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Posts from the ‘Investment Reviews’ Category

6
Feb

DM Monthly Report – Feb 2024

STOCKS MAKE NEW HIGHS, CASH BUILD CONTINUES – In our final quarterly report for 2023, we noted that alongside the equity market’s prodigious rally, balances in short-term vehicles had swollen to unprecedented levels. In the first two weeks of 2024, $182 billion channeled into US money-market funds, surpassing the previous record inflow for that period by over 50%, and the S&P 500 continued its winning ways, with a January gain of 1.5%, lifting the index to an all time high.

FEATURE STOCK – Netflix (NFLX) – For the Q4-23 reporting season, earnings posted by the “Magnificent 7” group of stocks ranged from solid to spectacular, helping to propel the S&P 500 to new heights and confirming that, for the most part, these companies are generating the growth to support their valuations.

Click here to read more:  DM Monthly Report – Feb 2024

4
Jan

DM Q4 Portfolio Commentary

Cash is for spending – In investment parlance, “cash” refers not to the notes and coins in your wallet, but to any certificate of deposit, treasury bill, or other interest-bearing vehicle with a maturity of one year or less. Prior to autumn 2022, such instruments paid so little that they attracted almost no attention from anyone with funds to deploy. That changed abruptly, however, when central bankers around the world launched aggressive rate hiking programs to blunt surging inflation and, just like that, cash was in vogue.

Click here to read more:  DM Portfolio Commentary – Q4 2023

12
Dec

DM Monthly Report – Dec 2023

ELECTRICIFICATION CAN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT … TREES – Though the financial press would have us believe that the most important market drivers are all negative at the moment – geopolitical strife, punishing mortgage rates, stretched government balance sheets, pending recession – we also happen to be living in an era of rapid and transformative innovation.

FEATURE STOCK:  Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN) – BIP is a diversified owner of infrastructure assets, including utilities, transportation, energy, and communications businesses.

Click here to read more:  DM Monthly Report – December 2023

10
Jul

DM Portfolio Commentary – Q2 2023

“Optimism often sounds like a sales pitch, pessimism sounds like someone trying to help you”. – Morgan Housel

As 2023 began, there were numerous reasons to be pessimistic, high inflation, plummeting asset prices, the economically important US housing sector was in a deep freeze, a looming recession, and a banking crisis. However, despite these concerns, the first half of the year saw significant gains in the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Index, contradicting the bearish predictions. While central banks continue to tighten rates, underlying factors contributing to consumer inflation have decreased, and both the bond and equity markets seem to be taking note.

Click here to read more:  DM Portfolio Commentary – Q2 2023