NEW EPISODE: In a market obsessed with AI and momentum trades, dividend investors are quietly cashing in. In this episode of In the Money with Amber Kanwar, Laura Lau, Chief Investment Officer at Brompton Funds, shares how she’s finding dividend income in a market chasing growth. With stocks at record highs, Lau explains how to balance yield, total return, and capital appreciation — and why dividend investing still has plenty of life left, from Canadian banks to European value plays. Listen on Apple, Spotify or watch on YouTube.
Canadians love their bank stocks — and for good reason. They’ve delivered decades of strong returns and dividend growth. But what’s the easiest, low-cost way to own all six of the Big Banks without picking favourites? Enter Hamilton ETFs. Learn more about the Hamilton Canadian Bank Equal Weight Index ETF (HEB) — which comes with no management fee until 2026 — and the Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF (HCAL), which uses modest 25% leverage to boost exposure and dividend yield.
Today is producer Jillian’s birthday. Like a true behind-the-scenes operator she will hate that I am starting the newsletter announcing it. But it should be known that I would not be able to do the podcast without her. We met as young cubs in the BNN Bloomberg newsroom and the friendship has survived her various relocations with CNBC to Singapore and London. When she came back home and I left BNN to start a podcast, I didn’t even have to ask whether she would do this with me. We just started building it together. There is a good chance she won’t read this because we are filming four shows this week and she needs to make that happen, but her dad will. Arnie, pass it on!
Here are five things to know this morning:
AmAIzing: Futures are taking a breather after a another record run for the S&P 500, TSX and the NASDAQ. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as Nvidia slipped in favour of AMD’s huge surge yesterday. Tomorrow will mark 6-months since the tariff tantrum low in the markets. Since then, the TSX and the S&P 500 are up 35%. On the TSX, just 12 stocks are in the red since April 8th. Everything else is up. It’s roughly the same for the S&P 500 with less than 100 names in the red since the low. It is really hard to have an ugly portfolio right now. For some, that is a concern. We are at the point in the cycle where a mere mention by Sam Altman on stage leads to a stock rally (Figma +7% yesterday after it was mentioned at a developer event). There is no doubt that AI has been a driving force over the last couple of years. Since the release of ChatCPT, 41 AI related stocks have accounted for 70% of the increase in the value of the S&P 500 according to JPMorgan (see chart below courtesy of Larry McDonald at Bear Traps Report). The rest of the 30% gain is from 359 stocks. The US shutdown is entering it’s seventh day but President Trump is still working. He will receive Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington this morning. This will be his second trip. The first one went well and the stakes are high for this one considering the review of NAFTA 2.0 begins next year. Canada is the only G7 country yet to reach a trade deal with Trump this year, in part because it has NAFTA 2.0 in place and benefits from carve outs. 
You’ve got a friend in me: IBM is pumping 4% in the pre-market and poised to open at a record high on…any guesses? That’s right! An AI deal! IBM announced plans to integrate Anthropic’s AI technology into it’s software. The deal terms are lucrative. Just kidding, there are no deal terms. There is no mention at all about what this means financially for the company. In fact, if I were back on a news desk I would look at this preliminary product announcement I wouldn’t even say this was worthy of a headline write up. RBC’s Matthew Swanson calls the announcement “positive” in a note to clients. “The partnership integrates Anthropic’s Claude into IBM’s software portfolio starting with a new product – IBM’s AI-first integrated development environment (IDE). IBM’s IDE is currently available in private preview to select clients with more than 6,000 early adopters reporting an average of 45% productivity gains,” he wrote. AI cloud services provider, IREN is popping 8% in the pre-market after announcing new multi-year cloud contracts with unnamed leading AI companies. This was one of the Pro Picks by Eric Jackson last week. You can watch here.
Drink to that: Constellation Brands is up 5% after results came in better than feared. Profit beat expectations but was lower than last year and sales dropped 15%, but that was better than feared. The maker of Modelo and Corona already warned at the beginning of September that results would be disappointing due to soft consumer demand, particularly among Hispanics which is a large consumer base for the company, and tariffs. The stock has been plumbing around the lowest level in 5 years. Investors are taking comfort that margins on beer sales were also better than expected.
Back on: Hudbay is up 3% in the pre-market after announcing it has resumed production at its mine in Peru after a temporary shutdown. The copper miner shuttered its Constancia mine on September 22nd due to local protests and blockades. Hudbay says it still expects to meet all its production and cost forecasts. Shares are poised to open at a 15-year high.
MEG watch: By now MEG Energy and Cenovus should know if they have the votes to complete their deal. There are three scenarios on the table: they have the votes, they don’t so they extend the deadline and/or increase the bid, they don’t so they drop the deal. We should know in the next 48 hours. MEG’s shareholder meeting is Thursday.
This is going to be a good one! Get your questions in now! Questions@inthemoneypod.com
