This article is sponsored by TD Direct Investing. If you were shopping for a new vehicle, would you pay the sticker price of a car that caught your eye without researching or looking into its features first? How would you know you were getting a fair deal, or if the car would even meet your needs? The same logic applies to...
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is that they can only include cash, stocks, bonds, and other simple assets. But in reality, these savings accounts can hold a wide variety of asset classes, including options. Options Strategy in an RRSP for...
Although the broad Canadian stock market index has almost recovered to its pre-COVID crisis high, there is one sector that has lagged badly. The energy sector has not recovered to anywhere near the levels seen in early 2020. Chart 1: iShares S&P/TSX Capped Energy ETF (symbol XEG) 2019-2020 Source: Bloomberg For those who...
Before the corona crisis hit, Cineplex was scheduled to be taken over by UK-based Cineworld Group in a $1.65 billion transaction. Cineworld was going to pay $34 per Cineplex share. However, the closing of the Canadian economy due to the coronavirus crisis led Cineworld to claim that there had been a material adverse change...
Recently the Royal Bank of Canada lost its title as our country’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalization. For two brief weeks, Shopify sat at the top of the heap. Chart 1: Royal Bank vs. Shopify May 31, 2020 Source: Bloomberg SHOP’s run has been a sight to behold. Chart 2: Shopify...
The coronavirus crisis has caused massive sell-offs in global equity markets throughout the world. Canada has not been immune, and our benchmark large-cap S&P TSX 60 Index has lost over 36% from its February high. CHART 1 – S&P/TSX60 Source: Bloomberg A move of this magnitude from new highs to a...
In our last article we discussed how to reduce the risk associated with the time-value decay of options in a directional position. Now we will take advantage of the market meltdown to discuss the implied volatility in the price of an option, how it reflects the degree of market uncertainty over future price movements in the...
As the following chart shows, the price of shares in Waste Connections Inc. (WCN), which is trading at $123.70 as these lines are being written on July 25, 2019, has delivered an excellent return of 28.6% since bottoming out at $96.16 on December 24, 2018. The chart shows that the stochastic oscillator (Stoch), an indicator of...
On March 13th, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX: ACB) announced that they had appointed Nelson Peltz as a Strategic Advisor to help explore potential partnerships and advise on the company’s global expansion strategy. This is a big deal given Mr. Peltz’s business history and reputation for delivering results. For more details...
It’s that time of year again, where investors thoughts turn to RRSP and TFSA contributions and taking advantage of growing their portfolio in a tax-sheltered or tax-free way. There are many ways to approach portfolio management. Often, when you ask a cross section of self-directed investors their answers will vary. Some...