Investment Q&A

Q: My understanding is that if an agreement isn't reached before early June (?) regarding raising the U.S. debt ceiling then there could be significant global economic fallout... leading to unemployment, interest raise hikes, and of course, large market selloffs.

How much weight/attention are you guys putting on this situation? Is this leading to a significant buying opportunity? Is it wise to increase cash position until this plays out?

Q: Should we be concerned about the States debt ceiling? If we look back to 2011 the markets took a massive hit and according to JPMorgan’s top strategist Marko Kolanovic now is a good time to add to gold and hold on to cash. Your thoughts please?

Q: Hi Peter,

Hopefully it won't time out (if that's the problem)....I saved the question and I just did a copy and paste.

Hi Peter,
I asked if you got my question sent on May 11 and 5i responded saying you didn't get it an to re-send it....here it is:

Regarding Timour's question on CBDC's posted the 11th May, I get the impression the response seems "positive" on CBDC's. I was a bit surprised that their was no mention of how this would affect each and everyone of us with the retail CBDC's. The idea is to get rid of cash completely, which would give central banks absolute control of the money of each individual, not me saying that, here's a 57 sec. video from the top guy of the BIS (a must watch):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IimgEyjy4&ab_channel=ForbesBreakingNews

If an individual can ONLY open an account at the central bank of his/her country, then we would be at the mercy of the rules and regulations of that central bank and no other bank to go to because there won't be any. Wouldn't that be a complete monopoly? This is a very serious matter that everyone should know about....nothing like this has ever been done.

Please check these links....they are opinions of very knowledgeable people:

https://www.cato.org/study/risks-of-cbdcs

https://off-guardian.org/2023/03/07/central-bank-digital-currency-is-the-endgame-part-1/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/central-bank-digital-currencies-what-they-are/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/norbertmichel/2023/03/06/cbdcs-not-just-a-different-form-of-money/?sh=241c275a21b6

In this link please listen to at least the 2nd. 2:50 min. video:

https://home.solari.com/blast-from-the-past-week-of-april-17-2023-prof-richard-werner-the-case-for-abundance/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/central-bank-digital-currencies-cbdcs-cola/

I know there's a lot of links, but please have a look at them....no rush :)

Would really appreciate your comments,

Thank you!

Q: What will it take to make emerging ,markets be a top performer? Thanks Ron

Q: Do you anticipate recession in 2023 - 2024 and what impact it would have on stock market in general?
Thank you
Miroslaw

Q: I’m in my mid 30’s and typically have just about all my net worth in equities. I’ve recently moved to nearly a 40% weight in high interest etfs (PSA etc) paying over 4% to park cash in what I think is a pretty crummy outlook for the economy mid term. Do you think I’m being overly pessimistic

Q: Is inflation finally under control?
Will we have a recession? How deep could it be?
Are our banks safe?
Are we losing control of our country to others that seem to play by different rules? We just kicked a Chinese diplomat out of Canada for threatening the family of a member of the Canadian parliament. How will China retaliate?
Russia is still at war against Ukraine. How is that impacting the world economy?
Climate change is threatening economies in counless ways. Almost all negative.

So here's my question. In your opinion, what Canadian and global companies offer a service so necessary or a product that is in such high demand that they will persevere in these troubled times and make profits for their investors?

Q: With the energy sector on pause, is precious metals a good replacement, or can you suggest another. I generally buy on momentum.

Q: What do you think is an appropriate cash allocation of one's liquid assets in the current market environment with some recession and US bank crisis contagion/debt ceiling risks? (Recognizing you can get 4% interest in high yield cash etfs) I recognize this is a personal question so please assume à 34 year old professional with a long term investment horizon.

Q: Why is the VIX so low just weeks prior to a politically driven US debt crisis. A similar crisis in 2011 exhibited extreme volatility until an agreement was reached . In the short term downside risk seems more probable than markets going up. You cannot time the markets but what would you suggest as a near term strategy to protect your portfolio.

Q: During the early weeks of the pandemic (March 2020), my portfolio results - namely Canadian holdings - experienced 3 days in a row of my worst stock market performances EVER. These worst ever performances were approximately 3 times as BAD dollar wise as my BEST ever daily performances. I do understand the immense irrationality of those times, however is this excessive variance in performance a semi normal occurrence where your worst performing days are multiples of your best performing days? For reference purposes please consider that my largest holdings were and are BCE, T, TD, WSP, CSU, ENB, AP.UN, ATD, GIB.A, XBC, and IPL.UN(at that time).

Thank you for your response,

Dean

Q: I am trying to understand what seems to me as unusual volatility in treasuries recently - especially Monday. Has this sort of thing happened in the past ?

Q: Hi Peter,
I have over 6 figures to invest for 3 or more years for a Canadian holding company and am looking for suggestions to invest in each of the sectors, in a combination of ETFs and stocks. I would like to be more tax efficient where most of the returns would be in capital gains (total returns are mostly in the growth of the stocks, less in dividends). Investments can be in any geographic areas. In terms of risk level, I am comfortable with your balance portfolio approach, where it has some elements of growth.

One example I have, closer to income than growth, is HXH-T. It is a dividend ETF, low MER cost, with beta of < 1, pretty risk adverse. The price of the stocks is the index it tracks plus dividends.

Thank you,
Roger

Q: Given the current economic climate and potential future trends, which industries or sectors do you believe are well-positioned for long-term growth in the stock market, and what specific Canadian and US companies within those industries or sectors do you believe have strong fundamentals and potential for long-term momentum?

Thank you!

Derek.

Q: One commentator said the recent spread of PPI to CPI is in negative zone. It might indicate the stock market can go down a lot . Negative spread happened in tech dot com bubble and sub prime crisis. Please elaborate. Thanks a million.

Q: What headwinds could cause the equity markets to roll over and perhaps drop 5-10% in the next 6-12 months? Thinking of raising cash levels. many thanks...

Q: This is a broad market query….
What is the impact of a recession on equities in general? Specifically which sectors are likely to decline the most?

Q: After a bear market at what point in the cycle do small caps recover? Do you think this will happen anytime soon?

Q: I just noticed that someone already asked the same question as me regarding the US dollar reserve currency standing.
The only question I still have is if the above changed to say the China Yaun backed by gold, would all Western currencies take a big hit?

thanks,

Paul

Q: What sectors do you prefer for the next 2 to 3 years given that the markets remian somewhat volatile?
Thank you
Tim