MCAN Mortgage (MKP)

 What are we looking for?

We are in the traditional Santa Claus rally season when stocks tend to rally after tax-loss selling abates.

Since beaten-down shares are prime candidates for a Santa rebound, today we are looking for the 15 top ranked INK Edge names that have the worst price performance. While there is no guarantee that the Grinch won’t steal the show and send stocks lower, today we assume that Santa will arrive on schedule.

The loonie is likely to regain its strength under a Trudeau government, although timing will depend on whether or not there is a majority government. A majority Liberal government should set the flight path higher soon after election night, while a minority could keep the currency in a holding pattern for a few weeks or months.

Bank of Canada rate cuts may well have been the most popular item at global convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard (INK Edge outlook: sunny; ATD.B) Wednesday, if not with their customers certainly with shareholders. The stock was the best performing name (+4.2%) in the INK Canadian Insider (CIN) Index as insider stocks rallied on the back of a quarter point drop in the central bank's overnight rate. However, the Poloz cut did not lift all boats. While both the INK CIN Index (+0.14%) and the S&P/TSX Composite Index (+0.43%) rallied on the rate news, both the S&P/TSX Completion (-0.37%) and Small Cap (-0.44%) indices dropped. Perhaps most surprising was a drop in the Dividend Aristocrats Index which suffered a -0.47% loss.