From the category archives:

November

With the new seasonal cups out at Starbucks stores across the continent, it’s *clearly* time to begin thinking about the Christmas holidays.  Although U.S. jobs data is on a slight – very slight – uptrend, we are still nowhere near back to the number of jobs pre-Lehman.  Recent data I read suggested that about 232,000 [...]

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TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage (Canada) has announced that it will lower the standard flat rate commission fee for buy and sell orders from $29 down to $9.99 for clients with household assets of at least $50,000. Changes take effect on November 4th, 2010.
Previously, clients had to hold at least $100,000 in assets at Waterhouse to [...]

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November is usually a good month for stocks.  Free from the seasonal worries about risky September and October markets, November often represents a return to a rallying environment in stocks generally and in certain sectors especially.
This year being a mid-term election year in the U.S. also bodes well for stock markets for the rest of 2010 and into [...]

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Canadian bank DRIPs are known for discounts of 2-3% on dividend reinvestment through their DRIP plans, but these discounts do fluctuate.
Starting with the November 2010 common dividend, the Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO) will no longer provide a DRIP discount from the average market price on common shares purchased under the plan.
BMO has said there will [...]

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Many investors are familiar with the phrase “sell in May and go away.”  This has certainly been true in May 2010: Greece debt problems, the sinking Euro, the downgrade of Spain’s credit rating and the BP oil spill debacle have taken their toll on markets worldwide.  Oh, and then there was the mysterious May 6th [...]

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Last Friday, the final trading day of October 2009, saw triple-digit losses following the previous day’s excellent U.S. GDP numbers.  Are traders and institutional investors just taking money off the table for some profits?  Or will this be the beginning of the retrenchment that we didn’t see in September or October?
One thing that is for [...]

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I don’t think the markets are all that calm right now – the VIX is still hovering around the 60’s – but they are definitely calmer than they were one month ago.  There’s a more long-term uncertainty now, perhaps, rather than a day-to-day disaster feeling, even if the roller coasters in the Dow are still [...]

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