Interest in The Total Return for October, 2026

 

In this last week of October, inflation is once again in the headline news costing all more money. Oil and it's current high priced by-products like diesel, gas and jet fuel used for transporting goods are the drivers today, not forgetting tariffs. 

On the flip side, there are several promotions out now if you have money to save with various high interest savings accounts with terms from a few months to 2 years, along with higher GIC rates.

With the stocks, the highlight is the recent unexpected gains of the Great Lakes shipping company, ALC, Algoma Central Corporation in October, I mentioned in my last post. The 52 week price range is at a low of $17.40 to a high of $33 with an ex-dividend on November 17th.

I assume many an investor watches and waits for stocks that have been range bound with a decent yield which starts to perk interest by moving up in price with an increasing total return in mind.

November should be an interesting month with many of my stocks reporting earnings and I'll check in on the pipelines, power, insurers and infrastructure related on the ex-dividend calendar.

In the first half of November, Enbridge; ENB.TSX is off it's high for the year of $80 moving up it's yield to a current 5.76%, reporting it's 3rd quarter earnings on November the 6th making it interesting for a further buy on a personal risk basis.

With the Brookfield companies I'm interested in such as BAM.TSX, BIP.UN and BEP.UN, paying dividends in USD where the CAD is lower lately, although the CAD gained some in the last week at about 0.71 to 1 USD. Getting paid the higher current exchange rate in CAD will be a plus.

The top ten highest yielding stocks list in Canada was recently updated with BEP.UN, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP in 7th place with a 5.38% yield and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 7.27%.

BIP.UN, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP Units is in 10th spot with a 4.83% yield and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 8.02%. An ever changing highest yield list as stock prices and yields change from week to week.

With my US stock holdings and during the last week of each month, JP Morgan Canada announces their fluctuating distributions for the ETFs JEPQ and the CAD Hedged version JPQH which have holdings in the NASDAQ 100 index. Daily in the news, these tech stocks also have a high weight in the S&P 500. The USD version of JEPQ is also popular with American investors seeking higher yields.

ETFs and Management Fees in October, 2026

 

September revived it's reputation as being a historically rough month for the Markets and the start of October is not much better but over the long term just a blip on the charts covering a few years.

Down markets and losses tend to keep some investors awake at night like this cover of the October issue of Canadian Money Saver.

On the flip side I like to wait and watch for any lower prices on the stocks I have plans to further buy or buy the dip. 

With the ETFs I got hooked on "DIV" ETFs holding XDIV ... iShares Canadian Core MSCI Canadian Quality Dividend Index gaining 24% year to date along with a 3.17% yield. A combined total return of 27%. The top ten holdings are mainly in the financial and energy sectors.

Keeping management fees low at 11% is a plus I look at when researching ETFs.

Recently I was reading an article about BMO ETF's and stopped at ZDIV which interested me and also with a low 10% management fee. BMO MSCI Canada IMI High Dividend Yield Index ETF launched in February of 2026 with quality dividend paying stocks in the top ten holdings and a different weighting than XDIV. A slightly higher yield at 3.60% with ZDIV.

Can ZDIV, the cheaper ETF to buy at this time, perform or outperform XDIV with a 53% gain for 2 years and higher over 5 years at 90+%? I'll find it an interesting comparison with hopefully a growing total return going forward.

With the current high yield ETFs making waves with yields upwards of 10% or more which have features like bi-monthly payments, etc. ETFs with decent gains along with a yield is an alternative compared to the popular VDY and XEI keeping management fees reasonably low.

Looking down through the top ten holdings in those ETF's, buying the stocks for a portfolio makes for a good starting point or foundation. 

On the topic of waves ... I tend to look a week ahead and browse through upcoming ex-dividend dates. For the 15th of October I seen ALC.TSX listed. Algoma Central Corporation which I hold. Is that an error where November 17th is the next ex-dividend date for ALC?

Going to their site and reading the latest news. October 8th, management announced a special dividend of $1 with an ex-dividend date of October 15th and increasing it's current regular dividend by 10 cents for November 17th.

I'm a conservative investor and while digesting this news which is abnormal for this Canadian Great Lakes Shipping company with a long history, it's stock jumped $5. After reading management's decision and conviction I decided to buy more shares knowing the price will probably drop some after the special dividend is paid out.

Overall, I'm pleased with the 100%% total return gain since buying back in 2023 and 2024 before buying more shares last week. 

Just an example of surprise updates from companies that appear unexpected on the market horizon such as Emera, EMA merging with Canadian Utilities, CU in 2027. ATCO owns CU so they will apparently be spun off as an industrial company when finalised.  There will be more news on that move to come I'm sure. I own EMA with an ex-dividend date nearing month's end.

Stocks and ETFs I mentioned in the article are my personal picks and not investment advise while I measure the risk and potential reward in investing.

It's already the last quarter of 2026 and companies I own have begin updating dates and times for their quarterly results to come and I'm looking forward to some positive forward guidance.