The end of spring and the beginning of summer has had no shortage of headlines and events. We now have a situation with Iran and Israel and this has lead a spike in oil, however, I would have expected more and I would have expected more out of gold which could mean this situation will be solved sooner than later. I have been taught from way back that what happens in the middle east never stays in the middle east and this situation definitely deserves attention being paid to it. 

The markets have been reasonably boring even with all the events surrounding it.  The US economy continues to grow and inflation in the US has been declining and job growth has been steady. The themes of more power, build out of data centers, cybersecurity  and housing still have good growth ahead and we continue to position the portfolio in those areas.  In Canada it has been more of a challenge however we do seem to be coming to some positive developments in the issues of trade with the US but more importantly we are looking inside Canada and trade issues within our borders and the need for a cross country pipeline which is a positive development.  Our oils have had a bounce higher but like I said earlier not much of one and I think I will have to reduce this exposure as needed as it appears oil prices have more pressure downward then upward as the year goes along.

The Federal Reserve will speak today and announce whether they will reduce interest rates or not but I see the direction of rates heading lower then higher, and the market sees this as well, which will help out the themes mentioned above. The index levels are at highs but they are so distorted with the large mega caps and there are lots of cheap companies out there of which we are gathering and we may see a flat index year to be honest but the underlying themes can do real well.

I will use any opportunity that is presented to us to either add or remove positions as needed this summer and will keep you posted on new developments.

Have a great day.