Market Ethos - Thematic ETFs: Exciting and challenging Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Dec 17, 2024 In 2024, thematic investing saw extreme performance disparities. While AI, infrastructure, and crypto themes thrived, others, like clean energy, struggled. Many thematic ETFs underperformed the S&P 500, leading investors toward leveraged products. This... Read more
Market Ethos - Tax loss selling: Not a lot on the naughty list Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Dec 10, 2024 Tax loss selling at this time of year can often lead to weakness in beaten down names that rebound in January as investors re-purchase after waiting the required time. However, this year may be the opposite given how few tax loss candidates are available... Read more
Investor Strategy: Outlook 2025 - Three in a row? Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Dec 05, 2024 2024 was great. As was 2023. Could we make it three in a row? Inflation fears have faded, recession risk is low, and central banks are easing – that is a lot of good news already baked in. And certainly helps explain the past year of strong markets and... Read more
Market Ethos - Gold lost its lustre? Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Nov 26, 2024 Gold retreated following the U.S. election as money parked in the yellow metal in case of trouble or a contested election, moved back out. But that sale didn’t last long and gold is steadily recovering. In this Ethos, we share our views on gold and miners... Read more
Market Ethos - Déjà vu: 2.0 Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Nov 26, 2024 Ok, everyone is churning out content and thoughts on market implications of four more years of Trump. And the Trump trades are bouncing all over, most modeled after the 2016 term. It’s probably not that simple – 2024 is different than 2016. One thing... Read more
Market Ethos - Bonds: Where’s the love? Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Nov 26, 2024 Investors have been piling into all-equity one-ticket solutions. Call it performance chasing perhaps. These vehicles are more tilted to DIY investors as this trend is less evident across the broader market flows. But the all-equity approach may prove... Read more
Investor Strategy: November 2024 - Halloween puts a scare in markets Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Nov 06, 2024 We are not going to say ‘volatility ahead’, because we think everyone always says this and it’s market commentary filler. Instead, recession risk low, inflation still cooling, earnings growing (albeit a bit slower than before for 2025) all makes for a... Read more
Market Ethos - The hedge conundrum Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Oct 29, 2024 The USD has risen a lot lately against most currencies including the CAD. There are many economic/yield reasons for this move, with the biggest being USD strength ahead of the potential election uncertainties. Yet at 72 cents, the CAD may be getting too... Read more
Market Ethos - Elections: only certainty is uncertainty Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Oct 22, 2024 Markets have moved higher over the past couple months, with decent economic and inflation news as the tailwinds. But if history is any guide, the few weeks before a U.S. election often sees a spike in volatility. With such a close race, this may even... Read more
Market Ethos - All eyes on earnings Filed Under: Investment Services | Portfolio Management | Wealth Management Published by RWL on Oct 17, 2024 Earnings are all that matter for markets in the long run. As we head into Q3 earnings season, attention should be focused on margins given cooling inflation (a negative for sales growth) and cooling cost inflation (a positive for margins). More importantly... Read more