Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter and 5i Team,

Peter, a great article in today's Financial Post.

So far today, there's a sell-off in just about everything. Where is all this money going? Are there any free sites that can give some insight?

Thanks as always.

Q: Can you explain why the precious metals and those stocks are being hit so hard. I would have thought that the war would be causing a flight-to-safety which would have resulted in the opposite. How much more negativity can we expect?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Ian

Q: If United States walks away from CUSMA how would you position your portfolio to shield it
Thanks for the help

Q: Dear Peter et al:

Thanks to your words of wisdom, I have done well with these.
The question is if one should control the greed and take some profits or stay the course and let the winners run. I don't need to sell to harvest the profits to live. The position sizes are still reasonable. I can hold them for a few years even.

One faces another dilemma. If I do sell, what should I buy. You have been suggesting that one should wait till the sentiment improves for PRL or GSY or CSU and it's offsprings! I have your favourites in energy! CNQ/TOU/ENB/CVE and such.

Which sector appeals to you going forward?

Should one move to larger players like FNV/WPM/AEM?

Q: Morning Troops. With the recent run up is now a good time to take profits in long held oil and gas stocks? Cheers.

Q: I have a question about alternatives to the 60/40 equity fixed income portfolio. Many years it seems that the fixed income portion is a large drag on the portfolio. What are other options that can provide balance to returns when equity markets tank? Does crypto currency and precious metal exposure provide some offset? What would be a reasonable portfolio exposure? Do you recommend any long short or alternative asset funds to replace fixed income exposure? Or, in your opinion is a well diversified portfolio with exposure to several industries enough diversification. I know everyone's situation is different, but I would like some suggestions for alternatives to fixed income exposure.
Thanks

Q: Greetings,

Do you think charting a 200 day SMA and 50 day SMA over 5 years continues to be useful or less so in these volatile times when it's challenging for a line chart to settle down?

Maybe connected, Is there a way of knowing how many individual retails investors are now trading as opposed to 6 years ago? i.e I am wondering if the many who started trading many small amounts for free are making the market more fickle and unstable? (If they still existed, I would ask my shoe shine boy if he had any stock tips!)

Cheers
A

Q: With the war in Iran, what is your best advice to long-term investors? Stay calm and do nothing, I suppose. Thank you!

Q: After recent news/earnings and along the thinking that AI will not completely replace SAAS but work along side it and even provide positive tailwinds, do you think its time to rotate a bit more from hardware to software or proceed with caution still? I hold CLS, NVDA, NBIS, VRT in hardware and CSU,LMN,TOI,SPOT, SHOP,CRWD,BKNG,TRI in software. Also own GOOG. I'm trying to find the right balance. If we look at SOXX/IGV, are we going to see mean reversion back to the mean?

Also what part of the market or credit cycle do you think we are in? Mid to late cycle? Should we be more defensive or still slowly adding to growth names? Thanks!

Q: I am having trouble deciding between market weighted versus equal-weighted ETF's.

Is it true that equal weighted portfolios often have a higher Sharpe ratio (better risk-adjusted return) but exhibit higher volatility (roughly 10% more) than market-cap weighted ones?

Q: Thoughts on the latest sell off to financials and private equity. Now the AI fear is hitting credit card companies and people are saying two machines can transfer funds without needing credit cards. This is getting crazy as it seems no industry is immune to AI. Are we overreacting, or is the world as we know it going to dramatically change, in which case, what kinds of stocks do we need to keep? What sectors should we lighten up on? What sectors do the screaming buys lie?

Q: I enjoyed reading what you had recently written about HALO stocks. I always appreciate these insights - thank you! what percentage of one's total equity portfolio would you suggest one have in HALO stocks?

Q: Thank you for your answer to the question (copied below) that I asked a few days ago.

I wasn't so much asking about my own strategy, but whether you think such a strategy (moving some money out of tech and into the broader market) is a good move in the current climate.

NVDA and GOOG are part of the same theme. Do you think these are winners to be held on to, or whether trimming a bit to put in the broader market would be wise?


Question: Given that the market is broadening out and that I would like my portfolio to follow suit, I am thinking of switching half of my money in XUU, a market-cap weighted fund which makes up about 10% of my portfolio, to EQL, an S&P equal-weighted fund.

What would your opinion be on that?

Also, along the same line of thought, I'm considering trimming NVDIA and GOOG although the mere mention of it has my investing friends screaming "NO!". They understand the sentiment but think it's not the right time.

Answer: We think XUU is a solid fund, but if diversiifcation is a goal then we think EQL makes good sense. For example, XUU currently is about 42% tech. EQL is barely at 10%.

Q: Want to generate some cash in a RESP. overweight oil and gas in this fund. trying to decide what to sell. Do I trim a little from white cap, head water, and freehold or sell reits.

Q: Everyone, for the last two years i have sat and watched the market. Is that still the best strategy? Clayton

Q: The State of the Union address by Trump is on Feb 24th in the evening. The Supreme Court will release decisions on Feb 20, 24 and 25, and these are the last dates until July 2026. I predict they will wait until after the State of the Union address because Supreme Court judges attend the State of the Union, and they don't need Trump criticizing them in public and will release their decision on Feb 25th. If they decide the tariffs are unconstitutional, which sectors might be the winners?

Q: Just a comment, I'm sure I'm not alone in this situation. All down 30-45% in my TFSA. I hate it when it feels like everybody is wrong and you and a few others think you are right, or are we? It feels like Armagedon. Been there before. It's not fun but they now only represent 5% of my portfolio so I will survive but my TFSA will take a huge hit this year.

Q: Hello,
Stephen Harper, our past Prime Minister remarked recently that Canadians should not be complacent in the notion that post USMCA discussions we will go back to easy access to the US market. Are you able to comment on what independent investors should be taking from this and how to manage investment strategy accordingly? It would appear that there could be different layers to this worth considering, and also that a do-nothing solution should not be as reliable as it had been in the past. In fact, it seems that both past and present Prime Ministers are specifically saying that some anticipation of change is needed.

Q: For those interested in other HALO perspectives - the above podcast (Josh Brown-CNBC/Ritholtz) released a HALO episode earlier in the week.

Q: I hope I don't sound naive asking this question, but I keep hearing that proprietary data is something of a moat for TRI, and for companies like X, SPGI, and perhaps even businesses like yours.

What is to prevent an AI engine like Anthropic from simply buying a membership and then having access to that data with which to answer questions?