DM Portfolio Commentary – Q1 2022
Things didn’t get any better; they just stopped getting worse – Though individuals often invest most confidently when they’re feeling good about the world around them, it regularly happens that stocks rally while socio-economic and other conditions are far from ideal. We saw this on an exceptional scale when markets soared long before either the Great Financial or Covid Crises were solved and, during the past quarter, we experienced it in a more concentrated way.
Equity markets began the year under a cloud, as investors grappled with both inflation rates that hadn’t been seen in decades and the expected end to ultra-loose monetary policy, concerns which were soon compounded when Russian tanks and troops crossed the Ukrainian border.
Click here to read more: DM Portfolio Commentary – Q1 2022
Cardinal Update – Feb 2022
Sunny Days for Suncor – After a dismal 2020, Suncor Energy is on the move. The Calgary- based company was hit hard early in the pandemic – even being dethroned by Canadian Natural Resources as Canada’s most valuable energy company – but it has rebounded significantly since
then along with rising oil prices. Suncor shares returned 54 per cent, including dividends, in 2021 and it increased its dividend by 100 per cent, returning it to pre-Covid levels.
Company Focus: NOVARTIS
Novartis is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and its product portfolio is diversified across growing treatment areas such as oncology, cardiovascular, immunology and neuroscience.
Click here to read more: Cardinal Update – February 2022
DM Monthly Report – Feb 2022
WHEAT & CHAFF – In our final portfolio commentary of 2021, we wondered aloud how certain market components would fare under a shifting monetary regime, in particular one where central bankers began to take back some of the liquidity they had released during the pandemic. Though we’ve so far experienced more talk than action in North America, with neither Canada nor the US having raised policy rates yet, even the prospect of tighter conditions seems to have ignited a reordering of asset valuations.
Click here to read more: DM Monthly Report – February 2022
DM Monthly Report – January 2022
MARKETS WOBBLE TO START THE YEAR – WHAT TO DO? – After an unexpectedly strong 2021 campaign, stocks mostly limped out of the gate in January. It’s impossible to say whether the blame lies with inflation, that’s become decidedly more persistent than transitory; central bankers, who finally seem poised to reign in liquidity and raise interest rates; or simply the weight of probability, which would suggest that a nearly uninterrupted rise is probably due for some type of reset.
Portfolio Activity – Aside from rebalancing trades, in December we sold rail operator Union Pacific in DM Foreign Equity and used this capital to open a new position in Methanex Corp.
Feature Stock – Microsoft Inc. (MSFT) – MSFT shares made another big contribution to DM performance in 2021, gaining more than 50% for the year.
Click here to read more: DM Monthly Report – January 2022
