December 2022 and Telecoms

 

Heading into December, 2022 ... it's quarterly ex-dividend dates for two popular Telecom stocks I own.

Symbol T:TO , Telus on the 8th of December and BCE:TO , BCE Inc. on the 14th of December.

Telecommunication stocks are in the news quite a bit with Rogers bid to buy Shaw and where a Telco wants more of a monopoly in the provinces of Canada. One would like to own all the services country wide but Federal government intervention prevents this. Competition is a good thing but overall ... costs of services are too high and continue to go up. Meanwhile the money flows into these outfits from cellphone, TV and internet subscriptions/contracts.

I own stocks/ETF in the Big Banks, Telecom, Oil. Utilities and Insurance providers after doing due diligence on picks but there's always an element of risk with each purchase. What can go wrong? Eh

If an investor is looking strictly for gains and price action. A lot can happen from day to day, week to week (AQN from my previous post). But, with regards to yield and dividends, I have no complaints over the long term.

However, it's wise to stay informed and one can always sell if not happy with a stock's performance ... and use the cash to buy into more of current holdings or a stock/ETF on a personal Watchlist that's enticing.

They say not to be too loyal or trusting in any one company and be willing to move on but not everybody has the mindset to do that. Like doing business with the same bank for decades and hold stocks in it. Just because of short term price corrections and the financial press coverage on that ... I wouldn't sell. Think long term for the stock choices available in the Big Banks of Canada and their dividend distributions.  

November Shockwaves

 

November has been quite the month both in the crypto and stock world depending what investors are involved in.

It was like a flash bomb was tossed into the crypto market with the collapse of the once giant FTX exchange and the shock waves continue to vibrate into countries, governments, lawyers, upcoming court cases, celebrities, sports stars and the continuing investigations into what happened to billions of dollars worth of crypto all thrown into a blender. I'm suing you and I'll sue back still going on with those involved.

Meanwhile, big and small exchangers out there with no involvement in FTX are felling the fallout either minimally or a lot as billions in Bitcoin, Ether and other coins were and still are being drawn out.

As an example, Kraken ... one of the top US based exchanges sent out updates that it had frozen FTX owned wallets until authorities look into it and has no affiliation or investments with FTX

Eventually this will fade into the past with memories of it surfacing when FTX and court cases are media worthy reminding us of the risk involved.

Overall, some folks lose the fact that crypto remains volatile and high risk with a lot of it built like a house of cards. Just because Tom Brady and others figure it's the next best thing to another Superbowl ring doesn't mean it doesn't come without high risk.

In the early years of the Bitcoin startup, it was exciting via an investor's view and it was easy to just sit and watch the value of Bitcoin go up in cycles for those into Hodling.

These days, not so much as I watch billionaire Whales manipulate the markets and I contemplate any further involvement in that marketplace.

In the stock market, there was and still is turmoil over a once favoured dividend paying stock called Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp. (AQN), paying increasing dividend distributions quarterly since 2017 and appeared to be running smoothly until it's last quarterly report threw a wrench into it all of it and the stock fell from it's average price of $18 per share CDN to $10 so far.

There are many reports, discussion and Blog articles about AQN since it's financial report that things were going sideways for now and expecting more debt while into buying two power outfits in the US to add to the company while selling a couple assets in Canada.

Most of it over ... if AQN's dividend will be cut some which many figure it will be but for now, it's all speculation. 

Although I don't own the stock but have it on my watchlist, this is part of the risk that comes with investing that I accept when buying a stock or ETF/Fund that hit not only DIY'ers broadside but invested institutions as well. 

Matt Poyner from Dividend Strategy has a good read on that subject using AQN as an example.

The Algonquin Problem

It would be awesome to have all winners in a stock portfolio but the reality is that doesn't happen and it's wise to diversify so hopefully overall growth is there in a given year. Writing about these issues that come up keeps me from being too overconfident with my picks. 

What happens in company back offices or boardrooms to a "Bahamas condo" run exchanger like FTX, or those that have no physical office at all ... is unknown to the DIY investor until it hits the media in the form of recent or quarterly financial reports ... or a total meltdown of an outfit.

Mid-November Market Manipulation 2022

 

It's been quite a week in the stock and crypto markets heading into mid-November 2022

With a recent statistic that inflation has dropped a tad in the US, although folks are not feeling it as the cost of living is higher than normal this year, money flowed back into the stock market over the last few days.

Investors are eager to make money after months of being flat or down, so it doesn't take much to get them into a positive mood for a change. In Canada, the latest interest rate hike was less than expected with hints that the hikes may be easing off more in the future. More good news for now but central bank policy can change from month to month.

This week ended on a high; Canada's TSX shot back up to the 20,000 point level.

The crypto scene has shown how fragile it is when it comes to Exchangers. For the second time this year, a multi billion dollar outfit went bust.

How long does it take to bring an Exchange and satellite outfits that has about 16 billion worth of cash and crypto coins to it's knees and fall into bankruptcy. Only a few days when a billionaire competitor gets social media involved leaving many empty handed when FTX withdrawals were stopped this past week. 

I'm sure all of this has crypto holders and investors questioning their own stake in current Exchangers where one manipulative action can bust an outfit. For sure, not a lot of trust out there now when Billions can go poof in an exchange like recently when crypto whales pulled out 6 billion in FTX ... in one day.

Overall, it's what's behind the game that controls a lot of the crypto market. Billionaire movers and shakers and Whales that hold the majority of a given coin. 

                              Courtesy of Cointelegraph

Meanwhile, Bitcoin which has had a 'hovering' level of 20 grand USD when it's free of market turmoil, is holding up fairly well ... dropping to the 15 grand level and upwards through all this commotion.

Once all this FTX business fades, there will be renewed cautious interest once again.

In the stock world, companies get into trouble or go belly up all the time and investors lose millions as well but a top crypto exchange worth 16 billion in a couple days. Wow.

The funny thing is with me, it's not such a shock or surprising where it's all about manipulation ... fear and greed mixed in and the crazy year of 2022. Hopefully that doesn't extend into the whole decade but certainly possible.

Meanwhile, growing my dividend paying stocks is my long term goal and I continue to have an interest in the top two crypto coins by market cap .... Bitcoin and Ether, where some heavyweight regulated financial companies in the US have plans for them going ahead with some already live and running.

November and Energy

 

Central Bankers in North America are hinting at easing off on future interest rate hikes which the stock market likes to see in general. 

The Bank of Canada has eased back on the 'interest rate' throttle some already but the US is staying at the same pace also saying there has not been much slowing of the inflation rate so far in their country.

Personally, I see no change in inflation on my end, especially when it comes to groceries and gas. The one thing I noticed is common items most buy like butter for example that are "on sale" or pre-inflation prices are bought up quickly and the shelves stay empty for longer periods of time. Reminds of early in the pandemic days with hoarding. 

Is there still supply issues with bottle necking and congestion in ports, railways, trucking central depots etc.? I assume so and the high price of diesel is not helping much.

Meanwhile, the Bloggers on my right sidebar continue with the their progress of increasing cash dividends from the stocks and ETFs they own. An example of their dividend strategies being successful despite a current "Bear" marketplace. 

Meanwhile, with the big picture ... the stock markets seem to be levelled off some for now but with the fast paced world of anything can happen tomorrow or next week. prices will change with the short term ups and downs which don't concern me much although I watch and invest "trying" to get the lowest price for my monthly buys. Easier said then done with attempting to time the volatility of the Market place.

The only way to grow cash dividends month after month, year after year is to stay invested for the long term tweaking the portfolio along the way.

For November, ENB, Enbridge is on the top of my list to add to and MFC, Manulife Financial. Both undervalued in price these days and decent dividend paying stocks.

Eric Nuttall of Ninepoint Partners has a keen eye for energy companies that are in good shape to produce gains over time and one can Goggle his breakdown of these in interviews.

Since I'm an energy fan, I've been looking at his firm's ETF ... NRGI, Ninepoint Energy Income Fund which pays monthly dividends and recently increased it's distribution rate.

Bearing in mind that Energy company stocks normally roll with the price of oil. This year has been upbeat for companies that are well managed so far.