by Allan Small | Mar 16, 2020 | Investing
Investors are living through perhaps the fastest sell-off of stocks in history. Since mid-February, markets dropped significantly as negative coronavirus news developed and governments wrestled with the situation. As of March 12th, the Dow Jones Industrial average had...
by Allan Small | Jan 22, 2020 | Investing
He did it. About 18 months after imposing tariffs on China and triggering a trade war, President Trump and his team negotiated a truce. On January 15, 2020, China’s vice-premier joined the U.S. president at the White House to sign what they are calling “phase one” of...
by Allan Small | Jan 21, 2020 | Investing
You have until March 2, 2020 to contribute to your Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) for the previous calendar year. The question is should you? Since the introduction of Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) in 20091, RRSPs, which have been around in some form...
by Allan Small | Dec 31, 2019 | Investing
Here’s a statement that may surprise you: 2019 was a great year to be invested in the markets. It’s understandable if you are scratching your head. The noisiest pundits had investors worried about slow growth and recession. President Trump’s reignition of a trade war...
by Allan Small | May 28, 2019 | Investing
Just when it looked like the U.S. and China might be close to hammering out a trade deal, it appears that China backed off some previous concessions and the U.S. escalated the tariff war it started about a year ago by imposing 25% tax on a new list of $250B worth of...
by Allan Small | May 28, 2019 | Investing
As part of her platform in her run for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google. Her plan involves passing legislation that would designate platforms with more than $25 billion in...
by Allan Small | Apr 22, 2019 | Investing
Doom and gloom gave way to sunny skies for investors as the first quarter stock market gains of 2019 have erased the losses of the closing months of 2018. To call what we’ve just seen a rebound is an understatement. January to March 2019 was the best quarter in nearly...
by Allan Small | Dec 28, 2018 | Investing
2018 has been one heck of a ride for investors, with the first part of the year taking us to ever greater heights only to see the fall plunge us back to ground zero wiping out double digit gains. In fact, this year’s big swings in the stock market are at their highest...
by Allan Small | Dec 27, 2018 | Investing
First things first: we’re all in this together. If there is comfort and safety in numbers, across the board, pretty much everyone’s portfolio has taken a hit as stocks have wiped out their gains for the year. But things aren’t as bad as you might think. Yes, growth...
by Allan Small | Dec 10, 2018 | Investing
Is your head spinning? You’re not alone. It’s been a tumultuous six weeks for the markets, with U.S. gains for the year wiped out1 on November 20. Tech stocks, which make up a good chunk of Wall Street’s main indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ,...
by Allan Small | Nov 2, 2018 | Investing
In late September 2018, the markets were at record highs. By late October, they dropped 10% and entered, at least as of writing, correction territory. During this same period, United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose at an annualized rate of 3.5% in the...
by Allan Small | Aug 17, 2018 | Investing
Dear Mr. President, no one wins with tariffs. If I had the ear of President Trump, that’s exactly what I would tell him. While I believe he believes his tough talk on tariffs is a means to deliver on his campaign promises to Make America Great Again and Put...
by Allan Small | Aug 1, 2018 | Investing
It seems like every time I turn on the TV, there’s a commercial pushing the narrative that mutual fund fees are too high and the fund companies are coming out ahead to the detriment of their investors. Ads by their nature offer one specific point of view and...
by Allan Small | May 3, 2018 | Investing
The term rollercoaster is coming up more and more in media reporting about the ride investors have been on recently. That ride was all about ascending from the moment it was announced Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States back on November 8,...
by Allan Small | Mar 1, 2018 | Investing
When the Dow Jones plunged more than 1,000 points twice during the second week of February, it took investors into correction territory and a new reality. The smooth nine-year climb of the markets is over. Maybe. Markets have already regained much of those losses....
