The stock market has rallied a long way from the March lows. The iShares S&P/TSX Equity 60 ETF (symbol XIU) is up almost $8 from that scary day on March 23, 2020 when the market reached bottom. The rally has been steady, with few pullbacks. However, it is completely natural to expect that, eventually, there will be a...
Hedging a portfolio against a correction in the markets is conceptually easy to understand. However, in practice there are multiple variables to consider and each requires customization based on portfolio sizing and market outlooks. To understand how to execute an efficient hedge on your portfolio, we’ve put together this...
When observing option pricing, we should always remember that premiums, while certainly linked to reality, are somewhat of an imperfect predictive tool. Option prices attempt to forecast movement in equities or indices for a given period into the future, but they are unlikely to be entirely correct in the end. For...
The rallying markets have led to a large pool of investors accumulating unrealized gains on their portfolio. One may believe that now is a good time to cash in a profit, but investors may wish to hold on to their stocks just a little longer if they are receiving a healthy dividend payment from these holdings or wish to avoid...
There are many signs suggesting that the current economic business cycle, debt cycle and market cycle are in the mature to late stages. In traditional manner, there will eventually be a peak to trough correction that will play out no different then any other time in the past. As we approach the inevitable, the buy and hold,...
When most investors think about selling covered calls, they think in terms of writing calls against individual stocks. Less often we think about writing covered calls against exchange traded funds (ETFs). Too bad really, because there are some interesting opportunities in that market space. Trading ETFs reduces the impact of...
Brexit is a reality! Despite the betting odds, despite the financial markets’ expectation that we would see a “remain” outcome, the British electorate knowing for bucking the odds voted to exit the European Union. And now we face the inevitable fallout. Unfiltered headline noise will set the stage this week. Witness the...
The last two months have dynamically changed the narrative toward the Canadian economy. Over those two months, the markets have substantially shifted, including: 15% rise in the Canadian Dollar from its $0.68 lows to its current levels around $0.78. 27% rise in oil prices from their lows below $30.00 to around $38.00 today. 16%...
With gold having a strong start to the year and a solid 20% off its 2015 lows, the bulls vs. bear’s arguments have taken center stage. Let’s review both arguments. Bear Case for Lower Gold Gold is an inflation hedge and performs poorly in deflationary times. The most commonly referenced example is the 20-30% decline in gold...