Investment Q&A

Q: What is your opinion on those ETF ?

Q: Peter and team,

I currently hold CBO and HFR at 5% each of the portfolio. Rest of the Portfolio is currently stocks that are pretty close to the 5i model portfolio. Due to high personal exposure, I am thinking of selling TRP stock (5% of the portfolio) and adding XHY in its place.

I think the XHY should add some currency diversity to my portfolio as well as providing nice yield and it looks like the recent decline in value is finding a bottom.

Any thoughts here? By the way, my opinion on interest rates is that they are going to continue to stay lower for longer than anyone thought possible but I am cognicent that they can almost only go up from here and therefore have stuck to floating rate and short durations so far.

Thanks,

marc

Q: Which of these two funds should I select? Given the free-fall of the Canadian dollar, I am inclined to go with the zsp.u (US dollar denominated). Then again, perhaps I should hedge my bets and buy both in equal amounts!!
Your reaction please.

Q: Good morning,
What are your thoughts on ZID or some other India ETF or mutual fund for added global exposure in my grand chldren's RESP? The twins are only four years old and other holdings in the RESP are CDZ (33%), MAW 104 (26%)and MAW150 (26%). I've just sold ZRE (13%)and was thinking of replacing this with ZID which I recognize adds more risk to the portfolio, but may well continue go higher given India's long term growth potential. I currently hold ZID in my own personal non reg acct and although it has done well, I was wondering if this ETF was suitable for a RESP or should I opt for a more global ETF or mutual fund. Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter:

I decided to buy a small quantity (200 shares) of the HOD ETF to hedge a bit against my oil stock holdings (Ithaca, Iona, Surge and Freeport McMoran). It fell hard yesterday with the news of the 8% cut in drilling rigs on the continental US. I am still expecting the oil price to fall further between now and the next OPEC meeting on June 5th.

My strategy is that I will use the gain that I will get in HOD to eventually buy more of my oil stocks when the oil market turns around. If OPEC in June does not cut their production then the oil price will fall much further before it bounces back. The U.S. inventories have gone up in the last two weeks at unbelievable levels - 10.7M two weeks ago and 8.2M last week. The reduction in rigs will not have a quick effect on the U.S. daily production numbers for at least 6 months. I believe yesterday's bump inthe oil price is a bit of an over reaction and will go down again next week when the inventory numbers come out for last week.

When you look at the HOD it states that it is a daily calculation based on the WTI price. How does the ETF actually work because it has increased more than the stated 2 times the drop in oil price? If my hedge is wrong I will still be very happy because my oil stocks will go up instead. I am banking on a increase in the oil price 2 to 3 years from now so I am not concerned about this blip but would like to hedge a little bit right now to make some money on the downside trend. What is your opinion of this strategy?

Thanks,

Brendan

Q: Hello Peter & team, I wish to invest in US Small cap stocks. Which of the 2 following ETFs would you prefer, SLY or IWO (iShares Russell 2000 Growth (IWO)? SLY seems to have a better P/E ratio and a better yield. Both carry about the same fees of 0.20%. Thanks, Gervais

Q: Hi Peter, I am looking for a conservative spot to park some RSP cash that I recently converted from mutual funds to my itrade account. I am currently 80% in stocks. Right now do you prefer XCB or CPD for 18-24 months and why?

Q: Good morning Peter and team, I was interested in your answer to Carla's question regarding her fixed income component. I was faced with the same situation and chose XQB.It has a management fee of 0.12% and contains 60% government and 40% corporate bonds. The yield is on the low side but with reinvested dividends, it's up 9.4% in the last year. Also,it's one of iTrade's "commission-free" etf's which is an added benefit. What is your take on XQB?

Q: I currently hold only GICs in my fixed income portion of my account, however, I'd like to move towards bond ETFs as they are more liquid and have a higher yield. My allocation would be 20% bonds, 80% equities because I'm only in my late thirties.

I'm looking for a bond fund that will 1) preserve my capital (if the stock market tanks I want to know that my 20% is safe. I want something that I can hold for the next twenty years that won't be too affected by interest rates, and 2) I want something that will give me some income.

I've looked at VAB.It seems to be a good mix of government and corporate. But would eventual interest rate hikes cause it to tank? I've also considered CBO, but since it's only corporate, I'd probably need to buy a Government bond ETF too... I think ishares has one similar to CBO.

Do you like either of these options? Or would you suggest something else? Would one ETF be safe or should I have more than one? I'd like to keep my fixed income investing simple.

And finally, on an unrelated note, I've been watching XTC for the last little while. It had great earnings and went up a lot today. Is it to late to get in now? Should I wait for a pullback? How high risk is this stock?

Q: Hello,

ZPR is now down over 5% ytd. This seems to be more than interest rates concerns. Has the credit risk increased? Any ideas why the preferred market is being hit so hard?

BTW, I noticed that the credit ratings of CPD holdings has been removed from their website. I called Blackrock about it: they said they would find out and call me back, but they never did.

Thanks, Greg

Q: Are you still OK with EWH? I bought it about 14 months ago and I must be up around 37% straight dollars and I suppose 42% with the currency fluctuations. I read in the paper how the economy is imploding in China and the banking sector is a looming disaster, with the banks over extended, so I am wondering if there is any truth to all the negative news. I have a 3% weighting in EWH and it is my only Asian exposure.
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter and 5i team, We saw how U.S. markets have rallied thanks to Fed's QE program. Can we expect a similar stock market rally in Europe thanks to ECB's $1.2 trillion stimulus package? If so what's a good way to play it. Any ETF that you would recommend?

Q: I have recently raised quite a bit of cash and am looking for somewhere to hold it, would this be a good place, someone recommended it, if you have an alternative I would appreciate it

Q: I'm confused as to why CPD would be dropping now. I thought they would move up with an interest rate cut. Is this a buying opportunity for the fixed interest part of my portfolio or is the market concerned with the safety of preferred shares? Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter and 5i Research Team,

Can you please comment on the outlook of the US housing market over next 3-5 years. Any concerns? Do you like Stanley Black and Decker and would it be a good way to play the housing market. Or Alternatively, do you have an ETF that would be equally as good. Thank you. Linda

Q: I am new to this investing game, so have a ways to go to get an understanding of important details.
I notice that on my QTrade profile sheet for this ETF the yield is 7.6% but the Jan 23/15monthly distribution was only $.074. This monthly amount X 12 months = $.89 which is about a 3.3% yield on a $27.00 ETF. Can you explain the discrepency?
Can the dividends be automatically reinvested?
Thankyou for your answers....Jim

Q: As a follow up question, the bonds etfs I meant to list before autocorrect are xhy,cvd,cpd,cbo,xbb,Flot. I plan to hold 2% weight in portfolio of each, does this make sense (any overlap?) or can I cut any? Also, you mentioned taking 10% from canadian equity and switching to international, can you list your top 2 or 3 international equity etfs that you prefer? Thanks again, sorry for confusion on bond etfs

Q: Hi 5i,

Do you know of any companies or ETFs which invest in national or (preferably) global infrastructure -- roads, airports, electricity and water networks, etc.? I'm already aware of Brookfield (BEP,BIP,BPY) and would like to know if there any other companies/ETFs which you think merit consideration in this sector. Thanks for your excellent service.

Davis

Q: Hi Team,
I was considering buying this ETF for yield and relative safety for the next couple of years. Can you share your thoughts. I am assuming that it has declined because the recent BOC rate cut?

Thanks as always for your reply.

Q: Why was this stock halted this morning? Wasn,t quite expecting us drop? Thanks I advance, Cliff