Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i Team,

It seems like your current view, including from your monthly commentary, is that small and mid caps are continuing to look attractive and the forward returns are historically attractive after past US elections. With this in mind, something I struggle with is a large proportion of my portfolio is in large cap stocks, including 10% of my portfolio in NVDA. A lot of this is due to the strength in large caps since 2022 and my bias has been to continue to hold them at a higher percentage as they have provided strong returns over the past few years. Although, these large caps, including NVDA continue to grow and execute my feeling is that I should trim stocks like NVDA down to 5% and use those excess proceeds to invest further funds into small and mid caps to potentially capitalize on the large gap in valuations between small and mid caps and other tailwinds like declining interest rates. For a growth investor with 20+ years of investment horizon would you recommend going the route of trimming NVDA and other large cap winners to a 5% portfolio weight and re-allocate into small and mid caps?

Thanks as always,
Jon

Q: Do you think with the big rise in the TSX in the last couple of days that it is getting a bit frothy, and perhaps it would be a good time to trim and retain some cash for a pullback? Do you expect a pullback between now and the end of the year?

Q: Shall the BRICS reorganisation against the US dollar and/ or the wars (Ukraine, Middle East) affect the North American stock markets ?

Q: Regarding potential Trump tarrifs, do they apply to services also or only goods?

Do you see any of the companies (DRX, CLS, BN, PRL, Hps.a, ENB, Shop,.... ) affected by this?

I have gains on most of them. Would you sell right away and buy later,.depending on market outcomes?

Would you have a different strategy for stocks that I plan to sell in 1 year vs 5+ years?

Q: In your answer to Shirley on Nov. 22 you wrote, "We think investors can position a portfolio more conservatively by raising the allocation to defensive names that emphasize downside protection with good upside potential." Can you give a list of 5 CAD and 5 US stocks that you think would fall under that statement?
Thank you

Q: In this morning's Globe and Mail David Rosenberg made the case to move into cash in an article titled "It's time to move into cash. Even most bonds and commodities have become too risky". What do you think of this strategy?

Q: hi. this "question" section seems heavily populated with the latest/greatest growth stocks-ie tech, AI, crypto etc. Can you provide some insight on where you see value outside of these frenzied trades? can you include comments on 1)regions - Canada, USA, Europe, Asia, China, emerging markets etc. 2) industry 3) small vs medium vs large cap.
cheers, Chris

Q: Hello Peter and team, With the Trump cabinet taking shape do you now consider healthcare stocks (and EFT's) as well as renewable energy stocks (and ETF's) as dead money for a few years or do you see some exceptions in either domains?
Thanks for your always good insight and analysis.
Adel

Q: Now that we’re closer to world war 3 should we go to cash? How do markets react during times of world wars?

Q: With tax loss selling for this year, are there any stocks, Canadian of U.S that you would consider worth buying for a bounce next year?
Mike

Q: I am getting concerned about inflation, mostly in the U.S. Most of Trump's policy preferences, from removing illegal immigrants, to tax cuts and tariffs seem inflationary, and if he wrests control from the Fed, I don't see how inflation stays under control. What are your thoughts on this and what would you be watching? Finally how would one, as an investor, respond to signs of very high inflation? Thank-you.

Q: What sector do you think has a better outlook for the near to medium term: Oil and gas or banking? I have a bit of capital to deploy and was leaning towards a decent yielding dividend ETF in one of the 2. (If you don't want to be pigeon holed to either/or I could split it between both sectors or if you have a different sector suggestion that's more compelling I'm open to suggestions...)
Thanks very much

Q: Good Morning

Just finished reading The Psychology of Money for the second time GREAT READ
what other books are high on your list of reading

Thks
Marcel

Q: at 1.40 and heading lower, why would anyone invest in Canadian stocks or bonds for that matter.?..also why cant the government get their house in good financial order to show to the rest of world that we care about balancing the budget? pissed off snow bird...

Q: there are some well known professionals predicting the USA stock market currently points to a bursting bubble , and investors should allocate heavily into bonds to protect the portfolio.If the risk of this happening is drawing near, will the Canadian markets suffer the same fate ?

Q: Is it time in the market that truly matters instead of trying to time the market?

Q: Hi Peter & team - I've seen you, and others, say there is still lots of money "parked on the sidelines". How do you know this? Where is it parked? And how do you know it will be deployed in the market? Thank you!

Q: I turned 71 this year and I am pulled between GROWTH & DIVIDEND stocks in my RRIF starting in January. Am I wrong in thinking that it does not make a difference, if: (I do have growth stocks in my Cash & TFSA accounts).
My Tech & other Growth stocks appreciate by 6% or more and I withdraw 6 % via my RRIF, or
Withdraw 6% of my Dividend stocks? Compounding does work, as I bought $20K of RBC a few years ago @ $112 & is now @ $172. Tried the same with TD which did not work.
Obviously, the idea is to not deplete my assets by the RRIF withdrawals? Am I right in my thinking?

Thanks!

Q: Good morning,

Recently I have become concerned about the potential for a US sovereign debt crisis. From my understanding the amount of US debt is growing at an unsustainable rate and eventually it will become apparent that the US cannot pay back its debt while offering a real return to investors. Once this happens the US will have an issue borrowing money because there is a lack of lenders which will lead to them either having to cut back services (which would almost certainly cause a recession), defaulting because they can't roll over their debt (also causing a recession) or trying to change the rules of the fed to try and print the debt away (which would cause almost nobody to lend money to the US government again and almost certainly cause hyper inflation). To me any action that would involve cutting back services which would be better for the long term but really bad (and political suicide) for the short term would probably not be implemented because the politicians would be voted out. This line of thinking terrifies me and I am really hoping that I am missing something. Am I correct with my analysis? Is there anything that I am missing?

Thanks,
A

Q: Donald Trump has previously signaled his desire for a lower US dollar. JD Vance has recently signalled an even stronger desire for a lower dollar, saying it would bring manufacturing back and calling China a currency manipulator. And if history is any indicator, Vance will be running just about everything in the day-to-day operations of the White House while Trump golfs and engages in twitter wars with celebrities (as Pence did 4 years ago). Right now most of my US holdings are in unhedged ETFs. Would it be wiser to shift some of that over to hedged ETFs? If the US starts trying to lower the dollar how quickly would that happen?