US Tariff Showers in April, 2025

 

The US tariff bomb dropped this week causing fear and panic in the markets as expected. Canada and Mexico are not on the list for additional tariff for now as Canada waits for the 28th of April and the Federal Elections followed by negotiations with the US over trade, defence, etc. Hopefully some satisfactory agreements can be reached during these future talks

No changes on my end with my portfolio as I look for some bargain prices with the current 27 stocks I own and accumulate for the long term harvesting cash dividends.

April is yet again what I call a Bank Month compared to multiple sectors stocks I bought in March. 

For example, I watched TD Bank stock, TD.TO fall back to the low 80's in price on the 3rd of April and bought where the bank has an ex-dividend date of April 10th, 2025 with a 5% yield. Eventually, TD's stock price will rise again after the markets absorb the fallout from the ongoing tariff war or it may fall even further in the short term. There's no timing the markets only a personal liking for buy and sell entry points.

           March 31, 2025                                           TD.TO                                              April 4,2025

Mid month, I'll be looking at the end of April where there are ex-dividend dates for the Bank of Montreal, BMO.TO, which is currently overvalued by the Graham Number and the Royal Bank, RY.TO which is the more favoured bank with the current tariff climate going on. I plan to buy more of the bank ETF; BMO's ZWB as well for the monthly distributions.

I'm overweight on my EMA.TO, Emera Incorporated in my portfolio but will keep buying before the ex-dividend date, the 30th of April. The utility is currently concentrating on capital gains to offset lower dividend hikes for now

Looking back to 2024, the US S&P 500 was and still is, top heavy with Techs and the AI buildup while here in Canada I personally concentrate on financials with banks/insurers, energy/pipelines and utilities as my top holdings paying decent yields with many of these stocks doing business in the US. 

In the later part of 2024, JP Morgan listed their first 2 interesting ETFs for Canadian investors, JEPI.TO and JEPQ.TO with the latter concentrating on Nasdaq and the top tech companies in the US so I got more exposure to the US market that route while collecting the varying monthly distributions.

Meanwhile, it's wait for an eventual end to the tariff war brought on by the US government and stay invested but like any stock or ETF I own ... if it's causing me to rethink it steady with issues like too much debt or poor management causing possible dividend reductions, it's wise to sell it and buy into the many other stock opportunities out there and on my Watch list that I expect to be a worthy pick.

Manulife ETFs in Mid-March 2025 and Politics

 

Politics are taking centre stage with the US continuing a tariff war with several countries in mid March, 2025.

Canada and China plus the EU are countering tariffs imposed by President Trump while Mexico is on the wait list until April. Trade negotiations continue with no positive outcome to date as US stock markets sank into correction territory in the market week ending March 14th but have recovered since then. 

Mr. Market doesn't like uncertainty with tariff threats but they are here and absorbed for now while figures and percentages continue to be jostled around from day to day.

Meanwhile, Power Corporation of Canada, POW will provide it's earnings report on the 20th of March with a current yield of 4.67%. POW.TO owns major shares in companies like Wealthsimple and Great-West Lifeco. 

POW.TO is one of the Globe and Mail's tariff fighting stocks recommend by Gordon Pape. He also likes Pembina Pipelines: PPL.TO and Emera: EMA.TO in a recent article. I own these stocks but as always, do your own homework when making stock picks.

POW's last dividend increase was last March in 2024. I'm interested to see what the 20th earning report reveals about the company's dividend with hopefully another increase for 2025 and the ex-dividend date which will be in the last week of March.

                                

                               

In last weeks sector report for Canada ... several Materials like gold miners and Utility stocks have been staying in the 'green' compared to other sectors from the past week with all the trade and tariff uncertainty. Gold is the talk these days at over 3,000 USD per ounce recently.

Agnico Eagle Mines, AEM.TO is one of those miners, where it's stock increased by 34% year to date. I personally do not own it but plan to soon. Partially, that is as the top holding (for now) by weight in the Manulife Smart Dividend ETF. Launched in 2020, CDIV has earned 12.80 since inception and pays a quarterly distribution with a yield near 4%. with a 4 star Morningstar rating.

TD Bank, TD.TO is 2nd highest in weighting at this time, a stock I do own.

Getting into 'monthly' distributions, the Manulife Smart "Enhanced" Yield Dividend ETF, CYLD is similar to CDIV but has Canadian Treasury Bills as it's top holdings with a higher management fee where there's more active involvement which comes with a note:

Holdings are subject to change. They are not recommendations to buy or sell any security.

Heading down into the US... UYLD.B is the enhanced version of the Manulife Smart U.S. Dividend ETF, UDIV.B (unhedged units) where I may keep that one on my Watchlist for now where the US exchanges Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have headed into correction territory recently, although recovered today. Certainly volatile times but some holdings may not be affected by tariffs individually thinking long term.

One has to look beyond the yield and focus on an ETF's holdings, performance and management fee along with other metrics like covered-calls, etc. High trading volume is a plus where it can show an ETF as being popular with interested investors.

Ex-dividend dates for the big banks of Canada are coming up over the next few weeks and CIBC, CM.TO is scheduled for the 28th of March and I'll be buying more with a 4.75% yield followed by the Bank of Nova Scotia, BNS.TO with a 6.09% yield on the 1st of April.

To add to those dividends, I've been buying ZWB, BMO Covered Calls Canadian Banks ETF with a current yield of 6.70% and pays monthly distributions but by owning the banks individually there's that yearly dividend increase (Except BNS with no increase since July 2023) and no management fees with possible stock price growth depending with what's going on each quarter of a given year. 

The current tariff war, depending how long it drags on for will probably weigh on the big banks of Canada which have and will probably set aside more funds for business and personal loan defaults with companies most affected by possible restructures and/or having to layoff workers, The Federal Government has announced it will assist financially where needed based on approvals for companies applying.

After the pandemic and the high interest rates that followed, I'm confident the Big Banks can deal with what's going on now and issues in the future.