Owning Too Much Real Estate Locks You Out of Strong Stock Returns

The Greater Toronto Area real estate market has officially dipped below the $1 million mark for the first time in five years, with the average selling price for all home types landing at $973,000 last month. This contraction represents a 27% price decline from the market’s all-time peak in February 2022. I’ve heard many people […]

Can Software Stocks Put Up a Firewall Against AI’s Threat?

The investments you don’t own are often just as important as those you do. After years of strong performance, software stocks have had their largest non-recessionary drawdown in almost three decades. One exchange-traded fund (called the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF), which is a basket of software stocks, is down nearly 25% so far this […]

Is Kevin Warsh’s Fed Chair Nomination a Golden Opportunity for Stocks?

Last week, Donald Trump announced he would nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve Chair, a move that surprised plenty (including us, since we thought Rick Rieder would be selected). The market did not take the announcement well. Many attributed the selloff to Warsh’s criticism of easy-money policies and the large expansion of […]

Musical Chairs at the Federal Reserve Historically Sings Well for the Market

While leadership changes at the Fed can spark uncertainty, the S&P 500 historically rallies whenever a new U.S. Federal Reserve Chair is appointed. In fact, going back to 1970, the S&P 500 has gained 12.7% in the twelve months that follow. This data is particularly timely, as Jerome Powell’s term ends on May 15, 2026. […]

The Crude Facts About Venezuela’s Impact on Canadian Oil

Over the weekend, the United States took control of Venezuela’s oil assets. Given Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, it has naturally raised questions about whether Canadian oil producers should be concerned. On paper, Venezuela’s oil reserves are enormous. The country holds close to 17% of the world’s oil reserves, roughly 300 billion barrels, more than Saudi […]

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

While both the S&P 500 and S&P/TSX Composite Index are flat so far this month, December is historically a great month for stocks.  In fact, over the last hundred years, the only decade to post a negative median return during December was in the 1930s. All decades since — from the 1940s until the 2020s […]

Tariffs Are Headed to the Bench

We anticipate the U.S. Supreme Court will invalidate President Trump’s tariffs early next year, sending markets higher. The legality of widespread tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) is now before the United States Supreme Court. The question is whether the law intended for specific emergencies allows the President to levy unbounded […]

Interest Rates May Be on Pause For Now

Last week, both the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut their benchmark interest rates by a quarter percentage point. Though we’re two separate countries, both central banks are contending with challenges that monetary policy alone cannot fix. In Canada, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem emphasized that the 25-basis-point cut, which brings […]

Would Fewer Earnings Reports Mean More Market Volatility?

President Donald Trump is once again floating the idea of cutting the number of corporate earnings reports in half — from four to two per year. The proposal, first raised during his presidency in 2018, would have U.S. public companies report every six months instead of quarterly. While it may sound like a way to […]

Is Bitcoin Digital Gold or a Digital Tulip?

I have trouble keeping up with the reasons why Bitcoin moves in either direction. It seemed correlated with the Nasdaq coming out of the pandemic; then was compared to “digital gold”; and recently it was a hedge against government mismanagement. Its bull case seems to change each day and I’m not embarrassed to say that […]

Are We In a Bubble?

Much like the Internet changed the world, so too will artificial intelligence. But with stock prices on fire lately, many are asking if we’re in a bubble that is ready to burst. When people foresee a bubble, anyone that owns stocks is wise to listen up. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan famously warned about “irrational […]