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A top down summary and up to date information on the economy and investment markets – read our updates to learn more about how current events impact your portfolio.
October 17, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
Directionally, most major central banks have been reducing interest rates to stimulate economic demand – despite inflation continuing to run above desired targets. The market expects continued interest rate cuts from both the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve between now and the end of the year. Lower interest rates have a direct impact on valuations across all asset classes – and can have a material impact on traditional fixed income returns. In this publication of the Pinnacle, we explore opportunities to earn attractive returns through opportunistic and alternative investment strategies.
September 17, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
As 2025 unfolds, the Canadian Dollar’s recent strength against the U.S. Dollar has reversed a multi-year trend, with implications on portfolio performance this year. In our latest Special Report, Navigating Currency Shifts: The Impact of a Stronger Canadian Dollar on 2025 Portfolio Returns, we examine how currency dynamics are affecting returns, why diversification beyond Canada remains critical, and how strategic hedging can help manage risk in a changing market environment.
July 18, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
As tariff-related uncertainty begins to ease, constructive trade negotiations, encouraging signs of economic resilience, and strengthening global growth are all helping to support a more optimistic outlook for continued global expansion. While markets have responded positively to these developments, significant structural challenges persist, particularly with regard to trade, global geopolitics, and long-term fiscal sustainability. In this edition of The Pinnacle, we explore recent market developments and discuss our current thoughts and portfolio strategy.
May 2, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
In early April, President Trump and the Republican administration announced reciprocal tariffs on over 100 trade partners, prompting a material increase in volatility across major asset classes. While recent policy signals have helped calm markets, ongoing uncertainty continues to pose risks to near-term economic growth.
March 6, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
A lot has happened during Trump’s first 100 days in office and we now find ourselves in an uncertain environment with respect to tariffs and trade policy. In this special edition of the Pinnacle, we discuss our Canadian equity market views, and where suitable, the reallocation we are making to reduce Canadian equity exposure in client portfolios.”
January 28, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
It has only been one week since Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States and Canada has been caught in the crosshairs of the tariff debate. In this special report, we provide our insights and thinking on what tariffs could mean for Canada, including a review of the potential impacts across our investment portfolios.
January 3, 2025 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
A common market truism goes: “Bull markets climb a wall of worry; bear markets slide down a river of hope”. Simply put, most bull markets are accompanied by a coterie of naysayers. Often, skeptics (bears) have a reasonable thesis as to why a positive trend in market performance should (or could) come to an end – in these environments, a bull market that continues to trend higher is said to “climb the wall of worry”.
November 7, 2024 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
We expect a pro-growth economic agenda will be pushed forward with the Republicans retaking control of the Presidency and the Senate. While the House is too close to call at this time, the Republicans are now favoured to win a narrow House majority. As a reminder, our comments below are focused on the economic implications of a Trump led Republican government. It is important to separate economics and market outcomes with Trump’s domestic, social, and foreign policies.
October 23, 2024 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
In this Fall 2024 edition of the Pinnacle, we pose questions to Jim Bantis, Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Asset Allocation at Ascendant Wealth Partners, on topics such as interest rate policy, the upcoming U.S. election, recent stimulus announcements out of China, and the change in equity market leadership that is taking hold. Before we get to this interview, a quick recap on the markets.
July 12, 2024 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
In this edition of the Pinnacle, we will review key developments and market performance from the first half of 2024, including the AWP Team’s latest market outlook and commentary. As well, we will discuss Canada’s growth challenge, including an interview with Nathan Janzen from the RBC Economics team, who shares his insights. We also speak with Jim Bantis and Bruce Leboff, Co-Chairs of the Ascendant Wealth Partners Asset Allocation Committee, who share their thoughts on our positioning to Canada and other key themes.
July 15, 2024 | RBC Economics Team
An in-depth look at the reasons behind Canada’s drop in productivity over the past two decades and possible solutions.
May 30, 2024 | RBC Portfolio Advisory Group
May has been a noticeably better month for global markets, largely fueled by data from the U.S. A weaker pace of job growth and inflation numbers that did not show the kind of acceleration seen in prior months have rekindled hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates in the second half of the year.
April 16, 2024 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
In this quarter’s publication, we will review key developments and market performance from Q1 2024, including the AWP Team’s latest market outlook and commentary. Additionally, we will be providing an overview of alternative and private investments as an asset class – including a discussion on the potential role alternatives can play for diversification in a portfolio.
February 23, 2024 | RBC Portfolio Advisory Group
Global equity markets have maintained their strong start to the year, despite investors needing to recalibrate their expectations for the timing of interest rate cuts.
January 10, 2024 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
We are cautiously optimistic heading into 2024. With general yields at levels not seen in over 15 years, intermediate fixed rate coupon bonds are once again an attractive opportunity. In addition, U.S. mid cap equities are compelling in an asset class dominated by the Magnificent Seven.
December 1, 2023 | RBC Portfolio Advisory Group
The month of November finished on a high note, marking one of the best months this year for global equity and fixed income markets.
October 12, 2023 | Ascendant Wealth Partners
A topline summary of the economy as well as the investment markets and how they impact your portfolio, The Pinnacle is penned by Ascendant Wealth Partners’ Evan Howard.
Discover articles from thought leaders across RBC on a variety of relevant and engaging topics.
The rally in 2025 and throughout the longer bull market cycle has been uneven with the largest of large-cap stocks dominating. Key charts illustrate this phenomenon, and we discuss how to factor this into portfolio strategies.
The Federal Reserve held rates steady once again, but with the added wrinkle of a hawkish outlook—likely pushing back the timing of any rate cut even further.
We discuss key factors that have pushed the S&P 500’s valuation back up to lofty levels and how investors should weigh this in the portfolio decision-making process.
For the Labour Party, restoring sustainable growth was always going to be challenging. A year on and the UK economy remains fragile, yet some investors may find the UK still offers some rich pickings.
While the stock market narrative may sound familiar—U.S. equities navigating waves of volatility on the way to new highs—the environment certainly was not. We examine four catalysts that held sway over performance and what lies ahead for investors.
The longstanding inverse relationship between gold and real interest rates seems to have broken down, suggesting new forces—central bank buying, geopolitical uncertainty, and portfolio diversification—have a larger role in driving demand for bullion.
Inflation remains calm in 2025, but tariff-related price hike concerns have kept the Fed sidelined. We look at the Fed’s commentary, the impact of market forces and political pressure on yields, and the probability of rate cuts before year’s end.
