THE LIBRARY

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” Thusly we started our editorial in the Spring 2023 issue….quoting the opening lines from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities in 1859. Fast forward to lyrics in 1967 from the Rascals Band: “How can I be sure...in a world that’s constantly changing?” So many people, places and things to worry about. Lastly, our least favourite pithy statement “This time..it’s different!” We frequently have shared with you the grounded wi

Investing Update Foresight had to take a forced “sabbatical” due to the national postal strike, and skip the Winter issue. Since the Summer issue, the equity markets have been buoyant. Rolling annual returns were negative from June 2022 through February 2023. They jumped into healthy returns from June 2023 and have been steadily double-digit from May 2024 to the end of the calendar 2024. The components of portfolio construction- fixed income and equity markets- both experienc

As we look forward through 2024, we see a number of potentially positive trends for our portfolios. Even if interest rates stay higher, bond portfolios are enjoying significantly higher yields in the 4-5% range, up from near 0-1.5% not long ago. This increase in yield for the fixed income side will have a significant positive impact on overall portfolio returns. Higher interest rates also have a negative impact on valuation multiples in the stock market, especially for high-y

We recently attended the Vancouver 2023 CFA Financial Forecast dinner featuring as the keynote speaker Mark Carney (the former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada). It was very interesting to hear his views on the global economy, interest rates, inflation and the various recession themes being forecast. Although he does agree that we may be nearing the top of the rate hike cycle in Canada and the United States, he does not see these central bankers cutting

Market volatility in both global stocks and bonds has been the theme so far in 2022. Global supply chain issues caused by the ongoing battle with the various variants of Covid has resulted in decades-high inflation being experienced in food, energy, labour and materials costs. It has been a race to see which economist can correctly forecast the number of Bank of Canada and U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes over the next 18 months. A considerable amount of angst may ari

President’s Message I am not sure that Happy Covid New Year is the appropriate phrase, but, indeed a year it has been! The physical office facility here has remained open throughout, albeit with only two people during the first quarter. Seventy-five percent of our Team have worked remotely. It was coincidentally fortunate that we had undergone a massive upgrade in our technology just three months before Covid erupted. A few of you have crossed the physical threshold over the

We have fielded a few queries recently about our investment rationale behind owning the iShares 1-5 Year Laddered Government Bond Index ETF. We can see how there could be a misconception about the performance of this ETF, as it appears to be constantly, although incrementally, going down from a capital standpoint. What isn't as apparent is that the monthly interest payments that you receive from the ETF are a combination of the interest yield and a return of your capital. Thi

Post the Winter 2018 edition of Foresight and our discussion of the recent global stock market correction to the end of November, global stock markets continued to drop throughout December, resulting in one of the worst Decembers ever. What followed in January was a rebound of 13%, recouping a good portion of that market correction over the previous two and a half months. Depending upon the asset allocation mix of the portfolio, we saw portfolios increase in value by 3%-4% in