What does Don Coxe think you ought to be buying? The renowned investor, who is the strategy adviser to BMO Nesbitt Burns and portfolio adviser to the Coxe Commodity Strategy Fund, believes that risks to the financial system remain high, and this is not a time to commit new money to equities.
He likes the outlook for gold, base metals, and agriculture stocks. He also believes oil sands producers have a bright future and suggests you go light on the natural gas producers. And he says Canadian bonds and stocks should be 'heavily overweighted' in global portfolios. He prefers investment grade corporates to the high-yielders.
He joined us on Friday, March 5, to take your questions. To replay the discussion, click on the live blog box below.
Mr. Coxe has more than 35 years of institutional investment experience in Canada and the U.S.. As chairman of Coxe Advisors LLC., he follows global capital markets, based on his maxim, "Never invest on the basis of a story on Page One - that is the efficient market. Invest on the basis of a story on Page Sixteen, that is headed on its way to Page One".
He is a former global portfolio strategist for BMO Financial Group and was co-manager of the flagship Harris Insight Equity Fund. Since 1992, Mr. Coxe has been analyzing and making recommendations on global markets for clients of BMO Financial Group through his monthly journal Basic Points. He was ranked No. 1 in 2007 and 2008, by Canadian institutional investors in the Brendan Woods survey.
At the end of 2008, Mr. Coxe retired to focus his efforts on his consulting business and new special projects.
The Coxe Commodity Strategy Fund launched in 2008 - at $297-million - was the largest IPO in Canada for the year. Mr. Coxe continues to serve as portfolio consultant to Harris Investment Management Inc., the investment adviser to the Coxe Commodity Fund.
In the future, Mr. Coxe intends to devote time to addressing the global food challenge, which is likely to become the global food crisis. Before entering the investment business, he served as general manager for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and general counsel for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. For many years, he was involved in framing public policy for agriculture and for public pension funds. He considers his greatest accomplishment the repeal of provincial death taxes on Canadian family farms.
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