Brookfield Office Properties Inc T.BPS.PR.U

Today

[Carena]

Hi there,

What a wild day......here are my tid bits:

(i) Great to see the BPO prefs hang in there today and essentially outperform the market. 

(ii) It seems clear to me at this point that the recent resurgence in all the Brookfield group stocks was all about a pending tanking of the US 10 yr yield.   The entire Brookfield empire is interest rate sensitive.  I know our BPO prefs are deeply impacted by the Cdn 5 yr, but I think lower rates underpin the BPO prefs $25 par value in the long term.

(iii) The North American markets are still up nicely for the year....however, something that resonated with me today is a BofA note this morning that said if there is an economic slowdown coming, then interest rates have to come WAY DOWN to stimulate as government deficit spending is tapped out and thus don't expect much fiscal stimulus.  A very good point.

(iv) I own about 70 securities in my portfolio and lots were down 3-5% today but I do take solace in having stuck with the various utiltiies and pipelines.  BCE, RCI, Telus, ZWU, TRP, ENB, FTS, EMA and many others were solidly green today.

(v) I think this storm had been brewing for awhile.  I personally only ever thought it only made sense to lower rates if there was an economic slowdown or recession coming.  The market is all of a sudden acting like this is going to be the reality.

In the big picture, I think the market needed this reset and this is all healthy.  Again, I really have no conviction where we are going, but I am sitting tight and staying very long BPO prefs.

Have a great long weekend,
Carena

[SONOFFERGUS]

Hi Carena! I hold BCE T ENB as core defensive stocks and am glad they are finding their legs. I will be that guy: Why bother holding 70 positions when that gives you market returns +/- a little noise?  How can you follow what is going on, and to what end?  IMHO you should trim to a manageable portfolio of high-conviction positions (including BPO ofc) and index the rest.  I try to

[Carena]

Hi Sonnofergus, You are a funny guy.  I actually counted, I own 107 stocks...lol! My thing is that I take positions based on my investing principles and some stocks tie up lots of capital and others not so much....for example, I closed out a position in Kinross Gold today that I established way back in 2014 and in the end, an all-in IRR of 11%....nothing special, but it worked out not too

[pierrelebel]

"... 70 positions...", ",,, 107 stocks....." WOW! I don't get it. I strongly believe in diversification but... there are only so many hours in a day to research and keep track of investments. My wife and I try to keep around 20 positions, in different industries and mostly offering above average yield (with a few exceptions). Yes, like everyone else here we own 1,000

[Carena]

Hi Pierre, I think I surprised myself when I actually counted and it was 107.   30-40 of them are residual positions that can go at any time.   I have been doing this for years and if I take an interest in a security, I generally keep it.  Bruce Flatt always said his hobby is to collect BN shares.  I guess my hobby is similar but I collect various securities. 

[pierrelebel]

Good evening Carena. "...I think MRG.UN is in good hands...." I agree.  However we already have 6,200 units of MRT.UN and 4,000 PLZ.UN (holding both since 2019), controlled by Rai Sahi and trading at a fraction of "book value". In REITs we also own AX.UN (our largest REIT position), ERE.UN, etc... We are confident that patience will eventually be rewarded. &

[Carena]

Hi Pierre, I agree that these REITs will be fine. All the best, Carena

[wynner]

My BPO.PR.X and W did ok. Not much pain seeing as they just "went" ex-div. 70 stocks!? That is quite a hobby. Better than fishing.

[Carena]

Hi Wynner, Sonoffergus and yourself convinced me to buy the W and I am sticking with it....looking forward to the dividend. As a side note, I never got much into fishing ...lol! Have a great weekend, Carena

[Carena]

Good morning, Not the greatest day for the Cdn stock market to be closed. Japan market is down 12% today. Is it just me who finds it comical that the "Fed made a policy mistake last week by not cutting the Fed overnight rate by 0.25%", meanwhile the bond market is "cutting" rates like crazy the last few sessions. I think the market made the "mistake" whether it