Investment Q&A

Q: Dave was asking about a Portfolio tracker. I use the Financial Times, its free and you can enter stocks from any exchange anywhere in the world. The financial data you do need to be a paid subscriber.

Q: Quoting an answer yesterday "but the VIX at 75 (it was 80 in 2008) would make us more comfortable as buyers" where can a person follow the VIX, and what is it at now? Thanks.

Q: Hello, is there a stock symbol I can use to follow the price of Crude Oil WTI? I have just looked on Marketwatch.com and it was 41.57$. The symbol they use is CL.1, but if I use that exact same symbol elsewhere I get no results. There does not seem to be a standardized symbol for crude oil WTI. Thanks, Gervais

Q: A few stocks that I like, now trade close to or below their book value.
How reliable is the estimate of "Book Value", from respected research sources.

Q: How do you track the volatility index?

Q: Dear 5i
Do all the US stock futures trade out of Tokyo ?
How does the trading of stock futures overseas affect the US and CDN markets (Indices ) ? If US stock futures are down then do the US stocks in the US markets start the next day down lower as a result of the Asian markets being down or do US stock values start off the next day where they left off the day before in the US markets ?
Hope this question makes sense . I'm trying to get a feel for applying a stop/loss on a stock so knowing how the futures markets affect opening North American prices is important to have an understanding of this .
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: Do you, or do any of your members, know why BNN has started highlighting the various exchanges on the right side of their tv screen in either red or green at various times throughout the day? I have searched their website and emailed them, but with no luck...
Thanks.

Q: I use the Globe&Mail online portfolio manager to keep track of my numbers. It costs about $25/mo. and is a bit quirky (i.e. it goes offline a lot). They also keep bombarding me with efforts to subscribe to their paper which I don't want to do (I'm not a GTA guy). Can you recommend another option?

Q: How would you feel about buying a call on one or more large gold stocks at this point?

Q: I'm 27 and have invested in my TFSA in 8 growth compagnies so far for long term holding (retirement). I save 10% of my salary in my TFSA for my retirement since I'm 22 as I read in Rich Barber few years ago. I wait until I've got 1000-1500$ and then buy a stock.
1) Other part in my saving is to buy a house with my girlfriend in about 2-3 years. What will you suggest us to invest in for that short period?
2) My girlfriend want to start investing for her retirement. I suggested her to invest in ETF at first and than change for a strategy like Beat the TSX when she has enough money saved. Is it a good strategy? If so, which ETF will you suggest to invest in?
Thank you

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Motive Financial, a division of Canadian Western Bank, is currently paying 2.8% on their high-interest savings account. In this lower interest environment, I'm wondering how the smaller operators can 'afford' this. Your insight is always appreciated.

Q: Regarding dividends payment in US. You are right as every broker has its rules. For webbroker at TD you have to open a US account and transfer securities to the US to be able to keep dividends from being converted. For BMO and Questrade the account holds both US and Cdn securities and the dividends are paid in the currency it is declared and not converted unless you request the conversion.

Q: Something that would be of enormous help to members currently buying stocks on dip (as opposed to ETF(s)) is a write-up that identifies companies (other than energy companies) that have balance sheets in a state where much lower sales for over a year could mean bankrupcies or share dilutions. I'm looking at forestry stocks, for example, and question what will happen if their sales go down 50%. Will they be able to pay their debts if this goes on 12-18 months? Even A&W, which appears on the surface to be a safe and boring income stock. What if sales go down 50% for a year, could franchise be under enough pressure to be forced to walk away? Buying a franchise is very expensive, afterall. I realize this could take time to write something like this, but no-one in the news is talking about the fact that some companies that need a minimum of sales before running in trouble with debt. Would appreciate your thoughts if you think this thesis is without merit. Thank you team!

Q: On the question Mar. 5 by James about Canadian companies and US dividends, I called my broker and discussed my dividends remaining in US currency, he said that I would have to transfer the Canadian stocks to my US side of the account and then the dividends would be paid in US money and then if I wanted to sell the stock I could sell it in US money or they would move it back to the Canadian side. With the Norbert Gambit situation, I thought you could only transfer Canadian stocks that were also listed on the US side. The stock I transferred AQN (Algonquin Power) I didn't think was listed on the US side too. I have other stocks in the same situation but I don't think a lot of them are dual listed. Should I go ahead and transfer the other ones over or I am not getting the right information from the broker? Thanks Dennis

Q: An exchange question: is it common for buy or sell orders that are not multiples of 100 to be bypassed?

I recently had a purchase order for 150 shares say at $10.01. 100 shares will filled at $10.01, the stock then dropped to $10.00, but my order was not filled. I.E. some other order was filled for $10.00. Annoying! RBC said this was a function of the exchanges.

Is there a logical explanation?

Thanks.

Q: Are options always exercised when in the money?

i.e. I hold calls that expire in the money. Will my broker exercise them and put shares in my account? If I have no cash will they buy and sell the shares for me?

Say there are five thousand $60 call contracts in existence. Stock hits $60 at 4PM Friday. Will all 500,000 shares be called away from the writers? I have had this scenario happen to me and my shares were called away.

Thanks

Q: Nazim asked a question today that has been on my mind, "why hold stocks?" To follow up on your answer in which you opined that much of the downside may already have factored into prices, how can that be? The market is only down to levels it was at in the fall/summer. I am a long term investor but I moved to cash last week because of the risks. In weighing the potential downside risks (which could be huge) vs short term upside, why stay in the market? I just don't see how the effects of this virus will not be a lot worse than what has already been accounted for in the market. People are not going out, travelling, etc. and this must have a huge effect on the market going forward. Is this not a recipe for a recession? In which case, why not get out of the kitchen?

Q: Governor B.O.C said things will/can become much worst due to virus if I understand correct market will not do better in immediate future if so why hold stocks?

Q: Hi,
I read an article on how a hedge fund made money during the coronavirus sell off. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-hedge-a-coronavirus-11583321400). Can you give a small primer on how this is done..or typical hedging strategies. Thanks. Shyam

Q: Gey Guys,

I basically follow your balance portfolio and the stocks that I hold are between 2% to 6 %. Does it make sense in these unsure days to lower everything down to 3% and hold more cash?
Thanks
Jim