To my clients:
It was a mostly down week for North American stock markets with the Canadian TSX finishing down 0.6%; the U.S. Dow Jones Index down 2.3%; and the U.S. S&P 500 up 0.03% (note the extra zero) .
Minimal update this week with just two quick notes:
1) I reiterate the additional slight overweight added last week to client portfolios in U.S. stocks vs Canadian stocks; and
2) Client holding Moderna had a very nice week (better than Nvidia!) as the company gets set to present 3 different abstracts on its individualized cancer therapy at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) next week (ASCO is viewed as perhaps the most important annual gathering of cancer researchers). Also moving Moderna’s share price this week were reports of a second person testing positive for Avian/Bird Flu and that the U.S. Federal Government is exploring a vaccine development program with Moderna. Further still, Moderna is also hoping to launch its RSV vaccine by year end. What was once a one-trick pony with its covid vaccine is now seeing its pipeline of developments beginning to blossom. What is especially intriguing about Moderna (and why it is in client portfolios) is that its therapy and vaccine pipeline depends upon targeted scientific method, and not upon the trial and error historically associated with drug development such as a pharmaceutical company harvesting compounds from, for example, plants A, B and C and hoping that perhaps one of these compounds might have some sort of positive effect (and not, as is often the case, some sort of negative outcome). Moderna’s approach, which edits messenger RNA to teach our cells how to make a beneficial protein, is less random (in fact it's VERY targeted) and far quicker than the legacy trial and error approach. I remain very keen on this holding for the very long-term.
That’s it for this week. All the best,
Nick
Nick Scholte, CIM, FCSI
Senior Portfolio Manager
Scholte Wealth Management
RBC Dominion Securities Inc. │ Tel: 604.257.7569 │ Fax: 604.235.9950
3200-1055 West Georgia │ Vancouver, BC │ V6E 3P3
Toll Free: 1.844.665.9900 │Email: nick.scholte@rbc.com
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