Market Commentary & Insights

What ever happened to the lazy, hazy days of summer?! Labour day has come and gone, the kids are back in school and the days of wearing shorts all the time are numbered. August was anything but relaxed as far as global events were concerned. Brexit continues, the US and China are no closer to agreeing on trade issues, Hong Kong unrest is in its third month and various hotspots keep the headlines churning. The markets, in turn, have been volatile. In spite of that, most assets are up quite handsomely, year to date.

How often do you review the values of your investment portfolios? Every year? Every quarter? Daily? A study was done involving the S&P 500 Index which is a broadly accepted index out of the USA that depicts the overall health of the economy.

(April 2019) What a difference three months make After a near bear market in the final three months of 2018, we have experienced a sharp reversal in global equities during the first quarter of 2019. The stage seems to be set for this year’s rally, with hints to a resolution in the U.S. and Chinese trade...

The above phrase, used by Philip Petursson, Chief Investment Strategist for Manulife Investments, following the Economic Club of Canada’s annual breakfast meeting, sums up the 2019 economic view. 2018 turned negative despite positive prevailing economic factors such as a strong job market, positive global GDP and stable inflation. Canada’s population growth in 2018 of approximately...

I’m writing today about historical rates of return and how we perceive them. Let’s take a fictitious person Jean – who in late October tells her friend Wendy that she reviewed her Q3 statement and the 5-year return was 9.12%. Wendy is impressed, she doesn’t get a quarterly statement, only semi-annual, and tells Jean she...

(Jan 2019) It was a challenging year for market returns and global economic growth. 2018 was the weakest year for global markets since the great financial crisis in 2008. Markets were dragged down substantially in the final three months of the year due to higher interest rates, a slowing global economy, U.S. government shutdown and...