Investment Q&A

Q: I know already this will be the most naive of questions to anyone with a business background -- but how in the world can oil trade at a negative value? I can understand the notion that "one has too much" and that one has so much that you're actually willing to PAY someone to take it away ... but ... really? How does this happen? What does this mean in the oil world? How can an industry continue to function? If this has been addressed elsewhere, I'd appreciate if you could just provide a link, saving you the grief of answering it twice. Is there any point in getting/staying in oil for the foreseeable future -- other than those who are comfortable with more advanced trading techniques, of which I am not.

Q: Would that be an impact on non-energy stock price as the oil price went negative ? What are the possible scenarios ? Would that drive down other stock price as well ?
Thanks for your expert opinion.

Q: In one reply you said inflation could be good for R/E. Isn't the following info copied from a Vancouver Sun article the negative?
"In steps that dwarf those taken during the global financial crisis, the federal housing agency and the Bank of Canada are ready to purchase billions of dollars worth of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities to backstop the market, while lawmakers passed a historic wage bill to stem job losses."
I would really appreciate insight and/or an explanation of what the statement means in lay terms.

Q: Hi folks
I'm interested in learning how to buy puts. Can you stear me in the right direction. ..websites or courses or books? Have you heard of Theta Trading group? They offer a course for $1300.00.
Much thanks

Q: Price of Oil
What happens on the futures market if one want to buy/sell an option when the price is negative?

Q: I notice that last friday the TSX closed at 14360 and on the end of 2018 it closed at 14323 relatively unchanged over 16.5 months
Out of curiosity I checked my portfolio results for the the above period and was surprised to see that if generated a return of 21.5 %, as a result of picks from your three portfolios
Looking forward to renewing my subscription.

Q: I was involved in the Tech crash, the Financial crash and now the the Covid crash. I learned to have good quality stocks, be patient, and the stock market will be higher after this ends than before this crisis started - believe in capitalism. I also would like to thank you and your team for giving investors sound, well thought out and realistic advice. Give knowledge to others that you would give yourself and use knowledge NOT emotion. Take care and stay healthy.
Clayton

Q: I'm hoping you can help me, as I'm struggling to determine where to deploy cash right now.

I've been following your advise to not try and time the bottom, and have been adding to positions every 2 weeks - starting initially with tech stocks that have done well for me over the past 3 years like SHOP, KXS, and CSU.

Now most of my tech stocks have bounced back to record highs, so I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I add to stocks that remain down a lot, but whose business prospects are now more challenging for the foreseeable future (ie. CAE, DOO, MG, LSPD, AW.UN)? Or should I invest in companies that are down a little, but have not performed well for me in the past, but which I continue to hold for diversification (ie. BNS, GUD, PBH, SIS, CCL.B, SJ)?

I have a 25 year time frame, with a higher risk tolerance.

Q: I’d like to understand if and how the big hedge funds and large investors play the overnight DOW Futures to set up Actual DOW to open at a certain point so they can take advantage during EST trading hours. I understand DOW Futures is not as liquid as the Actual DOW and hence it’s possible to make DOW futures swing more with a relatively smaller amount of funds, compared to what it would take to move the Actual DOW as much.

For instance, is it a common strategy for such investors to ramp up overnight DOW Futures buying certain stocks, so those stocks open up at a certain high point in Actual DOW, which they sell in the Actual DOW to make a profit. Is this why Actual DOW may open high or low, following the DOW Futures, and then go the other way - especially in chaotic times like nowadays.

In Forex, I know that USD follows DOW... and there is a theory that forex traders manipulate overnight to set up a certain way, so they hedge positions on the forex side during EST trading hours to make a profit in forex. Given the 100 times leverage in forex trading; setting up DOW Futures a certain way can be very profitable for forex trades in EST hours. I am guessing such forex traders would also have stock positions that they would managed in Actual and Futures DOW.

To complicate further; I understand there is a relationship between DOW, Gold, Oil, USD which drives each other - at any given point in time - depending on which is the dominant derivative under given market conditions, technicals and fundamentals, driven by overall greed vs fear barometer in the market.

I understand that those who closely follow the long and short term technicals and fundamentals of... key stocks that drives DOW along... and follow day to day relationships across DOW, Gold, Oil, USD... and have deep pockets... can fairly predict/drive the DOW Open and hedge themselves up nicely for profiting during EST trading hours. The options market also plays a role in this.

I may not have phrased my question most eloquently and may have basic knowledge gaps in my understanding of how DOW Futures works. I am curious to learn, hence reaching out for guidance. Appreciate any guidance you can provide on this.

Q: I have about $500000 in cash from the sale of securities and would like to
put into a very safe vehicle for several months.Can you sugggest something.
Thanks Phil.

Q: What instruments do you use to determine an inverted bond yield curve?
Do you think we had one last year?
If an inverted yield curve [bear argument] occurred, what would signal it's reversal [bull argument].

Q: Hello 5i Team

My wife and I are looking at our investments, and although we rode the market right down with the majority of people, we are not looking to spend anything/withdraw any time soon. We are young professionals in our mid thirties with two young kids, so lots of time for our RRSPs/TFSAs to bounce back.

Do you think this is a good time to leverage to get further into the market? I'm thinking that we can borrow $50k on a HELOC and get some solid stocks at a steal. Earn some dividends and get some quick capital appreciation, with the expectation of selling off and recovering the cash by the end of the year.

Looking at perhaps going 1/3 each to things like CAE, RUS, and RBC. I'm new to making my own decisions on investments. Is this an absurd idea? Let me know if I'm crazy. I see all my friends jumping in at the moment and the temptation is high.

Q: Greetings all:
Jim Pattison has been buying a few million dollars of the above which
brings his % up. Wft has in turn introduced a poison pill. When asked
his reply was that it doesn't affect them because they have owned shares for 19 years. I have tried to understand this comment and
cannot. Please try to enlighten me.
Thanks,
Ben.

Q: I realize this is completely out of your area of expertise, but I am at my wits end and hoping your experience, or that of your subscibers, can help. My sons received Brookfield Infrastructure Exchangeable Units as a result of the Enercare buyout in 2018. The units appeared in their accounts at BMO Investorline as they were supposed to, but have no symbol, just a name, and they continue to show a price and receive the distributions. I contacted Investorline to find out how to exchange them for "regular" units and they advised me to contact Brookfield. When I contacted Brookfield, they told me the conversion had to be done through the broker, and gave me a contact for my broker to call. I passed the information on to Investorline, and they responded that I had to do the exchange directly through Computershare. Trying to deal with Computershare has been like hitting my head against a brick wall. Do you or anyone reading this have any idea how to go about converting the Brookfield Infrastructure Exchangeable units into regularly traded units?

Q: What is your opinion of the usefulness of the Shiller CAPE ratio, and is there a site where the CAPE is available for individual companies ?

Thanks,
Mark

Q: Would you please tell me what you know about this company and how to invest in it. Do you think it has possibilities positive possibilities? Thank you. Anne

Q: Hi, I was wondering what the simplest way to calculate a companies debt (or what ratio you like using) and what you would consider too much debt, and OK debt for a company.

Q: Good Evening
Two of Canada’s largest private debt funds, Bridging Finance Inc. and Romspen Investment Corp., froze investor redemptions today, the latest sign of COVID-19-related stress in a sector popular with wealthy, income-seeking investors.

Do you see a similar action followed by mutual fund/ ETF companies freezing redemptions if things get worse with respect to COVID -19 ?

Thanks

Q: If I am enrolled in a drip, is the stock purchased at a discounted rate or the market price of a stock. I own the listed companies; are any of those are eligible for a discounted drip purchase price? or do you need to buy them directly from the company to qualify for the discount.

Q: Hi there, this 2 week rally is starting to look look and feel a V while many market commentators on BNN/Bloomberg/CNBC seem to say we will retest the lows and possibly even go lower - more of like a U or W or L. Obviously the situation we are in as a society and economy is out of the ordinary, but as professional investors, what is your opinion on where we go from here? Is this rally the real deal, or is it a prolonged dead cat bounce? How do we interpret these moves and what are some general signals to watch out for?

Thanks for your guidance!