Positioning for a Covid-19 Vaccine
With several potential vaccines for Covid-19 currently in Phase 3 clinical studies, every day brings us closer to potential approval and eventual broad administration. Based on some of these vaccine developers’ comments, the timeline for Phase 3 results and potential approval by regulators may be a matter of weeks and first inoculations starting by the […]
Warren Buffett’s Reversal On Gold Is The Latest Bet Against The U.S. Dollar
For decades, Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and vice chairman, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, respectively, built a convincing case against gold. In his 2018 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett went as far as stating “The magical metal was no match for the American mettle.” This long-standing aversion to gold appears to have changed. In its Q2 […]
The Risk and Opportunity of Investing in Canadian Banks
The Risk and Opportunity of Investing in Canadian Banks A foreigner visiting a Canadian city for the first time could tell a lot about us by standing at any major intersection. Tim Horton’s would occupy one corner, on the second could be a Shoppers Drug Mart or gas station or LCBO, and the remaining two […]
The Love Letter – July 2020
It’s 2020, but the outlook isn’t 20/20 It’s been four and a half months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. It seems that the world has both stood still and evolved considerably during these past few months. As in the aftermath of a terrible storm, we are slowly emerging from our […]
The Love Letter – June 2020
Strong body armour enhances dividend sustainability for Canadian banks Heading into a pivotal earnings week, the Canadian bank subsector of the S&P/TSX Composite Index had declined 24% since the beginning of the year, vastly underperforming the overall Canadian stock market’s year-to-date decline of 11% (to May 22). Lower net interest margins, higher expected loan losses, […]
The Love Letter – May 2020
The road trip is cancelled, but the roadmap is intact Normally at this time of year, Himalaya and one or more of his sons set out on a 3,500km roundtrip journey to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual general meeting of Berkshire Hathaway (this year’s meeting is being held Saturday May 2). Due to COVID-19, […]
The Love Letter – April 2020
The risk and opportunity of investing in Canadian banks A foreigner visiting a Canadian city for the first time could tell a lot about us by standing at any major intersection. Tim Horton’s would occupy one corner, on the second could be a Shoppers Drug Mart or gas station or LCBO, and the remaining two […]
It’s a Marathon not a Sprint
We’re in week number two of cocooning and there’s no firm date when we’re going to emerge. This new normal, albeit temporary, requires that we adjust our daily routines and pace. Capital markets continue to their own journey through this nebulous period. Over the past month, we’ve seen record-setting down and up days as markets […]
The Love Letter – March 2020
Fear and Greed: The human emotions that drive market extremes For the week ending February 28, the S&P/TSX Composite Index declined 8.9% and the S&P500 Index declined 11.5%, marking the worst one-week performance since the 2008 financial crisis. It’s noteworthy that these same markets had just set new all-time highs the week before. While […]
The Love Letter – January 2020
Investing like a pension fund Canada’s six largest pension funds collectively manage $1.3 trillion on behalf of their beneficiaries, representing 62% of the $2.1 trillion total pension fund assets in the country (based on reports from the Pension Investment Association of Canada). To provide context, the total estimated value of Canada’s equity and bond markets […]