John Hood.
John Hood is president and portfolio manager at J.C. Hood Investment Counsel. His focus is ETFs and options.
Top Picks:
BMO Equal Weight US Health Care Hedged to CAD Index (ZUH.TO)
Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV.NYSE)
First Trust AlphaDEX U.S. Health Care Sector Index ETF (FHH.TO)
Past Picks: July 18, 2014
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI.NYSE)
Then: $102.14; Now: $109.88; +7.58%; Total return: +9.15%
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF (XIC.TO)
Then: $24.16; Now: $23.62; -2.24%; Total return: +0.42%
Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK.NYSE)
Then: $58.97; Now: $57.06; -3.24%; Total return: -1.69%
Total Return Average: +2.63%
Market outlook:
I continue to remain bullish on the U.S. and am overweight U.S. ETFs (ie 25-30 per cent.) I have sold a small portion of Canadian positions, mainly oils, to add Europe and some Japan through EAFE ETFs to the asset mix, approximately 5-8 per cent. I remain cautious on Europe because of the geopolitics and Mr. Putin (new air bases in Belarus). I am recommending U.S. health care ETFs. Although they have already performed extremely well, aging baby boomers like myself, will continue to push stocks higher. As to the rest of the U.S. market, with historically low interest rates and increasing domestic oil production, what's not to like?