Potential Postal Disruption
A potential postal strike this week has been averted for now and talks will continue between Canada Post's unionized workers and the Crown Corporation. We know how important it is for our clients to have access to their accounts and financial statements. In the event of a postal disruption we want every client to seamlessly access these important documents without delay. Please call our office today and we would be happy to assist you in setting up your online access. For more information about eDocuments please click here
Team News
We are very pleased to announce our very own Karen Matos has been recognized across RBC DS for her achievement in excellence. Karen was awarded a quarterly Award of Excellence, recognizing her hard work on our team, earlier this year. This qualified her to be eligible for the annual award, where she could join the RBC Cruise with other Award of Excellence winners from across RBC. We are excited that Karen was chosen to represent RBC Dominion Securities on the cruise this January. Please help us congratulate Karen for her hard work and service to our clients!
Market Update - Big changes are coming to market sector classifications
S&P and MSCI are eliminating the existing Telecoms sector and replacing it with a new sector called Communication Services. This sector will now include some stocks that are currently classified in the telecom, technology and consumer discretionary space. There will also be a revamp of the Information Technology sector which will now include firms focusing on software, technology hardware, storage and semiconductors. This means the IT sector will shrink and have a more refined focus. Also, the Consumer Discretionary sector will now be more aligned with discretionary goods and services that are viewed as non-essential.
These revisions will be primarily felt in the U.S's S&P 500 index where the FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) will realign sector market weights. Facebook and Google are leaving the Technology Information sector and joining the new Communications sector. Netflix is leaving Consumer Discretionary to join the Communications sector. Apple will remain in the Technology Information Sector. Amazon will remain in the Consumer Discretionary sector, however, with these changes Amazon's market share within it's sector will increase to an astounding 25%.
Please see below a snapshot of the changes to the weights of the S&P 500 sectors:
Fundamentally, the sector changes are more correctly aligned. It has been 20 years since these sectors were created and a lot has changed since then. With technological disruption over the last decade - the way companies have evolved means a reshuffling of the business sectors that classifies them was necessary. However, a change like this is unprecedented and will have an impact on investors using US sector ETFs for their investment strategy.
Our client's at Hayes Vickers Private Wealth are not impacted by this change.