Investment Q&A

Q: Does previous day activity in foreign markets offer any clues as to the activity one can expect on North American exchanges or vice versa? For example, every morning I read about how the major foreign exchanges have performed and I wonder if they are reacting to North American news or do North American markets react to Europe/Asian news or neither? Although I don't trade frequently and usually don't worry about a couple of percent change in a share price before buying, does a really poor day on the DAX, for example, suggest that I should wait to buy on the TSX because our prices would likely drop as well (realizing that sometimes the drops are sector specific and sometimes they are overall drops).

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: In your response to Brian about ETF and market panic, you say that in a market panic an ETF might have to sell a stock to meet rememptions (kind of guess you meant redemptions !?). Could you explain further? I thought if individuals panicked and sold their ETF, some other individuals would be the buyers, rather than the ETF having to do anything re holdings, and that the total shares outstanding would not change. Isn't this part of what separates an ETF from a mutual fund?
Thank you

Q: I am retired with no pension. I invest primarily in Canadian Dividend stocks and have in effect created my own "pension income" that is taxed at a "low rate" thanks to the Dividend Tax Credit. With our current Federal Government's massive deficit spending and their recent plan to implement "tax fairness" measures directed at private corporations I am very worried that there next tax grab will include elimination or reduction of the DTC despite the fact that the DTC compensates for taxes paid by the corporation and that dividends are paid out of retained after tax profits. If this were to happen, I think there would be a significant negative market reaction since I think the DTC creates considerable demand for Canadian dividend payers. Do you agree and if so which sectors or type of companies do you think would be most impacted? Thanks

Q: To clarify your answer to my Sell side question:
1.When you say dropping a company(stock),do you mean dropping from the different portfolios you have or not?
2.When you say dropping coverage, do you mean when the company (stock) goes below C plus or what is your indicator for you in dropping coverage?
Thank you, Herbert

Q: For a portfolio in excess of $1 million, can you articulate any general principles for when you would opt for diversification within a sector rather than a single, concentrated holding? I tend to gravitate towards diversification in most instances, but as a result I have considerably more holdings than any of your model portfolios, and would like to reduce my positions and be more strategic in my approach to diversification.

Q: hi peter my question is a general about buying a inter listed company say buy td in Canadian exchange in Canadian dollars and sell in new York exchange in usa dollars and that way you you can convert you Canadian dollar into usa dollars without paying bank exchange commission
is that alloyed or is that is possible

Q: This is the YOUTUBE that seems to explain it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqD8T4aXBIk

Q: As a Canadian listed company with a US business, how are the dividends treated if held in a taxable account. (I was unable to find this on their website) thank you..gary

Q: How much do you rely on technical analysis for making buy recommendations...do you you consider buying a strong stock on weakness...a pullback to a moving average....pullback to major support levels?

Q: Could you suggest advisory like 5IResearch with focus on US stocks. Thank you

Q: I refer Richard's question of Sept.19th
Would this work for a RRSP as well, combined my wife I have $877,000. Sell our stocks and buy equal amounts of these etf'e.
This would give us a nice income should we take it out.
Also have a larger amount in cash and TSFA based on your portfolios.
We are 60 and also have pensions and no debt
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Mike

Q: Since, you are having a Webinar on Thursday on Money Saver. My question on Money Saver and 5i Research is on the Sell side. I do not remember any recommendations of an outright Sell on any Stock or ETF. There have been between the lines avoid and do not buy, but where have the words for Sell on a lousy Stock or ETF? Herbert

Q: I am amazed at how closely the D.J.I.A. and the SP 500 track each other.
The stocks in the Dow are picked by editors of the Wall Street Journal and are share price weighted so Proctor & Gamble has 4 times the weighting of GE.
The SP 500 is market cap weighted so Amazon which never makes money has 5 times the weight of Morgan Stanley which made $6 billion last year.
How can you explain this? Thanks
Derek

Q: Hi Peter, there was a video of a trader by the name of Alessi Rastani reported on the BBC Sept 20 network that is predicting a huge crash coming and seems to be very positive about it. Can you shed some light on this and should we worry about this. How do you handle something of this nature and people like this. Thanks Nick

Q: I would like to deploy cash held in my Canadian $ brokerage account on the basis that the Canadian dollar will decline in value in relation to the US dollar. I am considering the purchase of ZTS BMO Short Term US Treasury Bond Index. My premise is that this ETF should be very stable in the value of its holdings but will directly reflect changes in the CDN/US $ ratio. Is this correct?

Other than paying the high bank exchange spread or deploying a Norbert’s Gambit transaction, is there a better way to institute this idea? Is ZTS a suitable ETF for this purpose?
Thanks
David

Q: I normally look up exchange rates on the Bank of Canada website for calculating my ACB for my US holdings but it appears that they only go back as far as 2007 and some of my US holding are older than that. Where is the best place to look up older rates?

Thanks

Q: Hello 5i team,
In a recent response to Stanley you said you would consider a pension as fixed income. Tha is not new. But, i was wondering whether you could give a rough approximation of the value of a pension, say arbitrarily, a pension of $30,000 per year, in terms of a percentage of fixed income. Say in a portfolio of one million, if that helps to clarify my question.
All the best

Q: How could Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) be up 3.8% at the moment on the NYSE while Brookfield Infrastructure(BIP.UN) is down .57%?

Q: Peter and His Wonder Team
I am trying to get a better understanding idea of "normal-average market fluctuations".
So for example...Lets say your portfolio hits a high for the year in April and a low in September with just normal conditions and no catastrophic events. So here is the question...What might the percentage difference be...10% 15% or 20%? Please give a number for a momentum-FANG portfolio vs a conservative VALUE portfolio vs a small cap CONTRARIAN portfolio. I think knowing what is normal may reduce the anxiety for us retail investors.
Thanks as usual...
Dr.Ernest Rivait

Q: Hi the great team, short term volatility seems to related to actual quarterly earning vs its estimated. In your portfolios, which stocks have good record of beating estimates most of the time and which stocks don't. thanks.