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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: The market got hammered yesterday. The commodities, especially gold, took a beating because of slower than expected growth rates in China. I get that. What I don't understand is why EVERYTHING goes down because of that. I mean, my Boston Pizza, or Brookfield Residential or MTY food have noting to do with any of that. But BRP was down 7.22%. MTY down 4.34%, Manulife down 3.14%. Is it all just computers selling everything, so it doesn't matter what you're in? I'm not in oil, commodities or gold at all but I still took a huge pasting.
Read Answer Asked by John on April 16, 2013
Q: Hello, I was wondering if you could clarify something for me, the "Sell in May". I'm assuming this means, to sell stock in May and take your profits, that being said it would follow that prices would go down in May. When I look at historical data, for stocks I'm interested in it seems that the prices actually go down in April, but historical data is limited in scope. I'm looking to buy, across the sectors, I've never bought during this time period, my question is should I wait?
Read Answer Asked by Sunita on April 15, 2013
Q: Hello Peter:

What do you do on a market day like today? Just watch or buy stocks that are on 'Sale"? Are there any good buys today that you may want to nibble on?
Read Answer Asked by Sirish on April 15, 2013
Q: A tax question which might not be your expertise, but anyway here goes.
A Limited Partnership, such as BEP.UN, is this treated as a separate category for capital gains and losses from "normal" equities? Example: if I sold BEP.UN in the future for a loss, could I claim that loss against my other "normal" equities capital gains? Are there any other tax issues regarding holding units in a LP such as BEP.UN? I have yet to receive any tax slips for BEP.UN, T5013 or anything, from my broker. Is this very late receipt of slips for an LP usual? Thanks for your thoughts.
Read Answer Asked by David on April 15, 2013
Q: When buying US stock, is it wise to buy in Can $ or would it be best to open a US account.
Read Answer Asked by diane joan on April 15, 2013
Q: This is a tax question that may be outside your comfort zone, but I do my own taxes and have a query. I know that if you sell a holding , with the objective of creating a tax loss, you cannot re-purchase that holding for 30 days. If you do, the first transaction is deemed not to have occurred for tax purposes. I wonder if the same is true for the reverse situation. I sold shares for a healthy profit (covered call assigned) and quickly re-purchased them after the price dropped below the strike price. Can I not report this as a capital gain, thereby delaying the tax on any eventual gain?

Thanks, Bob.
Read Answer Asked by Lynn on April 15, 2013
Q: One of the toughest lesson I have had to learn in investing is that a good company does not necessarily mean a good stock investment. You appear to grade the company and not the stock price. Would it be possible to grade the stock price as well as the company? The stock grade would change much more frequently than your company grade.

Your comments please.
Read Answer Asked by John on April 15, 2013
Q: Sell in May and go away? It seems to me that it makes more sense to buy bargains between May and September, rather than sell dividend payers and forego the dividends and incur capital gains on your winners. Could I have your opinion?
Read Answer Asked by William J on April 14, 2013
Q: Hi Peter & Staff;
I will try to keep a very complicated question short. The government printing presses are running steady, and the gold
believers are intact. Many guests on BNN,however, claim that the
QE is in no way contributing to inflation because the money is not being lent to consumers. They maintain that the velocity of money is important and now it is very low.

COMMENTS

Thanks,
BEN
Read Answer Asked by BEN on April 14, 2013
Q: The US market has outperformed the TMX in 2011, 2012 and so far in 2013. For the last couple of months, the analysts appearing on BNN have been recommending shifting from Canadian to US investments. I think there are a lot of opportunities in Canada, even if resource stocks continue to falter. Do you think that Canadian investors should look south of the border for a larger portiion of their investments?
Read Answer Asked by Hans on April 14, 2013
Q: Hi I own UUU and knowing it will be bought out at $2.86, it'll be a loss for me when I first bought it a few years ago. Can I claim this as a tax loss once I get the money back even if I don't sell it?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on April 14, 2013
Q: I would like to know how i can get the names of stocks In Canada and the USA that commence paying a dividend for the first time . Thanks. Rick

Would it be possible to colour code these stocks in your listings .
Read Answer Asked by Richard on April 13, 2013
Q: Do you subsribe to the sell in May and go away camp? I have gains in CSU and Stn and wonder if I should take profits?
Read Answer Asked by hal on April 13, 2013
Q: Hi Peter/team what is your opinion about BIDCOIN.
Read Answer Asked by Dimitrios on April 13, 2013
Q: What are 5i views on restricted voting shares and multiple common share classes .
Some companies use these types of shares to protect the company from predators while others use them to entrench management..
It seems that the US will not allow these types of shares but it doesn't appear to be an issue in Canada except for the latest example: Telus (T-T).
Read Answer Asked by Charles on April 13, 2013
Q: Regarding Richards question on a site that tracks the WCS differential, I think the link/s below do, but perhaps you could clarify for me before posting them.

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/crude-oil/western-canadian-select-wcs-crude-oil-futures.html

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=western-canadian-select-crude-oil

Also, the Baytex site has a listing of links of historical and current quarter.

http://www.baytex.ab.ca/operations/marketing/benchmark-heavy-oil-prices.cfm

And while I'm at it,here's a site that's good for commodity futures prices.
http://www.investing.com/commodities/real-time-futures

Read Answer Asked by John on April 13, 2013
Q: Which (if any) stocks in your model portfolio would you recommend as a buy right now?
Read Answer Asked by Nick on April 13, 2013
Q: Regarding a stop loss, what % do you recommend?
Read Answer Asked by William on April 12, 2013
Q: A comment on David's averaging up on Amaya of April 12: His portfolio of 3 stocks 1 year later is minus 6% because he didn't have a stop on the one that went from 10 to 3. I might still hold the one that went from 10 to 8 but surely one should have an exit strategy to avoid the big portfolio draining losses.
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on April 12, 2013
Q: Hi,
Your latest model portfolio has been set up in March. Since then I've noticed that a lot of your selections stock prices have increased. Do you still resommend them or should I wait for a pull back?
Read Answer Asked by Rob on April 12, 2013