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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: What is your opinion of the mortgage rates which are rising as the Bank of Canada cuts rates down to .25% and bonds are also losing ground ? We are due to renew our mortgage in 3 weeks and are very concerned that the current pressure from mortgage deferrals re covid19 is causing the banks to raise rates for those of us that are financially strong to offset the costs of covid19 costs. Will the government allow the banks to not only refuse to pass the reductions in interest to consumers but also raise them ? Please advise what your thoughts are.
Read Answer Asked by Doug on March 31, 2020
Q: The price of Sleep Country Canada (ZZZ:CA) has declined more steeply than some other stocks in the recent rout and has a good dividend. I've read your latest comments on this country from a post back in January.
Do you think that when the dust settles that ZZZ will be able to rebound quickly and reach its previous levels and is the dividend reasonably safe at current levels.
Read Answer Asked by John on March 31, 2020
Q: Given the oil price shock, there are a number of Companies that have seen their share price nosedive to below $1. Some of these of more directly impacted (oil producers), some less impacted (gas producers) and others even less (pipelines). Can you recommend some stocks that are below $1 that have decent balance sheets and good leverage when normalcy returns. Birchcliff comes to mind. Do you like it? Are there others you prefer? This is for a TFSA and a small speculative position.

Thanks,
Jason
Read Answer Asked by Jason on March 31, 2020
Q: Someone came on BNN who used a technical indicator to call market tops and bottoms
but I never wrote it down. I believe it was a breadth indicator that seemed logical.
It was when a certain percentage of stocks(15%? 50%?) go over a moving average? like 20 day? 50 day? after a bottom. Going below the moving average after a market top would give a sell signal.Does any one know the name of that technical signal?
Read Answer Asked by Deny on March 31, 2020
Q: Hi 5i team,

I follow the DOW stocks a lot as they are a barometer on the market. They form the core of my portfolio and I add and trim around them. You mentioned in an earlier question that big caps are likely the quickest to recover. Earlier I lightened up on some high beta tech names and have some dry powder. On the Dow, which ones do you see as are the top 3-4 names having the potential for the strongest recovery over the next year or so. I manage my portfolio closely, so I am not concerned about sectors or weightings here. There are a lot of candidates and some have really been beaten up and others not so much. The financials have been beaten up, but I stay in Canada for those anyway, and I have no interest in the oils.

Thanks again for the insight on the DOW stocks. Thanks for your great work, as some days you are turning out answers faster than I can read them.

Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on March 31, 2020
Q: I am considering selling my shares in ENB and using the funds to top up my holding in BAH. What are your thoughts on this move?
This would be in a registered fund. There is no tax loss advantage. I am interested in total return whether it be dividend or capital gain over the next 2-3 years.
Read Answer Asked by Elliott on March 31, 2020
Q: What is the best strategy to follow when you want to sell a stock but it is coming up to its ex-dividend date? If you hold the stock until it is ex-dividend you get the dividend but doesn't the stock price falls to reflect this? If you sell before, you don't get the dividend of course. First, am I correct that stocks do normally fall after going ex-dividend? If so, do they fall by the amount of the dividend? Do they tend to return to the pre-ex-dividend price within a few days? Or is every situation so different that there are no rules and you just take your chances?
Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on March 31, 2020
Q: I noticed you suggested swapping CSH.UN for ZRE. I understand the change to CSH.un but not ZRE. Yes REITs will benefit from low interest rates but won't retail REITs such as SRU.UN suffer from closed store and Apt REIT suffer from possible non payment of rents?
Read Answer Asked by John on March 31, 2020
Q: Hello 5i Team

I found this site recently, it appears to have a substantial amount of information on Canadian preferred shares. It appears to be a recently created website in the last four months. Share with fellow members if appropriate.

canadianpreferredshares.ca/

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 31, 2020
Q: Most energy stocks (Canadian) are high this morning. I was expecting the opposite. Am i missing something here.
Read Answer Asked by Vinod on March 31, 2020
Q: I have just read that the European Banks are going to stop paying dividends and that the US banks are under a lot of pressure to follow suit. Do you think that The Canadian Banks will also suspend dividends?
Read Answer Asked by shirley on March 31, 2020