Tag Archives: U.S. stocks

Accelerating digital trends create opportunities in U.S. equities

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Franklin Templeton/Getty Images

By Grant Bowers, Franklin Templeton Canada

(Sponsor Content)

The economic downturn caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating major themes in digital transformation as businesses and workers adjust to new ways of providing goods and services. This acceleration of trends is creating opportunities for investors in the equities of U.S. companies in sectors such as technology, health care and pharmaceuticals.

There are pockets of opportunity now in U.S. equities for selective investors and if you can look through the near-term uncertainty, you can buy great long-term companies at good prices.

The technology sector has benefitted during the shift to a “work from home” environment: especially products and services related to cloud computing, remote access, digital payments, and online security. This technology is in higher demand as individuals, companies and organizations rely on technology to work, communicate with clients and staff, and perform transactions in a virtual platform during pandemic restrictions. The COVID-19 crisis is also highlighting the powerful combination of technology and health care in areas like gene sequencing and data analytics, which will benefit pharmaceutical and biotech firms in the future.

Outlook for U.S. economy

Overall, the U.S. economy likely will remain affected by weakness driven by the pandemic for some time, but the economy should begin to show improvement in the fourth quarter, accelerating into 2021. Decisive stimulus actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely help bridge the downturn for many businesses and consumers.

If progress is made on developing a medical treatment for the coronavirus — including a vaccine — then there could be a fairly rapid “healing of the U.S. economy” and a rebound of pent-up consumer demand when restrictions are loosened.

A health care crisis needs a health care solution: there is a massive research effort under way to develop an effective medical treatment of the coronavirus.

Positioned for opportunities in trend acceleration

As the digital technology transformation advances, companies in some of the most innovative sectors of the U.S. economy are positioned for growth during the downturn. For example, we see opportunities in the wireless tower space as part of the wider shift to 5G wireless technology and the increased focus on data usage and mobility for individuals and businesses. Providers of software for back-office business processes, which are essential for workers at home during the crisis, are another opportunity. Continue Reading…

The importance of diversification

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By Noah Solomon

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Harry Markowitz, recipient of both the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the 1989 John von Neumann Theory Prize, referred to diversification as “the only free lunch in finance.”

As most investors are aware, diversification is an essential element of any well-constructed portfolio. Diversification across different markets and individual securities can lower volatility, mitigate losses in declining markets and produce higher risk-adjusted returns over the long-term.

Easier said than done: the temptation to chase returns

Of course, during times when one asset class or country outperforms for an extended period, this can lead to feelings of regret. Looking in their rear-view mirrors, investors often wish that they had been less diversified and had an overweight position in the outperforming asset class. This regret can result in FOMO (fear of missing out), whereby investors pour capital into those areas of the markets which have been outperforming.

The U.S. stands alone

Since the post-financial crisis market bottom of March 2009, the U.S. stock market has dwarfed those of other markets in terms of performance. U.S. stocks have produced almost double the return of emerging markets stocks, which have been the second-best performer.

Country Annualized Return Cumulative Return
U.S. 15.1% 381%
Emerging Markets 7.5% 199%
Europe 6.9% 189%
U.K. 6.1% 176%
Japan 5.7% 170%
Canada 4.9% 157%

 

Sources: MSCI, Factset Research Systems

Unsurprisingly, the outperformance of U.S. stocks, reflected in the table below, indicates that the U.S. market currently stands as the most richly valued market as measured by its cyclically-adjusted Price/Earnings Ratio (CAPE).

Country Cyclically Adjusted P/E (CAPE)
U.S. 32.1
Japan 27.2
Canada 22.0
Europe 19.4
U.K. 16.9
Emerging Markets 16.4

 

Source: www.starcapital.de

Punished for doing the right thing

The spectacular outperformance of the U.S. stock market means that portfolios that have been heavily concentrated in U.S. stocks have generated considerably higher returns than their more diversified counterparts. In other words, investors who have sacrificed diversification in favour of being overweight U.S. stocks have been handsomely rewarded. Continue Reading…

Investing in the Aftermath of the Trump victory

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image005By Kara Lilly, Mawer Investment Management

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Donald Trump became the 45th president-elect of the United States last night. The businessman beat former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, ending what has been a long and salacious presidential campaign. The GOP also kept control of both the Senate and the House, leaving the fractured party with room to implement its policy platform.

Markets were relatively calm today despite the knee-jerk selloff that was triggered by the impending victory last night. Equity indices have steadied and volatility indices have fallen as market anxiety has tempered. The greatest impacts so far appear in the bond and currency markets. Yields on longer term U.S. government bonds have risen amid wagers of higher spending. Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar and Mexico peso have sunk on concerns of unravelling economic integration with the U.S.. Within equities, pharmaceutical stocks rose as investors unwound bets that a Clinton win would usher in greater regulation.

No meltdown but still a significant investing event

Continue Reading…

Foreign Withholding Taxes — the price of global diversification

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Depositphotos_6444034_xsHere’s my latest MoneySense blog, which focuses on one of the ETF sessions I participated in last week’s ETF & Mutual Funds conference in Chicago, hosted by BMO Global Asset Management. You can find earlier Hub blogs from the conference through these three links:

Secular bull market still very much alive: BMO’s Brian Belski

A murder mystery: who will kill the global economy? 

Why are all these Canadian financial experts converging on Chicago?

For convenience, we’ve included the new blog below. Note too that you can find the original PWL white paper on Foreign Withholding Taxes here. We hope to run a slightly condensed version here at the Hub in the near future.  Continue Reading…

Secular bull market is very much alive: BMO’s Brian Belski

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Brian Belski

By Jonathan Chevreau

“The largest stealth bull market of our careers” is still very much alive, says BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist Brian Belski.

In the keynote address  Wednesday for BMO Global Asset Management’s Global Vision, Global Perspectives conference in Chicago, the American-born investment veteran said U.S. stocks are now six years into a 20-year secular bull market.

“Bull markets rarely end when everyone is looking for an end to them,” he said, “The media is consumed with negativity.”

Canada “bottoming”

While Belski believes America is setting the pace for global markets, Canada “is in the process of bottoming,” he said. Most of the investment professionals at the three-day conference on mutual funds and ETFs are Canadian. It might not yet be quite time to buy Canada, he added, since the first quarter has been one of “shock and awe” caused by the worldwide plunge in energy prices. Looking further out, though, he said “Canada is the place to be.”

One reason the Canadian market has languished is a call by a large Wall Street firm to “sell Canada.”   Continue Reading…