• lighthouse

The Q1 Commentary 2024

April 24th, 2024|Commentaries, Monthly Commentaries|

Monetary policy, Magnificent seven, Apple stock lagging peers, Commodity prices, Global elections 2024, Royal Canadian Mint, Buying gold, Interest rates, FED, Inflation, Bell shares, Anchoring affect

  • lighthouse

Alternative Quarterly Commentary – Q4 2023

January 30th, 2024|Alternative Commentaries, Commentaries|

During the fourth quarter of 2023, the MacNicol Investment Team continued to observe a widening gap between the inflation expectations of market participants and both voting and non-voting central bank officials. Catalyzing our concerns that financial markets may have “jumped to conclusions” when it comes to interest rates and a labor market that stands 200 basis points below its long-term (ex-COVID) average and fiscal profligacy that underpins a situation where government spending is leading to unsustainable levels of debt and deficit.

  • lighthouse

The Monthly – December 2023

December 12th, 2023|Commentaries, Monthly Commentaries|

Told you… The late Charlie Munger once said, “The best thing a human being can do is help another human being know more”, and we completely agree. Could one human who may benefit from knowing more be Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem? Macklem’s Bank of Canada (BOC) recently convened to offer Canadian consumers and businesses its view on the economy, inflation, and financial markets, and to administer their latest decision on interest rates. The decision on interest rates was self-explanatory: no change. But knowing why the BOC suddenly threw the idea of further rate hikes under the bus requires some digging1. In any event, for the time being this country’s trend setting interest rate will remain at 5%. In his remarks, Macklem acknowledged that global economy momentum continues to cool, and this has caused inflation to ease further. Reductions in long-term inflation expectations caused a mini rally in the bond market, with long yields retracting from peak levels in early October. Canadian economic growth stalled, and consumption growth was near zero. Business investment was flat over the past year although government spending and new home construction boosted an otherwise lukewarm fiscal spending picture.

  • lighthouse

The Monthly – November 2023

November 29th, 2023|Commentaries, Monthly Commentaries|

As those of you born between October 23rd and November 21st already know, Scorpio is the superior and greatest of all the astrological signs, and there are very good reasons why. Scorpions are intelligent, good-looking, well liked and above all very modest and humble