Bank of Montreal reports today

BMO UPDATE (15:23 EDT): Comments from 3Q Conference Call
BMO UPDATE (14:50 EDT): Globe & Mail - BMO defies newsletter naysayers
BMO UPDATE (14:35 EDT):Agora Financial: Amoss to digest earnings report and BMO conference call, will comment tomorrow
BMO UPDATE (14:26 EDT): Bank of Montreal defies bearish bettors - Stock up $3.43 (7%)
BMO UPDATE (07:51 EDT): Financial Post - BMO Profit rises 6.9%
BMO UPDATE (07:46 EDT): Globe & Mail - BMO Profit rises to $557 million
BMO UPDATE (07:36 EDT): CNW Group - BMO Financial Group Declares Dividend (unchanged from last quarter)
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The Bank of Montreal is scheduled to report earnings today and everyone is watching keenly for the results.

Will BMO cut it's dividend now, in the next earnings report or not at all? Will this initiate a collapse in the stock price?

Bloomberg reported the Amoss speculation yesterday and quoted John Aiken, an analyst at Dundee Securities Corp. in Toronto, as saying that "the speculation may have contributed to Bank of Montreal’s decline. Aiken's believes the bank’s dividend is safe. Bank of Montreal spokesman Paul Deegan declined to comment."

Google Finance has cited the Bloomberg report on it's BMO stock quote page, so the speculation has now entered the mainstream media.

Management will release results before the bell Tuesday, and hold a conference call at 2pm eastern time. BMO is up 25% since reporting better-than-expected profit and announcing 1,100 job cuts on May 26. Overall options activity in BMO was more than 12 times average, with puts outnumbering calls by 20 to 1.

We will keep tabs on this as it plays out over the next few months.

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