%. Losers included Canadian Western Bank down 2.8% to $22.80. Shopify bounced down 3.1%. RioCan was down 2.7% a...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Intact Financial was up 2.6%. Constellation Software was up (another) 3.4%. 
Apple and Amazon had better than expected earning reports. 
RIWI was up 12% to $3.59 and has mo...

Wednesday was a strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and Toronto 1.1%.
Intact Financial was up 3.0% after it released strong Q2 earning.
Shopify surged another 7.0%.
TFI International was up another 3.0%.
Linamar was up 3.4%.
Starbu...

Markets were down modestly on Tuesday as the S&P 500 fell 0.65% and Toronto was down 0.25%.
TFI International was up 2.35% on its earnings release.
RIWI a very small company that was recently added to our list posted a good strong earnings report...

Monday was another positive day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 1.0%.
Some of the larger gains included Shopify - up 4.7%, Toll Brothers - up 3.8%, AutoCanada up 3.5%.
With the huge gains on so many stocks since the Mar...

Markets were lower on Friday as the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
AutoCanada was up 2.6%. 
The Melcor REIT was down 9.1% to $3.50. 
Looking at AECON Group's Q2 report there was an interesting aspect regard the 75% federal wage ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
AutoCanada had a atrong day rising 17%. Presumably there was an analyst upgrade. I did not see any news. 
Aecon Inc. reported after the clsoe a Q2 loss but emphasized their record ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Shopify bounced down 6.4%.
Energy stocks were generally higher and the Energy ETF XEG was up 8.9%.
After the close, CN Rail reported Q1 earnings that were down but which beat expect...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Linamar was up 5.0% to $40.81. Toll Brothers was up 6.9% to $36.69 and AutoCanada was up 3.9%.
Ceapro slipped back 5.6% to 67 cents.
The latest rail car loading statistics w...

Stocks were mostly higher on Monday as the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Toronto 0.4%.
Amazon soared another 7.9%. That is a HUGE amount of wealth creation. About U.S. $120 billion in new added wealth based on investors bidding up the price in a single d...

Markets were positive once again on Friday as the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto gained 0.6%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.2% and sits at a recoird high. 
Ceapro was up 7.7%. But that's not such a big move for a volatile penny stock. 
This week will featu...

Markets were down a little on Thursday as the S&P 500 declined 0.3% and Toronto ws down 0.2%.
Penny stock Ceapro was up 14% to 65 cents. There was no news to explain this and so we should not read too much into it.
Toll Brothers was up 4.0%.
Most...

Markets were higher once again on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.9% and Toronto ws up 1.0%.
Restauant Brands was up 3.9%. AutoCanada was up 8.6%, CRH Medical was up 5.7%.
Penny stock Ceapro jumped 11.7% to a new 52 week high of 57 cents but rema...

Tuesday markets ignored the virus situation as the S&P 500 went up 1.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.1% and Toronto was up 1.7%. I can't help but wonder if investors are "whgistling past the graveyard" in ignoring the virus situatio...

Markets were initially higher on Monday but went lower late in the trading day and the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.9% while Toronto ended the day down 0.5%. The late-day decline was blamed on the virus situation and the reversal of some of the e...

Markets had another strong day on Friday with the S&P 500 up 1.05% and Toronto up 0.9%.
Toll Brothers bounced up 4.7% but this comes after a 4.8% loss on Thursday.
Berkshire Hathaway was up 2.3% and this was likely because of a report that it app...

Stock indexes were down modestly on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toroto was down 0.4%.
Couche-Tard was up 3.9%. Amazon rose another 3.3%.
Costco was up 2.9% after announcing strong June sales.
Toll Brothers was down 4.8%.
...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was up 5.1%. Constellation Software was up 3.6%.
Yesterday I mentioned the convertible debenture that Cineplex was offering. The reason the exact interest rate and conve...

Markets were down somewhat on Tuesday as the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and the Toronto stock index fell 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 3.0%. Possibly this was due to bad news on the pipeline front as courts are at least temporarily blocking the con...

Cineplex is out with a convertible debenture offer that looks very strange. On the one hand it could be a reasonably safe way to play the potential upside if Cineplex wins its massive legal settlement with Cineworld or if Cineplex recovers greatly as...

Markets were strong once again on Monday as the S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Torontow as up 0.5%.
Amazon was up 5.8% which is rather astounding for such a huge company.
Toll Brothers was up 3.4%.
Shopify had a rare down day and fell 3.8%.
AutoCananda ...

As of Sunday evening, U.S. stock futures suggest that Monday will be another positive day for stocks. That despite the virus situation.
On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
CRH Medical was up 9%.
Over the weekend Berksh...

Markets continued to move higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.45% and Toronto up 0.7%.
Shopify romped up another 8.4% as enthusiam for this company seems to know no bounds.
TFI International was up 2.4% and is at an all-time high.
Linamar wa...

Markets were higher on Tuesday as the S&P 500 rose 1.5% and Toronto 0.8%.
lululemon was up 6.0% on news of an acquisition it will make.
FedEx was up 4.2% and then rose a further 9.1% in after hours trading after it released earnings.
Toll Brother...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.4% and Toronto was down 1.7%.
A few stocks on our list managed to buck the trend. TFI Interenational was up 1.1%. AutoCanada was up 1.0% and Stantec was up 1.2%.
Futures were reportedly down earlier this ...

On Thursday, stocks moved higher near the close and the S&P 500 ended the day up 1.1% while Toronto was up 1.0%.
U.S. bank stocks were strong as certain regulations were loosened. But then after the close the FED expressed concern and moved to re...

Park Lawn Corporation has a new issue out - a five year debenture (the word debenture signifies a bond that is not secured by assets) that pays 5.75% annually and matures December 31, 2025.
As of 12:30 pm eastern time the issue was still "open" for p...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 2.6% and Toronto fell 1.7%.
The great majority of stocks on our list were down.
Markets seem to have started to take notice of the higher virus cases in much of the U.S.
Penny stock Ceapro had reached a 52 week high...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
A notable gainer was AutoCanada - up 11.9% 
Boston Pizza did not react to the news I mentioned yesterday. Probably becasue it was still very unclear what the duistribution might be once...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.65% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Boston Pizza provided an update after the close but it was not clear what the cash distribution will be after it is re-started. Most of the information was about the parent Boston Pizza...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.
On Sunday evening, stock futures are down about 0.6%. Virus cases continue to rise in the U.S. but so far the stock market is not expecting this to lead to a reversal of the ...

Markets were not much changed on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.3%.
Shopify had another strong day rising 5.9%.
I added some updated comments in the stock table on the Subscriber home page. For the preferrred shares I added th...

Stocks were mostly down on Wednesday as the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and Toronto fell 0.65%.
The increased virus cases in the southern U.S. could cause the market to cool its enthusiasm.
I'm going to take a look at Alcanna, symbol CLIQ,  which owns liqu...

Stocks rose on Tuesday as the FED indicated that interest rates will stay low and in continued reaction to strong retail sales gains in May and perhaps due to positive news regarding COVID-19 treeatments.
Ceapro was up 10%, Heineken was up 3.5%.
...

Markets were initally down noticeably on Monday but ended the day with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 0.7%.
A notable gainer was our one Penny Stock, Ceapro, up 25% after announcing progress in one of its research efforts. It has a number of ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 1.4%.
Boston Pizza Royalties recovered 12.0%.
Stock futures are down somewhat on Sunday evening.
...

Markets were down sharply on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 5.9% and Toronto fell 4.1%.
This is not exactly shocking given the huge run up and given the unemployment levels. But optimism remains and the futures are higher this morning.
The report f...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Most stocks were down. Notable exceptions included: Couche-Tard - up 4.3%, Dollarama -up 2.5%, Apple - up 2.6%, Amazon - up 1.8% and lululemon up 2.6%.
Markets have of course rise...

Markets were down modestly on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.9%.
CRH Medical was down 6.9%, giving back some of its recent gains.
Apple was up 3.2% and is at an all-time high.
My next update will be for Amazon which will no...

Markets were highere once again on Monday with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.8%.
CRH Medical was up 22%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 6.1%.
RioCan was up 5.2% to $18.14. A week ago it was under $15.
Boston Pizza was up 17% to $9.94. That's...

Markets were sharply higher on Friday in response to employment gains in May when the forecasts had predicted further job losses.
The S&P 500 was up 2.6% and Toronto was up 2.1%.
The great majority of stocks were up. 
Oil prices were sharply high...

Wednesday was yet another positive day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.2%.
Toll Brothers was up 9.2% and AutoCanada was up 11.4%.
Rail car loadings in the U.S. were down again last week but that was likely mostly due ...

Tuesday was another positive day for stocks as the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 1.0%.
Canadian Tire was up 5.4%.
Auto Canada was up 7.2%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 4.2%.
Our one penny stock, Ceapro, is updated and rated Speculative B...

Ignoring the riots, stocks were higher on Monday with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.3%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 4.0%.
Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $23.59. It looks quite cheap. But the extent of loan l...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.5%.
lululemon was up 5.5% to reach a new high at $300. I'm certainly surprised at that given that some of its stores are still closed and given that unemployment levels. 
Canadian Wester...

Markets ended the day moderatley lower with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.1%.
Penny stock Ceapro was up 44% after releasing Q1 earnings. 
CIBC and TD reported earnings today and, as expected, their earnings were sharply lower due to mu...

Markets continued higher on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 1.5% and Toronto up 0.8%.
Toll Brothers was up 9.5% to $33. Then, after the close it released earnings which at least one headline described as better than expected. But the market may be ...

U.S. markets were higher on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 2.2% and Toronto up 0.5%.
The Bank of Nova Scotia reported lower earnings which however were better than expected. Loan loss provisions rose but not as much as feared. The Bank expensed high...

On Monday, the TSX was up 1.1% while New York was closed for the Memorial day holiday.
Canadian Tire was up 3.8%. 
Oil prices continue to recover somewhat with West Texas now at $34.11
This week the Canadian Banks begin to release quarterly earnings....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.8%.
Melcor Developments was up 6.5% after releasing its Q1 report.
The report on Shopify is updated and is rated Sell or reduce at Canandian $1121. I try to fathom how its price of 53 times sa...

Markets were up on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 1.7% and Toronto rose 0.75%. 
After the close, Melcor Developments released Q1 earnings which were fairly good. But they reduced the dividend by a further 2 cents to 8 cents to preserve cash. They ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.05% as yesterday's excitement about the early results of a vacine trial died down. Toronto was up 1.7%.
Linamar was up 8.6%.
Melcor Developments will post Q1 earnings after the close. Given low expectations, per...

American stocks had a strong day with the S&P 500 rising 3.1% while Toronto was closed for the holiday.
West Texas Oil is at U.S. $32.74 which is better news for Alberta.
Toll Brothers was up 11.8%. Wells Fargo, American Express and Bank of Ameri...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
On Sunday, West Texas oil was U.S. $30.65. Not great but still a welcome improvement for Alberta.
The Toronto stock excahbe will be closed tomorrow Monday for Victoria day while New York...

On Thursday, markets swung from negative to positive. The Dow was down over 400 points in the morning but closed up 377 points.
At the close, the S&P 500 was up 1.15% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Our report on CRH Medical is updated and rat...

Markets were down on Wednesday as the Fed chair predicted that the impacts of the pandemic would be realtively long lasting.
The S&P 500 was down 1.75% and Toronto was down 2.5%.
After the close, Linamar posted weak earnings for Q1 but strong cas...

Markets were down on Tuesday which may have been related to the realisation that the opening of the economy will be slower than hoped.
The S&P 500 was down 2.0% and Toronto was down 1.5%.
After the close, CRH Medical reported results. Revenues we...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.9%.
Canadian Tire was up 7.8% in further reaction to its Q1 report and its comemnts about how it is doing in April. I will post an update for it tomorrow and it is rated (higher) B...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Buy at $173.48. This is based on the high quality of the company and ists current low price to book value at 1.14. And with the stock market recovery since March 31, it's actual price to book value today is eve...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.15% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Markets continue to do well despite the huge unemployment figures and despite some forecasts that suggest that even after the economy reopens unemployment will remain somewh...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% while Toronto managed a 0.1% gain.
There is a lot of earnings news for the market to digest.
After the close, Costco reported April same-store sales. For the first time in a very long time they were down. B...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.45%.
Oil prices have been recovering but are still very low.
Our report on VISA Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $178.44. Although not bargain priced it is a good long-term hold...

On Monday, stocks were mostly down most of the day but finished the day higher with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.8%.
With RioCan under $15 today, I added to my position. It seems undervalued. But that depends on how soon the retail sector...

Markets gave back some ground on Friday with the S&P 500 down 2.8% and Toronto down 1.1%.
Amazon was down 7.6% (but this comes after it recently soared) after its Q1 earnings came in below expectations and indicated that it would incur over $4 bi...

Markets backed off somewhat on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 0.9% and Toronto was down 2.9%.
Wells Fargo has stopped accepting new applications for home equity lines of credit. J.P. Morgan had stopped in mid April. Many millions are out of work ...

Markets were up strongly on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 2.7% and Toronto up 2.9%.
This was attributed mostly to positive early results from a drug that appears to lessen the severity of Covid-19. The results just preliminary but the market reac...

Metro Inc. is added to our list rated Buy at $58.35. It's reasonably valued and a good quality company for a long-term hold.
...

On Tuesday the Toronto stock Exchange index was up 1.1% while the S&P 500 was down 0.5%.
Markets continue to anticipate the opening up of the economy.
For example, the latest forecast of S&P 500 earnings for 2020 indicates a decline of 13% fo...

Markets continued to do well on Monday as the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 1.5%.
Toll Brothers was up 6.9% to $23.91. New Home sales of course fell off a cliff with the shutdown situation. But a report today indicated that interest in new hom...

Markets were higher on Friday with the S&P 500 up 1.4% and Toronto up 1.2%.
Stimulus programs and signs of reopening have kept markets buoyant. Things that could push markets down include: continued weal economic data such as GDP and unemployment...

Trudeau has announced a rent subsidy for small businesses paying 75% of the rent for businesses that are shut down or where revenue is down at least 70%. This applies to monthly rent payments up to $50,000.
This could benefit many businesses and land...

On Thursday, stocks had been somewhat higher most of the day but finished slightly negative with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.3%.
Aecon Group reported Q1 results. At a quick look it appears that Q1 results were similar to last year. A...

Markets were higher on Wednesday as the S&P 500 was up 2.3% and Toronto was up 2.5%.
Apparently the Congress in the U.S. is set to roll out more stimulus.
The latest rail car loading reports show another week of decline in the U.S. with traffic d...

Markets were down somewhat on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and Toronto each fell 3.1%.
Futures at the moment suggest the markets will open slightly higher on Wednesday morning.
After the close TFI International reported Q1 earnings and gave an update f...

U.S. markets gave back a little today with the S&P 500 down 1.8%. But Toronto managed a 0.2% gain.
Most stocks were down by Shopify gained another 6.7%. It is certainly pricing in a ton of growth and future profitability. And perhaps with the shu...

Dollarama is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $43.15. See report.
...

Market rose again on Friday probably due to expectations of the economy opening before long.
The S&P 500 was up 2.7% and Toronto was up 3.3%
Shopify surged another 12% after its Chief Technology Officer said they have been helping thousands of bu...

Markets were somewhat lower most of Thursday but strengthened near the close. The S&P 500 finished the day up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.4%.
Amazon continues to soar as did Shopify. 
Costco was up 3.6% after its dividend announcement. Costco i...

A perpetual preferred share from Intact Financial is added to the site and rated Buy at $21.99 to yield 5.9%. The other preferred shares on our list are rate reset preferred shares. Those (unlike perpetuals) were supposed to at least hold their value...

Intact Financial is added to the site but is rated only Weak Buy / Hold at $138.70 (the closing price April 15th, it closed today at $136.56. It's been an excellent long-term hold but looks expensive at this time. Also it is not entirely clear if it ...

Markets were lower on Wednesday apparently due to weaker-than-expected economic news.

March retail sales fell 8.7%, the most ever in government data, and New York regional manufacturing activity hit an all-time low, declining to a shocking negative ...

Markets were strong on Tuesday apparently driven by Presidents Trump's indications that the economy will soon start to be reopened starting by the end of this month.
The S&P 500 was up 3.1% and Toronto was up 1.3%. Amazon was up another 5.3% and ...

Markets were down moderately on Monday with the S&P 500 down 1.0% and Toronto down 0.6%. Markets were down about 2% earlier in the day but recovered ground late in the day.
Amazon was up a hefty 6.2% causing me to wonder why I never bought it giv...

Markets were higher on Friday with the S&P 500 up 1.45% and Toronto up 1.7% capping a very strong week.
On Sunday evening oil prices are up moderately (to $24.27) as OPEC plus a few other countries that apparently have state-controlled oil produc...

The report on CN Rail has been updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $111.
Canadian national Railway has been an excellent investment over the years going all the back to its privatization and Initial Public Offering in 1995. A buy and hold strategy h...

Markets were higher on Wednesday on continued optimism that the virus situation won't get as bad as recently thought and optimism that the U.S. economy will not stay shut down very long.
The S&P 500 was up 3.4% and Toronto was up 2.3%.
The price ...

Markets had been strong on Tuesday but ended the day  with the S&P 500 down 0.2% while Toronto as up 0.2%. The late-day drop was blamed on a drop in oil prices.
Amazon has announced that starting in June it will suspend its new shipping service t...

On Monday, markets were focused on the hope that the virus cases are at or near the peak in Italy and Spain and the hope that this will soon occur in the U.S. The S&P 500 was up 7.0% and Toronto was up 5.1%.
I am surprised at this resilience in t...

The report for Costco is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $305. It's a fantastic high quality company but always seems expensive (current P/E) 36. It is now up 4% in 2020. Not a stock to "play" a recovery but rather one to consider as a long term...

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.2%.
Canadian Tire announced that its Canadian Tire stores in Ontario will be closed after today to in-store shopping by delivery and curb-side pickup will continue.
So what is ...

Melcor has unfortunately been a disappointing investment since 2014 when oil prices started to slide.
Now, on top of relatively weak single family housing starts in Alberta it has been slammed by extremely low oil prices as well as the economic shutd...

On Thursday markets rose after Trump tweeted that he had talked to leaders in Saudi Arabia and Russia and that he expected or understood that they would soon agree to cut production by some 10 million barrels per day.
The direction of markets on Frid...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 4.4% and Toronto was down 3.8%
As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise and as the shutdown gets more extensive and looks to last longer, markets could continue to fall. Offsetting that is the impact of the...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 1.6% while Toronto was up 2.6% boosted by announcements that the Keystone XL pipeline would be financially supported by the Alberta government and that TCE intended to go ahead with it.
Later Tuesday,Pre...

Markets were higher on Monday as the S&P 500 was up 3.3% and Toronto was up 2.8% despite lower oil prices.
There has been some positive developments regarding much faster testing for the virus.
A few companies have formally withdrawn their earnin...

Markets are higher today despite indications over the weekend that the shutdown will be longer than recently hoped. 
The Canadian government is offering to pay 75% of wages if businesses keep workers on (up to $58,700) The businesses do not even have...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 3.4% and Toronto was down 5.1%.
Given the current situation I am surprised to see that, after its big rally last week, the S&P 500 is only down 21% this year (down somewhat more from its peak level). 
A lot of ...

Markets were down this morning giving back some of the recent huge rally but the DOW is currently down about 700 points while it was down closer to 1000 points earlier. 
Possibly it will get a boost when the House passes the stimulus bill but perhaps...

On Thursday the huge market rally continued with the S&P 500 up 6.2% and although Toronto was up only 1.8%.
It seems the market has decided that the gargantuan U.S. stimulus package will take care of much of the revenue losses associated with the...

The big stock market rally continues now in its third day.
It's difficult to know what to do.
Many investors were well positioned to ride this through. Those who were comfortable with their level of equity exposure can continue to do that.
For those ...

The markets were up strongly again on Wednesday making for a very large recovery in the past two days.
It would seem that investor fear was diminished mostly due to the massive $2 trillion stimulous package in the works in the U.S. Investors may also...

With markets up this morning, my fear that the trend was still negative is suspect at this time. But there are many days ahead before the virus situation is even remotely resolved.
I understand there is agreement on the U.S. $2 trillion stimulus deal...

Melcor REIT  isupdated and rated Buy at $2.98. It's difficult to account for the changed world. But basically the Melcor REIT would look to be a good bargain unless things will get so bad that it goes under and the debt holders end up owning the buil...

The markets staged an epic rally on Tuesday mostly in response to an epic U.S.A. financial aid package expected to be passed imminently. Apparently 2 trillion and there was talk that along with other measured the total was $6 trillion. That's 10 time...

Stocks are up strongly this morning. CNBC indicates this is due to the pending U.S. financial aid package.
There is also good news from China which will lift its lock down on April 8 and apparently there has only been one new case of the virus in the...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 2.9% and Toronto plunged 5.3%.
The economic shutdown continues and deepens daily. 
The case counts and lack of testing in the U.S. is frightful.
There is some indication the cases in Italy may be peaking. 
Unless t...

Markets are down once again this morning. And this is despite additional major moves by the FED to support credit markets.
The shut down is becoming more extensive and fear is rising and therefore the markets could certainly go lower still.
On the vi...

Markets spent much of Friday somewhat higher but ultimately ended lower with the S&P 500 down 4.3% and Toronto down 2.6%.
The extent of business closures is monumental. We can only hope that it will be short-lived.
If this lock down lasts two mon...

Markets rebounded a little on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 3.8% as West Texas Oil recovered somewhat (a 24% increase but from a low base).
I really don't think the worse is over for the markets.

The economic shut down is more...

Wednesday saw the S&P 500 down 5.2% and Toronto down 7.6% as oil prices dove.
Most stocks were down, many double digit percentage losses.
A few stocks were up. Amazon has held up really well. Walmart and Costco too. FedEx has not done well but wa...

Markets down again this morning.  Canadian Border with U.S. closed to non-essential visits. Trade to continue. Oil prices in Alberta collapsing. Government offering increased child tax benefits.
I did sell a few more stocks this morning. I am just no...

So Tuesday saw an increase in the markets driven by fairly massive U.S. FED stimulus / liquidity announcements and promises to help out both businesses and individuals.
S&P 500 was up 6.0% and Toronto (hampered by lower oil prices) was up 2.6%.
M...

Markets are currently up 4 to 5% and rising at the moment due to breaking news on massive stimulus in the U.S. including the FED supporting the commercial paper market, support to airlines and even apparently $1000 cheques going out.
For those still ...

As everyone is no doubt aware, and to no great surprise, markets were down sharply again on Monday.
Ugh, S&P 500 down 12.0%, Toronto down 9.9%. Oil down as well.
Individual declines are too painful to list.
Looking at futures, I am greatly surpri...

North America is starting to understand the seriousness of the virus situation. With all the closures, the fear levels are way up since Friday.
Sadly, I doubt that the FED rate cut and the Fed bond buying is going to do much for the markets.
I am ple...

The latest World Health Organization situation report is out. China has 18 new cases and 14 new deaths. That's higher than the low numbers of the past few days but still indicates very good containment given they had 81,000 total cases. Singapore con...

Markets on Friday were somewhat higher over the day and then really jumped when trump announced a national emergency along with big steps to get testing ramped way up in the U.SA. And there was news of a faster test coming available. Also there was a...

There has been something of a relief rally in stocks this morning due in part to positive about progress on getting far more people tested for the virus. There is also more news about central banks supporting bank liquidity.
But the relief rally soon...

Thursday, as everyone must know by now, saw another huge loss in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 9.5% and Toronto was down 12.3% for apparently its biggest ever one day percentage loss.
Almost all of the stocks on our list were down sharply and...

Markets down another 7% at the moment.
With fear really rising and the prospect of large-scale closures of universities and work places and cancellation of gatherings, the fear is getting worse. Could get far worse.
In that scenario it is hard to see...

Wednesday saw another big decline in the markets with the S&P 500 down 4.9% and Toronto down 4.6%.
Virtually every stock on our list was down. The biggest decliners were the  Boston Pizza units down 11.7% and Toll Brothers down 10.9% and AutoCana...

Tuesday saw a partial rebound from the big losses on Monday.  This was due to investors buying the dip but also very much due to indications that President Trump is about to provide some kind of stimulus.
I am not going to list any of the individual ...

With the market decline today, almost every stock on our list would look like a buy based on past earnings. But of course fear could push stocks lower as the market anticipates that fear will also hamper the economy.
Investors with cash may want to s...

On Friday markets were down again. The S&P 500 was down 1.7% and Toronto was down 2.3%.
Stantec at $40.57 has weathered the storm much better than most stocks. The same can be said for Couche-Tard.
Many stocks are down to what would appear to be ...

It was not surprising to see the markets down on Thursday. The good news of the Joe Biden strength in the primaries was yesterday's news and now the focus is back on the coronavirus and its impact on the economy.
The S&P 500 was down 3.4% and Tor...

Markets were up sharply on Wednesday due to probabaly a delayed reaction to central bank rte cuts and due to Joe Biden's success in the primaries. (The markets would not like Bernie Sanders to be the Democratic nominee and potential President.)
Almos...

Markets are up today so far. 
How bad could this all get? Well (temporarily) very bad of course. If countries really start to restrict travel and if consumers are scared to shop and people become scared to go to work or are prevented from working the...

Tuesday was yet another non-boring day in the markets as the S&P 500 fell 2.8% and Toronto fell 0.8%.
This despite the FED cutting interest rates by 0.5% and other central banks also expected to cut. I can see that cuts are good for stocks but I ...

Monday saw a strong and I think surprising recovery in stocks. But I would not bet on the declines being over.
The S&P 500 was up a hefty 4.6% and Toronto was up 1.8%.
Apple was up 9.4%, Costco was up an amazing 10.0%. Visa was up 5.8%.
Canadian ...

Friday saw another big headline-grabbing drop in the market on coronvirus fears.
The DOW was down over 1000 points during the day but recovered for a decline of 357 points or 1.4% at the close. The S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 2.7%....

Thursday was another down day in the markets due to the coronavirus.
The S&P 500 was down 4.4%. Toronto was down 1.9% but likely would have been down more except that it has to close early due to some technical problem.
Notable declines included:...

Markets at first rose on Wednesday but finished the day with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.8%.
Most stocks declined including American Express - down 2.0%, TFI International - down 2.15%, Linamar - down 2.9%, and Royal Bank - down 2.1%...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $37.90. It just reported weak figures for Q4 but also reported sharply higher contracts for new houses which will show up in earnings when the houses are completed and "delivered" nine to twelve mont...

Tuesday was the second day in a row of headline-grabbing losses in the markets. The DOW was down 879 points or 3.25%. The S&P 500 was down 3.0% and Toronto was down 2.0%.
Some of the bigger losses included: Aecon Group Inc. - down 3.6%, Apple Inc...

Markets were down sharply on Monday on fears about the Coronavirus.
The S&P 500 was down 3.35%. The DOW was down a 3.6% or just over 1000 points. Toronto fared better but was still down 1.6%.
The bigger declines included Visa down 4.8%, American ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $145.44. They had a very strong Q4. There are always risks, but based on the numbers and its history this stock is quite attractive.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.05% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
The market has started to take notice of the Coronavirus situation and S&P 500 futures are down a further 1.2% as of Sunday evening. It looks like Monday will be yet another non...

TFI International is updated and rated (higher) Buy at CAN $47.03 and U.S. $35.51. This is an excellent company. I sold a good portion of my holdings last week on concerns about the what the Coronavirus (and the resulting sharp slow-down in China) is...

Thursday was a somewhat mixed day in the markets as Toronto rose 0.1% while the S&P 500 was down 0.4%.
AutoCanada was down 3.1% to $12.86. It had recently clawed its way back to highs over $15. But that came after  years of steep declines. I stil...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Aurora Cannabis was up 3.7%. I suspect there is lots more bad news to come from this company. Time will tell.
CRH Medical was up 4.4%.
Statistics Canada released the latest inflation ...

I am selling over half of my TFI International shares this morning.
Checking the latest rail car loading figures, out this morning: Canada is of course reporting lower car loadings due to the blockade of CN in eastern Canada. The U.S. is also reporti...

Stock markets were closed for a holiday on Monday.
Tuesday was yet another interesting day in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%
Aurora Cannabis bounced up 5.8%.
lululemon was up 1.9%.
Apple Inc. was down 1.8% after ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.15%.
AutoCanada was down 3.4%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.8%. No word on whether Big Short guy, Steve Eisman will give up on his short position.
Aurora Cannabis bounced up 5.1%. 
Penny stock Cea...

There was lots of news in the markets on Thursday including after the close.
Overall, the S&P was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Boston Pizza held up surprisingly well after its reduction to the distribution per unit. It was down 2.8%.
TFI ...

Boston Pizza Royalties units have announced Q4 results along with the feared and not surprising cut to the distribution. They are cutting by 11.3% from 11.5 cents per month to 10.2 cents.
This would bring the payout ratio down to about 95% from the t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.65% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
Shopify was up 7.7% after releasing its Q4 report.
Heineken was up a hefty 5.2%.
Apple was up 2.4%.
TFI International was up 4.4%.
What can be said except, "let the good times roll...

On Tuesday, markets were relatively little changed with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 0.2%.
Aecon Group was up 2.2%. 
Bombardier continues to circle the drain down as it fell 5.3% and its preferred shares were down 9.6%. Sad. Mostly self-inflic...

On Monday markets were up. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Amazon was up another 2.6%, and Shopify was up another 2.7%.
Restaurant brands was up 3.1% after releasing earnings and same store sales. Tim Hortons however had a declin...

On Friday, the markets gave back a little of the big gains of last week. The S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Linamar was down 4.2% probably due to its exposure (so to speak) to the situation in China.
Auroa Cannabis was down 15.2...

Our report on Toll Brothers (the U.S. luxury home builder) is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $47.27. Its home sales have been increasing since early last Summer but contracts to build a home do not show up in revenue and earnings until the home is ...

Aurora Cannabis is down 16% to $2.25. It was about $2.60 yesterday. Last night I said I would not be surprised if it went under $1.00 on this news. When i said that I was somehow thinking it was at about $1.60. So I should have said more like under $...

On Thursday, U.S. the markets cooled down just a bit. But the S&P 500 was still up 0.3%. Toronto was up 0.6%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.7%.
TFI International was up 1.8%
Aurora Cannabis was halted for news for much of the trading day. Then, after the ...

I'm somewhat concerned that a good part of the reason for the surging U.S. stock market is that interest rates are expected to drop due to concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on trade and economic activity. Sure, lower interest rates are goo...

Markets continued to be "on fire" on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up another 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Some of the notable gainers included:
Toll Brothers up 6.2%.
AutoCanada up 6.6%.
CRH Medical up 4.2%.
Linamar, up 2.7%.
With the markets roar...

FedEx is updated and rated Sell at $149.20. The company is projecting lower earnings for the next two quarter and then a recovery. I have basically lost faith as management has failed to meet its own projections for a long time. Perhaps they will tur...

Markets were basically "on fire" on Tuesday as the S&P 500 rose 1.5%. Toronto was up 0.8%.
Accordingly, most stocks were up. Some of the notable gainers were:
Starbucks - up 2.8% - and that's despite the fact that half its stores in China are clo...

On Monday, markets recovered some of the losses from Friday as the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and Toronto rose 0.35%.
AutoCananda ws up 5.8%
CRH Medical was up 5.0%.
Aurora Cannabis was up 6.4%.
lulu lemon was up 2.9%.
Market movers this week will include...

On Friday, the markets finally took notice of the coronavirus. The S&P 500 was down 1.8% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
It may be be that the coronavirus will never become a truly serious health threat. But it could nevertheless pead to an economic s...

On Thursday, the market decided by the end of the day that the Coronavirus was no reason to sell stocks. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
CRH Medical was down 4.7% giving back some its recent gains.
Amazon was out with a stron...

On Wednesday, markets were higher most of the day but weakened near the close. The S&P 500 ended the day down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Autocanada added 5.1% as analysts must have liked its recent news.
Stantec was up 2.6% to $40.06. That's...

On Tuesday the markets shrugged off much of yesterday's fears and the S&P 500 was up 1.0% while Toronto was up 0.3%. This pushed most stocks up.
AutoCanda was up 14.9% after announcing that its lenders have extended its lines of credit by three y...

Om Monday, markets declined due the Corona virus threat. (And possibly due to John Bolton saying that the President did in fact withhold aid in an effort to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.)
The S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 0....

On Friday, markets had (a rare) down day as the S&P 500 ws down 0,9% and Toronto ws down 0.3%. 
This was related to the new Coronavirus. It's probably anyone's guess how badly that will continue to impact the markets or whether it will turn out t...

Stantec is updated and rated Buy at $39.10 in Toronto or $29.71 in U.S. trading
Stantec had been a fantastic investment for many years but then was hit hard by the recession in the Canadian energy sector starting in 2014 and then by its own mistakes ...

Despite some fears about the new virus in China and despite the impeachment hearing, the markets were little changed today. The S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.4%. Rate reset preferred shares were down somewhat due t...

On Wednesday, markets were initially up noticeably but at the end of the day the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Stantec was up 1.1% and has been rising steadily after it had jumped with its Q3 earnings report around November...

On Tuesday, markets gave back a little bit of ground as the S&P 500 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
But Costco was up 2.8% (probably due to positive analyst reports as there was no news from the company itself).
Constellation Software was up 3.3%...

Monday was a quiet day in the markets as U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.
The Toronto index was up 0.2%.
Boston Pizza units were up 2.6% to $14.83. BP has been running television ads promoting free delivery (if you use pro...

Couche-Tard (as it is usually referred to as) is updated and rated Buy at $44.43. It recently had a two for one share split. The company has been a fantastic buy-and-hold investment. It does exhibit volatility when fuel price margins decline and of c...

On Friday, the markets continued their seemingly relentless climb as the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up another 0.4%. For the moment it seems that the market knows no fear. But we can be sure that something will spook the market at lest mildly ...

The U.S. stock markets are basically "on fire". The S&P 500 surged another 0.8% today! Toronto managed 0.4%.
Many stocks on our list were up between 1 and 2%.
A big loser in Canada today was Bombardier, down 32% to $1.22. It reports in U.S. dolla...

Wednesday was yet another strong and record day for the stock markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%. 
Aurora Cannabis was up 15.5% as there has been some good earnings reports from other Cannabis companies. Aurora remains risky...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 took a tiny breather from its gains and was down 0.15%. Toronto was up 0.3%.
Couche-Tard was up 1.7%. This will be the next company updated on the site.
Toll Brothers was up 1.9%.
AutoCanada was down 3.1% to $10.87. 
The U...

Monday was yet another strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 was up another 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
The S&P 500 has risen steeply and steadily for over 12 months now. It can't keep that up indefinitely of course. 
lululemon was up 4....

With some trepidation (given its history), I have updated the report on Shopify and rated it Sell at U.S. $429 (or Canadian $560). This Canadian-headquartered company reports in U.S. dollars and does most of its business in U.S. dollars and therefore...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was basically unchanged.
Aurora Cannabis was down 11.2% on analysts comments about its debt and lack of profitability.
AutoCanada was down 3.0%
CRH Medical was up 2.5%.
The December jobs report f...

Our report on Apple Inc. is updated with a rating of Weak Buy / Hold at $309.63.
This company was added to the site last January 23 rated Speculative Buy at $153.92. The report high lighted the attractive P/E of 12.9 but also noted that it was then e...

Thursday was a strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
The great majority of stocks were up including:
Aecon Group, up 2.5%
Apple, up 2.1% (I plan to post an updated report on Apple tomorrow)
Shopify up another 3...

On Wednesday the markets seem to have concluded that the risks of the Iran U.S.A. spate have largely dissipated. (That, of course, may or may not turn out to be correct.)
The S&P 500 surged 0.5% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Linamar was down...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.7% and Couche-Tard was up 1.6%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.7%.
Constellation Software was up 3.0%.
CRH Medical was down 3.3% giving back some of its recent gains....

On Monday, markets were initially lower due to the recent events involving Trump and Iran and Iraq but they rebounded with the S&P 500 up 0.35% and Toronto up 0.2%.
CRH Medical rose a further 4.0% and it announced that it had hired an experienced...

Aurora Cannabis is added to the site. The company is not yet profitable and it is difficult to say if it will ever generate sufficient profits to justify its $2.7 billion market value (at $2.60 per share). Furthermore, it could run potentially out of...

After dropping about 80% from its highs, Aurora Cannabis is now trading at only about 61% of its book value. 
The question then becomes: What kind of assets does Aura have? Are its assets worth book value? Will the company survive to realize the valu...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.75%.
CRH Medical was up 3.8%, adding to recent gains. 
I am taking a look at Aurora Cannabis now. It would be a speculative pick. They have stopped constructio...

Boston Pizza announced that it opened 5 new restaurants in 2019 but closed 6 (5 full -service plus one express locations). They also noted that most of 2019 had been challenging for the restaurant industry including BP.
This is the lowest number of n...

The U.S. markets roared out of the gate to start 2020 with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the DOW up 1.2%. Toronto, however, was up only 0.2%.
Apple Inc. was up 2.3% to edge over $300. 
FedEx was up 2.6%.
Amazon was up 2.7% to almost $1900.
CRH Medical ...

Our report on WSP Global is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $88.67. It has continued to grow and do very well. But the stock now looks expensive. 
...

On the last day of the year, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% to finish the year up an astounding 28.9%! (Over 30% including dividends).
Toronto was down 0.2% to finish the year up 19.1%. 
Melcor Developments was up 5.2% today but, as always, that was on ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Tomorrow is of course the last day of trading for the year. We will also get the last dividends of the year including from Melcor and Boston Pizza among others.
 
 
 
...

The report on Restaurant Brands (Tim Hortons, Burger King & Popeyes) is updated and rated (lower) Buy at Canadian $83.56. The report is in U.S. dollars and the U.S. price is $63.89.
At the last update last Summer, I thought the stock was quite ex...

Royal Bank of Canada is updated and rated Buy at $103.47. Its valuation ratios are quite attractive such that it could be rated in the Strong Buy range. But it is facing lower growth and it is possible that loan losses could cause problems in 2020. I...

There are just two trading days left in the year. 
On Friday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.1% and I believe likely set yet another all time closing high. Toronto was down 0.1%
CRH Medical (see update just below) was down 3.3% in Toronto.
AutoCana...

CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative (higher) Buy. This is a small company with a market cap of U.S. $250 million. It is very much in a niche industry as it mainly provides anesthesia services for colonoscopies. Demographics are certainly fav...

Our report on Starbucks is updated and rated (lower) Buy. This is an extremely high quality company. But it's not cheap and therefore is rated only (lower) Buy. Since the last update in August its price fell about 5% while the market in general rose....

Our report on Canadian Tire is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $142. This company has been the subject of a short-seller report. They forecast lower earnings growth ahead. They also believe that Canadian Tore could get a credit rating downgrade. Th...

On Friday, the U.S. markets set yet another new high.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%
It appears that markets will finish 2019 at around record highs and with stellar gains in 2019.
On Friday, lululemon was up 2.75%. 
Canadian Wes...

This CWB rate reset preferred share is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $17.75. It yields 6.06% and will not reset until April 30, 2014. This is not an exciting investment. But for those seeking yield and particularly yield eligible for the dividend...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $31.89.
...

Wednesday was another interesting day in the markets. The S&P 500 was little changed while Toronto was down 0.25%.
SNC Lavalin (not on our list but one I have mentioned) was up 19% after avoiding a trial by pleading guilty to one charge of defrau...

On Tuesday, markets overall were little changed. The S&P 500 was approximately unchanged and Toronto as up 0.1%.
The Canadian Western Bank Series 5 rate reset preferred share CWB.PR.B was up 1.5% to $17.66. It yields 6.1%. Rate reset preferred sh...

Monday was a strong day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.7% to yet another new high and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Accordingly, most of the stocks on our list were up.
Toll Brothers was down 0.6% despite a report that the home builders sentiment in...

Linamar is updated and now rated only Speculative (lower) Buy. Perhaps that is too low a rating given a trailing P/E that is highly attractive at 6.2 and given that as of the Q3 conference call, the company was predicting operating earnings growth in...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged. The Phase I China / USA trade agreement had already been reflected in the market by the close on Thursday and so there was no further impact on Friday. In fact, the way positive for markets goes is usua...

Thursday was a strong day in the U.S. markets as Trump signed some kind of Phase I trade deal with China.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Linamar benefited from the news on the trade file adn was up 4.8% to $48.24. That...

Wednesday saw the S&P 500 rise 0.3% while Toronto as down 0.1%.
Melcor was up 2.8% adding to recent gains. But it tends to be volatile due to its thin trading volume.
Toll Brothers was up 1.7% recovering a portion of yesterday's decline.
After th...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was unchanged.
Despite apparently beating market expectations for earnings and revenue, Toll Brothers was down 4.9%. 
Restaurant Brands was up 1.8%.
Linamar was up 1.1% which was likely due to t...

Markets were down somewhat on Monday. The S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.3%.
Stantec was up 1.8%. 
Linamar was up 1.0% which is not bad on a day the market was down.
Constellation Software was down 3.5%. Any pull back in that stock has hist...

On Friday markets were strong. The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Oil and gas stocks were mostly up. XEG, the big Canadian oil and gas ETF was up 4.5%.
Trade related stocks mostly rose. CN Rail was up 2.1%. FedEx was up 2.2%, Linama...

Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rated Buy at Canadian $119.00 or U.S. $89.70. This has been a stellar investment for many years.  While it does not look cheap at about 19 times earnings, it is fairly priced. It will almost certainly ...

Thursday was not a good day for our stock picks.
The S&P 500 was up 0.15% while Toronto was down 0.25%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 6.9% after posting disappointing results for Q4. It has not increased its loan loss provisions. As long as it d...

Canadian Western Bank is down 7.3% as Q4 earnings declined 5%. (Correction, the decline mentioned here was versus Q3, earnings were up 5% versus Q4 of the prior year). Net interest margin was down slightly and expenses are up. Management indicates th...

On Wednesday, markets rebounded somewhat with the S&P 500 up 0.6% although Toronto was about unchanged.
Shopify surged 5.2% to almost $491. That's on top of a big gain yesterday. 5.2% is a LOT of money when you consider that Shopify has a market ...

Tuesday was another negative day in the markets due to deteriorating hopes for a near-term "Phase I" trade deal between China and the U.S.
The S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
FedEx, which certainly relies on increased trade for g...

Aecon is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $17.92.
Aecon Group Inc. is an interesting Canadian company that constructs vital infrastructure including light rail transit, bridges, pipelines, electricity transmission and distribution lines, chemical pla...

December has started off with a negative day on the markets as the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.3%. Apparently the reson was increased trade tensions.
WSP Global bucked the trend and was up 1.5%. And Linamar was up 0.6% which seem...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.4%.
This week the Canadian market will be interested in the reports from the banks. Royal Bank reports on Wednesday. The level of actual bad debts and any changes to the level of provisions for ...

Our report on Andrew Peller (which is in the wine business) is updated and rated (lower) Buy. This is a tough business that faces stiff competition. The update may be more of interest to those who already own shares or who have a particular interest ...

Toronto was on ts own on Thursday and gained 0.1% as U.S. markets were closed. 
Canadian Tire was up 0.8% to just under $156. I think Canadian Tire will continue to do well. They are doing lots of promotions with their Triangle reward card to pull cu...

Wednesday was yet another positive day for stocks. The S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.4%. Both set record highs.
lululemon was up another 2.7% to almost $229. It has risen very steadily for the past year. It looks very expensive on a P/E rati...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto as about unchanged.
Shopify was up 5.1%
Toll Brothers was up 1.1%. A report today indicated that new home sales in the U.S. just reported their strongest two month figures in 12 years. But the repor...

The report for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Units has been updated and is rated (higher ) Buy at $14.05.
The report goes onto various details. But whether this is a good investment comes down to some questions which are not easy to predict:
Wit...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.75% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Couche-Tard was up 3.5%. They are set to release earnings tomorrow. This has been fantastic comp[any and investment for many years.
Their exposure to selling vaping products is a potent...

The Boston Pizza units are down 3.0% to $14.02 this morning. Volume is heavier than normal. This on a morning when markets are higher.
It's hard to say if this is a good buying opportunity or not. Could it be that someone has information that a distr...

These shares, like most rate reset shares also offered the option to convert to a floating rate preferred share. The time to make that option has passed as the deadline was November 18th. But those holding ENB.PF.A could still sell those and buy the ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
FedEx was up 2.9%. 
TFI International was up 2.45%. I don't know if it will benefit from the CN Rail  strike. On the one hand shippers may look to switch to trucks. On the other hand...

Our report on the Enbridge rate reset preferred share ENB.PF.A is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $15.60.
These shares will reset on December 1 which locks in the distribution for five years. They new dividend has already been set. The yield at $15...

Markets were not much changed on Thursday.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about unchanged.
I have a few orders in to add to some positions. 
I picked up some Melcor REIT at $7.95 today. 
If Boston Pizza dips to $14.30, I have an order ...

On Wednesday, markets were mostly a bit lower.
The S&P 500 was down 0.4% while the Toronto index was about unchanged.
CN Rail was down 1.8% due to a strike there. 
Linamar was down 4.4% due to concerns about progress on the China  / U.S. trade wa...

This morning Stats Canada reports that restaurant sales are still rising in 2019 versus 2018. Given new restaurants opening up, and changing tastes some restaurants are certainly facing lower sales but the industry overall is doing okay.
Sales of the...

On Monday, markets were about flat.
The S&P 500 was up just 0.05%. The TSX was about unchanged.
CRH Medical was down 1.7%.
Couche-Tard was up 1.2%.
TFI International was up 1.3%
...

Constellation Software is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $1342. It reports in U.S. dollars and so our report is in U.S. dollars. It has been and is a fantastic company. Most of the time it looks expensive but it has been a mistake to sell this ...

On Friday markets set new record highs.
The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
AutoCanada was up another 7.4% to $12.73. It's low was $7.33. Things had been looking scary until the latest earnings finally showed decent signs of a turn a...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $12.04 (Wednesday's closing price). This has been a frustrating stock that has seemed significantly under-valued for some time. But it just seems to get cheaper. It suffered from a total lack o...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.1%.
AutoCanada was up another 9.8% today. As I mentioned, it seems the analysts have let it out of the penalty box after its decent Q3 report. 
There were no other moves of particular note for t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1 and Toronto was up 0.3%
Apparently hopes for progress in the trade war with China are fading. FeddEx, probably as a result, was down 3.1%. 
CRH Medical was down 4.5% despite no news from the company.
Stantec w...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%
Stantec was up another 2.3%. Recall it was let out of the dog house after reporting good Q3 numbers. 
Toll Brothers slipped 1.6% adn Limamar was down 1.8%.
Boston Pizza down to $14.40 I might ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about unchanged.
AutoCanada was up another 4.2% and was about the only noticeable move in the stocks on our list.
I'm somewhat tempted to buy back some Boston Pizza at $14.62. If it turns out t...

Markets in both Canada and the U.S. are open despite the holiday. Markets are down a little right now but nothing unusual to report.
Friday was another mostly positive day for our stocks. That was despite Trump throwing some cold water on the China t...

Thursday was a big day for earnings reports and a strong day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Stantec was up almost 16% after reporting Q3. It my well rise more as it has likely earned its way out of the penalty bo...

Our report for Amazon is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $1800. Historically, Amazon traded at extremely high multiples of earnings. In the past two years or so the P/E has come down but is still very high. It's quite possible that GAAP ...

BP Royalties units earnings are out. The results are poor with a decrease in same-store franchise-fee-eligible sales of 3.6%. It could be worse but this is quite weak. No cut to the distribution but the payout ratio on a trailing year basis now at 10...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
lululemon rebounded 3.3% recovering a recent decline.
WSP Global was up 1.5%. Earlier in the day it had been down in reaction to its earnings release but presumably the conference cal...

Markets were "mixed" on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto up 0.1%
Constellation Software was down 3.3%. This has been a fantastic company in the long term. I will update the report soon.
WSP Global reported after the close. The resul...

Monday was another positive day in the markets due to optimism that the U.S. and China will sign some sort of partial trade deal.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
FedEx was up 5.3%.
TFI International was up 2.4%.
Linamar was up 2....

Markets were up sharply on Friday as the U.S. jobs report came in  strong. The S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Notable gains included FedEx and Toll Brothers each up 2.5%.
Apple was up 2.8%.
SNC Lavalin (not on our list but one I fol...

Our report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $7.99. The REIT just released Q3 earnings which had a number of positives. After about six quarters of declining adjusted earnings per share, they reported an 8% increase in Q3. This ...

Stocks were mostly down on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
But SNC Lavalin was up 20% after announcing Q3 results that included the big gain on the sale of most of its stake in highway 407 and that included positive p...

Warning - do not open any attachment in an email that you receive from me. I never send attachments to my investorsfriend lists. I use links.
On Tuesday, my email system was attacked when I opened a so-called secure PDF file that appeared to be from ...

On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada held firm on interest rates at 1.75%  while the FED lowered by 0.25% to 1.50%. But the Canada statement was interpreted as signalling a possible cut ahead and the FED statement was interpreted as signalling this may b...

Our report on Heineken is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at 90.90 euros. Or you can buy in the U.S. as HEINY for U.S.$ 50.55 (these were yesterday's closing prices). Two HEINY are equivalent to one common share. The stock is not cheap. It may be o...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Apple was down 2.3%. Shopify was down 3.2% after reporting a loss but sharply higher revenue. 
Tomorrow, the FED is expected to cut interest rates by 0.25 while the Bank of Canada i...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Restaurant Brands was down 3.7% after "meeting earnings expectations" in Q3 but reporting a reduction in same-store sales at Tim Hortons. 
Toll Brothers was down 2.6%
Rate reset pref...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Linamar was up 1.6%. Fed Ex was up 2.6%.
It will be interesting to see if the market reacts positively to the death of the ISIS leader. Definitely a big win for Trump. He's had a nice we...

Our report for BHP Group (formerly BHP Billiton) is updated and rated Speculative Buy for the BBL ADR (American Depository Receipt) that trades in New York at $42.49. It also trades as the BHP ADR at $49.22. The two types of shares are said to be eco...

In Thursday's action, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%.
Shopify was up 8.8% continuing its recent gyrations. 
Visa was up 2.8% and then released yet another strong earnings report after the close.
Linamar was down 2.5%.
After the close, ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down by 0.3%.
Linamar was up 1.5% and has had a good bounce back from recent lows. 
CRH Medical announced that it has arranged with its lenders to increase its credit lines to $200 million f...

Well, Albertans stayed up late only to find that the election did no go their way.
But the stock market opened as usual and life goes on. The S&P 500 finished the day down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Shopify was down 6.2%. It will take a very...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and is once again over 3000. Toronto was up 0.25%.
American Express was up 2.0%. I added to my modest position today.
Andrew Peller was up 3.3%.
Statistics Canada reported that investment in building constructio...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Shopify was down 5.4%. lulu lemon was up 1.0% to $207.
Over the weekend a new BREXIT deal failed to get passed. Boris Johnson was forced to write a letter to the EU to ask for a n ex...

Our report on American Express is updated and rated Buy at $116.74. It has done well since we rated it (higher) Buy on January 19th. The stock price is up 16% since then and this is justified by its earnings and revenue gains. It's not quite as attra...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3% while Toronto was about unchanged.
The market has not pushed Boston Pizza any lower as a result of the distribution cut by the smaller restaurant royalty entity SIR (main brand Jack Astor's) which an...

I am selling the rest of the BP units in an RRSP account today. I have kept the units I hold in a taxable account. I see a downside risk if they have to cut the distribution. And I don't hold out much hope of any near-term big upside surprise such as...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was little changed.
Stantec was up 2.2%. Toll Brothers was up 2.9%.
Linamar was up 2.4%. This was likely related to General Motors reaching a tentative union deal. That's good. On the other hand...

I am selling as much as half of my BP units today. A smaller restaurant royalty entity that owns Jack Astors has cut their distribution and cited lower sale. I have been worrying about BP needing to cut their distribution due to their payout ratio be...

Markets moved higher on Tuesday. This was likely due to continued optimism about progress on China / USA trade tensions. The outlook for a trade deal is likely to continue to cause volatility in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 1.0% but Toronto wa...

Our report on Dollarama is updated with a rating of (lower) Buy at $47.28. This has long been an extremely well-managed and successful retailer. Usually its shares have looked too expensive. It is probably about fairly priced at this time. It has had...

On Monday, the Toronto stock exchange was closed for the holiday while the S&P 500 was down 0.1%.
In U.S. trading, Shopify was up a hefty 4.6%.
In Edmonton, it was announced that Toyota will move its west-end Mayfield dealership into West Edmonto...

Markets rose of Friday as Trump hinted that some kind of at least partial trade deal with China was pending. Later on Friday he confirmed it was a partial deal and markets retreated somewhat from the highs of the day. 
U.S. markets are open on Monday...

Markets were higher Thursday on (faint) hopes of progress in the China / USA trade talks.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
TFI International was up 3.6%. 
Couche-Tard was down 1.9%. It may be under pressure due to its exposure to ...

The Melcor REIT and Melcor Developments have announced that the REIT is acquiring, for $55 million, a retail shopping "power centre" in Grande Prairie which will increase the REIT's square footage by 9.7%. As part of the deal, Melcor Developments wil...

FedEx is updated and now rated only Speculative (lower) Buy at $138.39 (Its moved slightly higher at $140.49 as I post this). FedEx has been hurt early and hurt hard by the global slowdown in the manufacturing and industrial sector and the associated...

On Wednesday, markets were positive due to some optmisim about the China / USA trade talks.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Costco was up 1.7%. Then, after the close it reported September same-store sales up a strong 5.6%. That i...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Correspondingly, most of the stocks on our list were down. 
TFI International was down 3.0% to $37.76. The company has been buying back shares aggressively and the shares do appear ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.45% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Dollarama was down 2.65%. 
Apparently, Alberta is about to announce that it has sold some of its crude-by-rial contract commitments to the private sector. I would have thought the g...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Linamar rebounded somewhat, up 4.4%. Most stocks were up.
The U.S. added fewer jobs than expected. But the unemployment rate is a record low 3.5%. Virtually, it seems there is almost no ...

On Thursday, markets started out negative but finished positive with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 0.4%.
Linamar got hammered down 10.3% after indicating that sales were slowing in all three of its categories (auto parts, access - i.e. sciss...

 
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.8% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Accordingly, most of the stocks on our list were down. The bigger decliners were Apple down 2.5%, BHP Billiton - down 2.9%, Visa - down 2.6%, American Express -down 3.3%, and Au...

Tuesday was a down day in the markets as the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and Toronto was down 1.3%.
With the economy softening, I would be inclined to hold more cash. But I always find it difficult to part with most of the stocks I own and so I have very l...

Today marks the end of the third quarter. Soon, the next round of earnings report will start to flow in.
On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.4%
TFI International was up 2.7% after announcing that...

I have updated two articles that go into detail on specific ETFs to consider investing in.
The first article covers the relatively new balanced fund ETFs from Vanguard and iShares. These could be especially useful for newer investors and for anyone w...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
One of the old favorites on this site but no longer on the list, Wells Fargo, was up 3.8% after announcing its new CEO. Apparently he will work out of New York and not have to bother...

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 ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Shopify recovered some of its recent losses, gaining a hefty 6.9%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.7%. But that was a modest gain considering that the report on new home sales was very st...

Markets were mostly negative on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.4%. This was blamed on trade tensions. Also, the Democrats moved to explore impeaching Trump - but in this strange world that was not really big news.
TFI Inter...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.2%.
lululemon was up 3.1%
FedEx was down 2.2%.
Statistics Canada reported that Wholesale sales rose in July and that "the personal and household goods subsector and the motor veh...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5%. But Toronto was up 0.25% and sits at a record closing high.
Canadian Tire was up 3.35% to $148.82. This is a good recovery from the $133.43 level of our update of last month. The recovery is likely due to ana...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day unchanged while Toronto was up 0.35%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.4% and has recovered a good portion of its recent decline from its high.
Toll Brothers was little changed despite a report this morning indicating t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended the day about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.2%
The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 0.25% in light of potential risks to the economy posed by trade tensions.
FedEx fell 13% due to its poor quarterly ea...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Restaurant Brands was up 3.4%. Dollarama was up 2.4%.
Shopify was down 2.6% to $435.67. or U.S. $328.82. That's actually pretty strong considering the company sold shares today at U.S....

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% in a mild reaction to the partial destruction of Saudi Arabia's oil refining infrastructure. Toronto was up 0.4% as oil rose about 10% in reaction to the reduced capacity of Saudi Arabia.
The large cap energy ...

The big news for markets over the weekend was the major attack on the Saudi oil refining. This morning the S&P 500 is down 0.3% which is not a big reaction. Toronto is up 0.4% because oil prices are up a hefty 10%.
The large cap energy ETF, XEG i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%
Toronto hit a new within-trading-day high.
The European Central Bank announced anew round of bond-buying which will keep interest rates lower-than-low in Europe.
Shopify was up for the...

Markets were strong on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.45%
Canadian Tire was up 1.9%.
Toll Brothers was up 3.2% and then after the close announced a relatively small acquisition of a builder of mostly more moderately priced ho...

Although overall markets did not move much today there was a lot of movement in various stocks. The S&P 500 was almost unchanged and Toronto as up 0.3%.
Restaurant Brands was down 4.2%. Possibly, this was related to Wendy's announcing it would ro...

Costco is updated and rated (lower) Sell at $296.05. Basically, if I owned it I would sell at least half of the position at this price or avoid having a very large position. On the other hand it is a great company and although the valuation would sug...

"Couche-Tard", as the company is often referred to, has been a very long term winner. And, after several years where the share price did not do much, the stock is up about 60% versus a low point in May of 2018.
For quite a few years I thought that de...