Canada’s pace of gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed in the second quarter, to a rate of just 2% per year, down from a pace of 2.90% in the second quarter.
Business spending slowed, along with reduced spending on the part of consumers up just 0.3% in the quarter – and keep in mind that figures also includes regular increases on everyday household items; inflation, in other words.
But rest assured folks, there are always opportunities available to make money in the stock market.
Take for example, these three TSX Index stocks, all of which pay a dividend and will unquestionably be significantly bigger companies in ten years from today.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD)(NYSE:TD) is Canada’s second largest bank, which also makes it the second largest company of any kind in the country, second only to its fellow banking rival, Royal Bank of Canada.
But TD’s made big strides south of the border in recent years, establishing a major retail network, primarily along the U.S. eastern seaboard.
And in case you didn’t know, Americans are in a far better position to be borrowing money from financial institutions these days.
Plus, TD is a much more diversified bank than it was during the 2008-09 financial crises.
It will be interesting to see the next big move that TD’s leadership team takes with this bank.
If you’re reading this and asking yourself how BlackBerry Ltd (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BB) could possibly make this list, you probably haven’t been following the company lately.
This simply isn’t a smart phone handset manufacturer anymore.
Under new CEO John Chen, the waterloo-based IT company has made a decided pivot away from hardware in favour of focusing on its strength, software and security.
BlackBerry has always been revered for its leading-edge mobile security technology and with literally millions of new devices being added to networks each day, the strategy sure seems like a no-brainer.
Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR)(NYSE:CNI) is about as intrinsically linked to the Canadian as you can get, a close second being potentially one of the country’s large financial institutions.
And CNR stock has been on a real roll too.
CNR shares have more than sextupled over the past 10 years, turning what would have been a $10,000 investment into more than $60,000.
However, with the stock up that much that fast, it might be better to wait on a minor pullback in order to get into this stock.
The CNR shares are currently yielding 1.6%.
Personally, I’d want to get a better return than on my investment than that.
Bottom line
The stock market has been sluggish so far to start the fourth quarter.
Now seems like a good time to be investing in quality companies, like these three, that you can be confident will survive even in an economic downturn.
Fool contributor Jason Phillips has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. David Gardner owns shares of Canadian National Railway. The Motley Fool owns shares of BlackBerry and Canadian National Railway. CN and BlackBerry are recommendations of Stock Advisor Canada.
This Article Was First Published on The Motley Fool