News & Insights

As lockdown restrictions eased, a second wave of COVID cases surged across Europe and India. As a result, mobility-tracking data produced by Google and Apple shows people are willingly travelling less in these regions, putting increased pressure on…

Over the early summer months, global economies have shown improvements. Jobs, retail sales, food services, and industrial production have been experiencing significant bounces. As we head into the fall…

The theme of July was strong growth in risk assets compared to a weak US dollar. Relative to history, the US dollar had the worst month of all the major asset classes. A weak US dollar helps spur growth because…

Ending a quarter of strong recovery from March-lows, the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and the S&P/TSX Composite up 2.1%, in their respective local currencies.

By the end of May, the majority of investors believe the worst of the COVID-19 economic shutdown is behind us. Although the stock market is forward-looking and an indicator of investor sentiment, we struggle to reconcile these returns with what we’re monitoring in the data from indicators.

After a severe shock to financial systems in March, global markets rebounded sharply in April. Although the virus continued to spread, some countries saw infection rates begin to peak and now plans are being developed to strategically re-open the global economy.

To combat the damage stemming from skyrocketing unemployment numbers and significantly reduced consumption, many central banks opted to cut interest rates, eased financial conditions to persuade banks to extend loans and reduced the interest rate expenses of businesses and consumers.

One hundred years later, we continue to see the effects of the organization founded in January 1920 which we now know as the United Nations.

Whether assisted by a Santa Clause Rally or the announcement of a Phase 1 trade deal, the S&P 500 finished 2019 up 30% (total return in local currency), an impressive feat for a “late cycle” market. The annual returns were spurred on by low…

The Month of Mergers and Quarterly Economic Outlook. The Canadian and U.S. economies continue to show resilience as reported this month with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 1.3% and 1.9%, respectively.

The Bank of Canada announced its intent to leave benchmark interest rates unchanged. This decision was initiated on the basis that the Bank is forecasting a slowing of GDP growth to 1.6% in 2020.

Canadian markets continued to show resilience to a global slowdown as the S&P/TSX hit a new record high. At the high, the index was within striking distance of 17,000 points, nearing a threshold that was unexpected at such a late stage in the business cycle.