Blogs

Not sure if it was just me, but April seemed to fly by! Tax season kept us all busy and markets have been doing well overall even with a slight pull-back in the leaders during April. Speaking of the leaders, I wanted to take this month’s update to provide some insight into fund flows in the market, and that they don’t always go where you’d expect.

The month of March certainly kept investors on their toes. We saw some interesting developments with the fall of Silicon Valley Bank and we got some positive inflation news and US interest rate news. It was a busy month, but with all that said, March proved to be a positive one.

March 2023 Performance:

After a great market run in January that exceeded expectations, the markets had a pull-back during the month of February. The shortest month of the year brought back some market volatility and uncertainty. Below is a breakdown of market performance and some of the key drivers of the volatility last month.

After a Santa Clause Rally failed to materialize in December, it turned out that Santa was just delayed. In January the markets experienced a significant rally to start 2023 off on an optimistic foot. Below is a review of how the markets faired in January.

January 2023 Index Performance:

After two positive months in the market, we saw a pullback in the month of December. With all of 2022 being challenging for the markets and investors, we unfortunately didn’t get a Santa Clause Rally to end out the year. However, as we look forward into 2023, there are some bright spots to be cautiously optimistic. 

December 2022 Performance:

If you've ever driven through the prairies, its hard to miss the seemingly endless flowing wheat fields. It can easily make one think that Canada must be the top producer of wheat. I've always been interested in knowing where Canada sits on the global stage, and given the headlines of potential food shortages stemming from the war in Ukraine, I looked into what the top wheat producing countries are in the world. Turns out that France actually produces more than Canada...

Recently we at Oculus were asked to contribute to an Investment Executive article and provide investment advice to a hypothetical investor. Please find the article by clicking here. 

At this point everyone and their grandma has heard of Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency is an interesting space. However, is Bitcoin set to become the true decentralized currency that it's ardent followers believe it to be? Or is it more simply a highly-volatile speculative investment? The Economist has posted the following video that dives into these questions. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tt7y0gesyo

Please take a look at the following CBC article highlighting Calgary pediatricians that are raising the importance of mental health with local youth. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/pediatric-residents-calgary-schools-awareness-mental-health-1.6221065

It sounds really good when you hear, "The Chinese economy is now operating at 90%," but in practice that 90% capacity shines a light on the economic uncertainty moving forward. Even with the Chinese economy opening up, consumer spending has only recovered to about half of previous levels. Global unemployment is still extremely high, and even when businesses open up, the new social-distancing guidelines create a drag on the true economic rebound.