August 2015: Market News

    Over the past few weeks markets have been acting crazily! Especially within the last couple of days there has been considerable market volatility. I am sure many of you, myself included have seen our portfolio drop considerably in value. However, I would think many of you have also smiled in a certain degree of happiness at the prospects of getting better value for your cash if you are lucky enough to have some at the ready.

    Many of the worlds major stock markets have suffered quite a bit in the past few days, even after Tuesday slight bounce back. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) was down 8.41% From what I gather from headlines and news articles, the troubles seem to be, at least in part due to the following events and predicaments:

Recent Buy! July 2015

    Pulled the trigger today and put some money to work! The TSX and broader global markets have taken a bit of a beating recently as fears of the possibility of Greece's default and unprecedented exit from the European Union(EU) loams ever closer. At first it appeared that Greece was going to miss its loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund(IMF) if Greece refused to negotiate/cede to the European Central Bank (ECB) terms. With that fear, markets took a nosedive. Then there was hope that a last minute deal over the weekend would provide Greece with its much needed funds; which did not end up happening as their Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras turned down the terms. With that, as some may remember global markets fell roughly 2-3% from just about all sectors. Since then, Mr. Alexis has pretty much given into most of the terms put forth on him, but nothing is signed as of yet (to my knowledge).

Next Buy Watchlist: June 2015

    Monday's news items made for an interesting day to put up a watchlist. With the current market fallout of Greece's potential missing of its IMF repayment date and the looming possibility of its unprecedented retreat from the European Union stock markets have taken a hit. I have been closing in on the stocks that I want to get, but with these events I am glad to have been taking my time. I am also going to be waiting on the result of tomorrow Bank of Canada report on the Canadian economy, as that could also affect financial companies. Now, while preparing and researching for my next addition to my portfolio I have had a few objectives in mind.

Recent Dividend Increases

   Over the past few months a few of the companies that I follow and hold have raised their dividends. I am as always very happy to be the beneficiary of these free 'raises' for holding the stocks.

The following stocks raised their dividends: PPL, AQN, PZA, MFC

Market Turmoil

    Looks like the markets are getting a little bit shaky today. The S&P/TSX  went down 194.08 points, or 1.25%. The US S&P 500 fared even worse, losing 39.4 points, or 2%. Personally my portfolio dropped 1%, based mostly on Energy and Finances, Veresen (VSN) alone made up ~.05% of my losses today. The market appeared to be shaken from the announcement that Argentina has defaulted on its debt as it attempts to broker a deal to restructure its debts. There is also the ongoing instability in Europe as the Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Palestine/Hamas conflict continues with fears of escalation in the area that will continue to negatively affect the broader Eurozone.