Year-to-date, the traditional non-cyclical sectors have performed on cue and in textbook fashion, outperforming cyclical stocks by a wide margin. The S&P/TSX Capped Healthcare (+12.8%), Capped Telecom (+13%), Income Trust (+15.4%) and Capped REIT (+13.8%) Indexes have posted year-to-date double-digit gains compared with...
Last week’s billion-dollar plus sale of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan’s majority interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to a couple of Canada’s largest telcos is an example of effective decision-point resolution. It remains to be seen whether Canada’s Competition Bureau will approve the transaction. But...
One of the sectors usually associated with non-cyclical stocks is real estate. You can see that in the sectors performance. The S&P/TSX Capped Real Estate Index was ahead 2.6% year-to-date to the end of November. It is up 6.3% over the past 12 months. That’s not too surprising, given that the bulk of the index comprises...
When momentum rules the day in stock markets, it’s difficult to go against the grain. Only the boldest of the bold have the stomach to do so, placing bearish trades in the near-certain expectation of some success. In the past few weeks, that type of speculation has borne fruit. Others rely on defensive strategies to at least...
In the glass-half-full department, Warren Buffett, the CEO of investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., recently said, “American companies look very cheap compared to investment alternatives,” and promptly took a US$10 billion (5.4%) stake in International Business Machines Corp. In all, Berkshire, led by Buffett and his...
It’s tempting, when big business and big politics do the waltz, to bet on some outcome or other. Trouble is, it’s often impossible to see behind the veils and curtains, to say nothing of smoke and mirrors, that obscure the true picture of events. It’s even more difficult when what’s at stake is counted in the billions...
Allow me to begin with some background about what we know and think we know. Which is really another way of asking what is being priced into the market? It would seem from recent stats out of the US and Canada that a double dip recession is unlikely. Replaced by a prolonged period of slow growth which the US Fed estimates to...
Back in our September 26th blog (Copper Oversold?) we discussed the outlook for copper. Our view at the time was that copper was oversold and that negative sentiment had taken mining stocks down. At the time, I suggested buying a couple of the junior down and out copper stocks (Copper Mountain Mining Corp. (TSX: Copper...
For the past five years, the S&P/TSX Capped Consumer Discretionary Index has ended December higher month over month from November. It’s a basic seasonality pattern that sees companies in the sector grow in sales and profitability during the peak Christmas spending season. Companies in this sector include an eclectic mix...
How quickly sentiment can change. Global markets have rallied despite little concrete evidence of a solution to macro uncertainties facing the global economy. Which is to say; Europe? The optimism reflects a view that a broad solution will soon be implemented. And to that end, we have European leaders and large European banks...