Banking and What's in Your ETF? April, 2026

 

It's good to see the temperatures climbing above freezing some days here on the east coast of Canada as we get more into spring weather. I'll enjoy it before the summer heat and humidity kicks in with more AC use.

Several of my stocks are reporting earnings next week for the 1st quarter of 2026 and the bulk of them in early to mid May. I look forward to the hopefully continued decent numbers and of interest is the forward guidance with the companies.

I look for and hold companies and banks with yields of 6% and down. Many of the yields are lower these days with the dividend paying stock portfolio because of new highs in prices. It will take time and patience for dividend increases to catch up to these new highs but in the meantime I like seeing the increased total return despite what's going with the wars, tariffs and inflation inching up these days.

Where I'm a monthly buyer, April is one of the slower months of the year for the individual stocks I hold being mainly the Big Banks so I look at boosting bank holding ETFs to increase the monthly distributions such as BMO's ZWB.TO and Royal Bank's RCDC.TO with a mix of popular investor stocks/sectors in it's top ten holdings I've been buying since it's inception.

Higher distribution ETFs for income are coming on the scene with 10% yields and higher focusing on individual holdings or a combination of these. Beware of the increased risk involved while some have been steady performers for the past few years.

Meanwhile, with an ex-dividend date falling on the 1st of May, I'll be looking to add to my Emera Inc. holding, EMA.TO. Emera has been hovering around it's fair value according to various analyst ratings.

For a utility, it's stock has a near 19% increase looking at the 1 year chart. EMA cut back it's dividend increases to 1% until further notice in 2024 with a guidance of 6 to 8% capital gains so I hung in there and so far, so good. I normally sell when I see dividend changes going backwards but if there is a trade off like in Emera, I'll continue holding and adding.

I'll be looking at the dividend calendar in early May with my holdings; Enbridge, ENB.TO and Fortis, FTS.TO approaching ex-dividend dates. Enbridge with recent pipeline expansion approvals in the US.

                                                      

                                               An additional issue for Canadian Money Saver

                                                                   for April, 2026

I'll add to this post when I see the news release from BMO about their new Target Cash Flow Units ETF distributions for April 2026, payable in May that have me interested but I need more comparison from the March to April numbers. They are usually released on or before the 23rd of the month.

Using ZWB.TO as an example, the ETF had a cash distribution rate of 0.12 per unit for March 30th, payable monthly with a pay date of April 2nd.

ZWB.T.TO, with the T for Target paying monthly had a cash distribution rate of 0.488 per unit. The target distribution annualized rate is 13%, while ZWB is a current 5.22% annualized rate with a YTD price increase of 9.24%. Not too shabby for a covered call bank ETF.

With ETFs, I want to see ample trading and market volume along with increasing assets over time, especially when newly launched while stocks and ETFs I write about are my personal choices and not meant as investing advise.  

 

Headwinds and Sectors in April, 2026.

 

Spring is here but the temps are up and down with flurries to rain so far but I won't complain because the humidity and higher temperatures living by the Atlantic Ocean will be here soon enough so I'll enjoy it while I can where I'm comfortable at about 20 C and below.

A retail or individual investor they call me and the growing number of people into do-it-yourself investing are making the Big Banks shift their focus slowly to offering no commission trades and other perks with the growing popularity of sites like Wealthsimple and Questrade. 

I'm old school so I still keep the bulk of my portfolio in the bank like TD Bank. Recently TD enhanced their TD Easy Trade app to 100 free trades, up from 50 last year and a list of 100 commission free ETFs. I started trading on Easy Trade as soon as the app was launched. For ETFs not in their commission free list, I go to Wealthsimple to buy and sell.

My portfolio is diversified with stocks in sectors such as the banks, pipelines, energy, insurers and others. It's riding out the choppy waters despite the headwinds brought on by the Iran war, which the US and Israel initiated causing oil and gas/diesel prices to spike for now. 

While many panic sell, even gold for cash which is different from the norm, I watched my energy stocks like Suncor, SU.TO and TC Energy TRP.TO go to new highs while paying dividends.

                                            

                                                             Courtesy of Yahoo Finance

I tune into Mike, The Dividend Guy's 10 minute broadcast called the Moose on the Loose about different stocks and expanding on questions from his readers. Lots of good investing ideas with stats and what he prefers or not, leaving it up to the listener to digest and think about.

Recently on March 30th, it was about SOBO, South Bow, the spin off from TC Energy where SOBO has the pipelines and TC Energy, more into Natural Gas these days.

I gained shares of SOBO with that split and added shares, liking the potential and dividends paid in USD, converting to CAD on my end. It takes big bucks to maintain and extend pipelines. Meanwhile, the money "flows" into SOBO from the tolls/fees companies pay to use the pipelines to transport their oil. South Bow has been in the news recently about expanding their pipeline in the US and meetings with the US Feds and States involved

SOBO has gained over 25% share price in the last 3 months.

I found Mike's opinion on SOBO interesting in the link below

About South Bow (SOBO), March 30, 2026

Currently I'm watching and interested in BMO's "T for Target" ETFs

BMO released the distributions and the Target yield for 15 of their new funds.

For example, ZWB is a covered call ETF holding the top banks in Canada plus ZEB with a current yield of 5.42% and I have ZWB in my ETF portfolio. 

ZWB.T (Target and new ETF) has a current Target yield of 13% and has paid out it's first distribution but I'll wait for BMO's April news release, usually around the 20th for ZWB.T's distribution payment in early May to compare the ETF price from it's starting price. It's wise to read over all the information BMO has available on these Target ETFs.

It's certainly a new twist on an original ETF like ZWB launched on January 28th, 2011 so I'll be watching ZWB.T's charts with regards to price swings and if it will be an addition or not. I like to see the monthly payments coming in but don't want to see an ETF price go lower over time ultimately bringing on a loss when it comes to total gain.

More on that in April along with how the stock sectors are performing while US policy on the Iran war and trade deals with Canada keeps everybody speculating with the constant changes from day to day.

Happy Easter, today being the 4th of April, 2026