Happy Friday from BMWM!

 

Bad news if you have a variable rate mortgage or a balance outstanding on a line of credit - interest rates have increased another 0.5% this week. The good news is that if you have any fixed income or savings, those have also increased 0.5% this week. For retired clients with little to no debt, these increased interest rates can have a nice impact on your portfolio over time.

 

Canadian equities as measured by the S&P TSX Composite Index, retreated this week after putting together a strong 30-day period. Similarly, US equities, though higher in Thursday afternoon trading, logged five straight days of decline to begin the month. Bonds have also put together a strong 30-day period, following comments from central bankers in the US and Canada were interpreted as softening in interest rate policy. Despite December's lackluster start for stocks, many are attributing the recent increases in valuations to a "bear market rally" which is testing some firm resistance levels at present. More on this subject and others in our attached note.

 

The Current Account (click here to read) features Ottawa proposing the most significant tightening of foreign takeover rules in decades, China easing many of its nationwide zero-COVID restrictions, Peru’s congress voted to impeach President Pedro Castillo, and Germany thwarting a coup plot by far-right extremists.

 

Taylor’s word of the week is Anachronism, meaning “a person or thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old fashioned”. For example, former President Abraham Lincoln using a laptop back in 1861 is an anachronism.

 

Happy Friday,

 

Brenda, Matt, Taylor, and Matty