Below is our monthly commentary on topics covering the markets, the economy, and our investment approach. To receive an email notifying you when our blog is updated, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
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Do we have a deal for you! How would you like to loan some of your hard-earned money to the German government for the next 10 years and, in return, receive absolutely no interest for the use of your capital? No, not interested? Well then, we highly doubt you’d be interested in earning a negative […]
It’s been a month, yet it’s still hard to believe. The Toronto Raptors are NBA champions! Before this season started the team had been consistently good, but not great. Sure, they had won their division in four of the previous five seasons, but they had also only won a combined four playoff series in that […]
You’ve likely read that a distrust of modern-day vaccinations has led to an outbreak of measles cases in developed countries. The number of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children has grown so large that the Government of Canada has been airing pro-vaccine advertisements during Raptors playoff games. So you’ve probably been informed, at least […]
If there were an Olympic Games for the equity markets, Team USA would be dominating this year’s medal count. While nearly every major global index has rebounded since the late-2018 selloff, few markets have rallied like those in the U.S. The following chart shows the relative performance of the S&P 500 compared to the rest […]
If you know what the FANG stocks are, then you’re probably aware that over the last few years the markets have been especially kind to technology companies with outsized growth prospects. Just the fact that a subset of these companies have their own acronym demonstrates how popular it has become to invest in high-growth companies. […]
The U.S. housing market had been rising steadily after bottoming in 2010; however, recent data suggest that it has hit a soft patch. This weakness has us wondering whether this is just a temporary pause or whether the economic backdrop is still supportive of continued growth in U.S. housing. As the next chart shows, both […]
Last year wasn’t a great year for investors. In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 11%, with the energy sector responsible for more than one-third of that decline, thanks to lower oil prices. However, it wasn’t all bad news for Canadians when it came to lower oil prices. The energy industry is such a […]
The market selloff in December caused a lot of people to get really bearish really quickly. The following chart, from Google Trends, shows that searches for “recession” hit a five-year high last month. And it’s not just the average Google user who is increasingly worried about an economic downturn: a recent survey of U.S. CFOs found […]
The Bank of Canada has increased its key policy interest rate five times over the last year-and-a-half. This represents the largest sustained increase of the rate in almost 13 years. Over these 13 years, Canadians responded to the downward trend in rates by increasing their borrowing (rationally, some would say). Mortgages, which account for 70% of all […]
October was… well it was something. For the second time this year, global equity markets had a substantial selloff. Also for the second time this year, the financial media tried to one-up each other with inflammatory headlines: Source: Business Insider, CNBC, ABC News, CNN, news.com.au, The Chronicle Herald Taking a step back from the bearish headlines, the […]
