I hope you and your family are well. Below you will find a summary of this past week’s market developments and some related thoughts.
Market Developments
- Despite civil unrest across the United States, escalating American tensions with China and an ongoing battle with COVID-19, North American markets once again moved higher.
- White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed optimism that one of the many coronavirus vaccine trials would prove effective and stated that the U.S. should have 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of year.
- The Canadian government announced it will offer cities $2.2 billion in infrastructure money to help cover COVID-19-related budget shortfalls.
- The Bank of Canada held interest rates steady and indicated that it expects the economy to resume growth in the third quarter.
- Weekly jobless claims in the U.S. were 1.87 million, reaching 42.6 million in the last 11 weeks.
- The U.S. announced plans to block Chinese airlines from flying into or out of the country after China had effectively already done the same for the U.S. China also asked its state-owned firms to stop buying U.S. soybeans and pork amidst continued tensions between the two nations.
How does this affect my investments?
Global capital markets continue to brush aside a number of conflicting developments as they stage a strong recovery from the March lows.
While many investors may claim this recent rise is remarkable, it is for exactly this reason that my advice to you has been to stick with the long-term plan we built. Months ago, had we imagined a global pandemic, a gradual re-opening of economies after an extended shutdown and protests throughout America all taking place as we head into June, you would have been hard pressed to find someone predicting that markets would continue to move higher right through it. Yet here we are.
By adhering to the plan we mapped out together, we have the luxury of being able to observe surprises in either direction in the context of a longer-term strategy; and regardless of where markets go from here, such a perspective is valuable – particularly the next time we are faced with strong volatility.
As always, we are happy to discuss your investment plans. Please do not hesitate to contact the office at any time via phone or email with any questions or comments you may have.
Sincerely,
Paul Rowan
President, Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of Investment Committee
