Market Drop

Many of you may notice your investable wealth will have dropped roughly 2-4% overnight... And further drops are expected today. This is just a friendly reminder to keep cool and carry on.

There's no denying that there is quite a lot of negativity in the news regarding the geopolitical landscape and the global economy, and this has an indirect impact on the stock market which many investors like yourself participate in.

A few notes to digest for context after a brutal day in the markets yesterday:

• The S&P 500 is down -8.04% year-to-date in 2025 after yesterday, and was up +23.3% in 2024.

• The TSX is down -2.26% year-to-date in 2025 after yesterday, and was up 18.5% in 2024.

• Canadian Bond markets (FTSE) are up +2.3% year-to-date in 2025 after yesterday, and were up +6.7% in 2024.

• International equity markets (MSCI ACWI) are down -0.05% year-to-date in 2025 after yesterday, and were up +17.5% in 2024.

• The biggest 1-day drop in the markets (S&P 500) was -20.47% on October 19th, 1987.

  • Since this day, the markets (S&P 500) are up over +2,288% (+10.84%/year).

• After a downturn, simply missing the best days in the market by becoming too defensive at the wrong time has a massive negative impact on your portfolio (see graph below).

  • No one can time the market.

  • the best days in the market historically occur after downturns.

• The most dangerous words in investing: "this time is different".

  
  

All of us have been following the Trade War developments closely and you are likely as frustrated as I am. I thought I would include some context here to reinforce that we have a defined framework in place for your portolio. I am not trying to minimize the impact of this downturn, but if your portfolio is set up for downturns like this, then opportunities will likely present themselves.

If you would like to revisit what we have done to portfolios to prepare for the current economic landscape, you can do so here, and here. It may also be of value to review an article I wrote in March 2020 titled "Do Something" here.

In addition, the next quarterly market commentary will be made available in mid-April.

We are always available to review and discuss the investment framework in place, so please always reach out if you have any questions or concerns about your portfolio, and how it is positioned to ensure your financial success.

I hope you find this both interesting and informative in keeping pace with today's financial world.