{"id":1167,"date":"2026-10-05T16:05:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2026-10-05T12:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T16:52:59","slug":"october-2026-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/2026\/10\/05\/october-2026-update\/","title":{"rendered":"October 2026 Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’d like to add friends or family to this email list, please sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Growth Portfolio finished September up 1.2% over the last year, the American Growth Portfolio gained 4.5%, and the Income Portfolio declined 3.9%.<\/p>\n

While the major averages remained relatively resilient in September, market internals deteriorated sharply. Many individual stocks endured a correction severe enough to resemble conditions typically seen near important market bottoms. Roughly 80% of stocks declined during the month, with 60% falling at least 5%, while more than one quarter declined 10% or more. In other words, despite indexes remaining near their highs, much of the market has already experienced the type of correction normally associated with a far more significant selloff.<\/p>\n

We believe much of that weakness can be traced back to the bond market. September was a month of extraordinary volatility in Treasury markets following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike. As rate volatility increased, many institutional investors were forced to reduce risk across portfolios, creating selling pressure across both bonds and equities.<\/p>\n

The bond market’s reaction was also felt within our portfolios. Our long-duration Treasury position exceeded our pre-defined risk limit and we exited the trade. While never pleasant, disciplined investing requires acknowledging when a thesis is not playing out as expected and reallocating capital accordingly.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the position was sized from the outset with asymmetric risk in mind. If our thesis proved correct, the upside was significant. If we were wrong, the impact on overall portfolio returns would be limited. Not every investment thesis will be correct, but controlling for losses is one of the most important drivers of successful long-term investing.<\/p>\n

That capital was subsequently redeployed into equities, particularly semiconductor stocks, where we continue to see one of the most compelling opportunities in the market. Earlier this summer, investors became convinced that the artificial intelligence trade had peaked. In hindsight, that episode increasingly resembles a healthy reset rather than the beginning of a lasting decline.<\/p>\n

Historically, some of the strongest advances occur not when investor sentiment is optimistic, but when positioning has become excessively defensive. Given the breadth deterioration and widespread weakness beneath the surface, today’s environment increasingly resembles previous periods where markets rebounded sharply once selling pressure became exhausted.<\/p>\n

The bond market remains central to that outlook. Much of the financial media has interpreted rising yields as a threat to equities. Our view is somewhat different. We believe a meaningful portion of the recent rise in yields reflects market structure, positioning, and capital flows rather than a dramatic deterioration in economic fundamentals. As bond-market volatility eventually stabilizes, institutional risk budgets and leverage capacity should begin to recover, potentially providing support for equities and other risk assets.<\/p>\n

More broadly, higher interest rates also increase the amount of interest income flowing to bondholders. While conventional wisdom views higher rates as purely restrictive, the real-world effects are often more nuanced. Rising rates may slow certain parts of the economy, but they also increase the total amount of money flowing from the government into the private sector. That offset is often overlooked and helps explain why economic growth has remained resilient despite significantly higher rates in the recent past. For now, we see little evidence that today\u2019s modest additional rate hikes are sufficient to derail the current expansion.<\/p>\n

Recent economic data remains broadly supportive. Credit growth is positive, lending activity has begun to reaccelerate from its summer slowdown, and several measures of liquidity are now trending favourably. Taken together, these indicators suggest the expansion has room to run.<\/p>\n

We therefore see a market that has quietly worked through a substantial amount of excess beneath the surface while maintaining surprisingly resilient economic fundamentals. Investor sentiment remains cautious, breadth is deeply washed out, and positioning appears far more defensive than headline index levels would suggest. That combination has often created fertile conditions for attractive forward returns.<\/p>\n

As always, our focus remains on identifying opportunities where the balance between risk and reward is most favourable, protecting capital when conditions warrant, and remaining willing to change our minds when the evidence changes.<\/p>\n

Model Portfolio Highlights
\n<\/strong>Growth Portfolio: <\/strong>During September, we exited our Treasury bond position along with our holdings in Adobe and Intuit. We reallocated capital into several new equity opportunities. We initiated positions in semiconductor companies Micron Technology, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices, where the summer correction created what we believe are attractive opportunities. We also established a new position in Novo Nordisk, a leading healthcare company benefiting from long-term demographic and pharmaceutical trends. While still early, the semiconductor positions have begun contributing positively to performance.<\/p>\n

American Growth Portfolio: <\/strong>Positioning remains broadly aligned with the Growth Portfolio, including increased exposure to semiconductors and other areas where recent volatility has created attractive long-term opportunities.<\/p>\n

Income Portfolio: <\/strong>During September, we increased the portfolio’s equity exposure through investments in large-cap U.S. and Canadian companies while exiting our allocation to Treasury bonds.<\/p>\n

Our approach targets opportunities with a significant margin of safety with minimal risk of permanent loss. Patience remains essential in realizing long-term gains.<\/p>\n

We advise families and individuals with $1 million or more in investable assets who value prudent stewardship, independent thinking, and a long-term approach to preserving and growing capital. If this approach aligns with your own, we would welcome a conversation.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your continued trust.<\/p>\n

Yours,<\/p>\n

Ben<\/p>\n

Ben W. Kizemchuk
\nPortfolio Manager & Investment Advisor
\nWellington-Altus Private Wealth\"\"<\/p>\n

Office: 416.369.3024
\nEmail: bwk@wellington-altus.ca<\/a>
\nBook time with Ben W. Kizemchuk: Portfolio and Plan Review <\/a><\/p>\n

Ben Kizemchuk offers full-service wealth management for high-net-worth Canadians including families, business owners, and successful professionals. Ben and his team provide investment advice, financial planning, tax minimization strategies, and retirement planning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Performance reporting disclaimer:<\/u> Performance results reflect the returns of each representative model portfolio. Returns are calculated using each model portfolio\u2019s monthly performance, including changes in securities values, and accrued income (i.e., dividend and interest), against its market value at the closing of the last business day of the previous month. Performance results are expressed in the stated strategy\u2019s base currency and are calculated on a net of fees basis. Individual account performance may materially differ from the representative performance history set out in this document, due to factors such as an account’s size, the length of time the strategy has been held, the timing and amount of deposits and withdrawals, the timing and amount of dividends and other income, and fees and other costs. Investors should seek professional financial advice regarding the appropriateness of investing in any investment strategy or security and no financial decisions should be made solely on the basis of the information provided in this document. This is not an official statement from WAPW. Please refer to your official WAPW statement for your specific performance numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’d like to add friends or family to this email list, please sign up here. The Growth Portfolio finished September up 1.2% over the last year, the American Growth Portfolio gained 4.5%, and the Income Portfolio declined 3.9%. While the major averages remained relatively resilient in September, market internals deteriorated sharply. Many individual stocks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/stonehavenwealthmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}