Looking for investing ideas? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies plus what investors need to know for the week ahead.
Pipeline stocks are rallying in Canada, and this one is John Heinzl’s favourite
TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) has been a standout performer this year, delivering a total return of close to 40 per cent that leads my model Yield Hog Dividend Growth Portfolio, John Heinzl writes. So is it time to sell and lock in profit? Heck, no. A short-term pullback is always possible after such scorching gains, but he’s confident that the pipeline operator and power producer will continue to reward investors over the long run. Here he outlines five reasons why, including its steadily rising dividend.
More from John Heinzl: CannTrust, Etsy and more investing stars and dogs for the week
A balanced portfolio is more important than ever - and this fund is one you definitely should consider
The first six months of the year produced double-digit returns for the major indexes in Toronto and New York. But, Gordon Pape writes, I don’t think we’ll see a repeat in the second half of the year. Given the uncertainty facing equities in the second half of the year, it’s more important than ever to allocate a reasonable percentage of your assets to bonds and cash. I know many investors have soured on mutual funds in recent years because of the high fees, but here’s one that you should consider: Mawer Balanced Fund. It has a management expense ratio that is only slightly higher than an ETF, at 0.91 per cent. It’s a fund of funds – the portfolio consists of units in seven underlying Mawer funds, all of which are respectable performers in their own right. The track record is outstanding.
Fidelity portfolio manager of $10.5-billion is staying bullish on markets. Here’s what he’s buying and selling
Fidelity Investments portfolio manager Mark Schmehl is bullish on the markets right now, in part because most investors aren’t. “I’ve never seen so many people so scared at the same time, especially when the market is going up,” says Mr. Schmehl, who oversees about $10.5-billion in assets. Whether it’s worries about trade wars, the inverted yield curve, or low interest rates, he says the concerns are largely overblown. “There is always something to worry about. The end of the world [in markets] never shows up when everyone is waiting for it,” he says. "[It happens] when everyone is happy and excited. I’ve never been more bullish because everyone is bearish.” The Globe and Mail recently spoke with Mr. Schmehl about what he’s been buying and selling.
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Five market indicators to see where the market moves next
Are you baffled by where the stock market is headed next? You’re not the only one, Ian McGugan writes. In recent weeks, stocks have advanced, based on the dubious logic that bad news is good news. According to this line of thinking, weaker global growth will be a pick-me-up for share prices because fading growth will pull already low interest rates even lower and increase the attractiveness of stocks. Key economic questions in the next few months make matters even more complicated: global trade, the Brexit mess and Canada’s housing market. To help you navigate the uncertainty, here are five key indicators for investors to follow.
Read more: Six major risks facing the markets (and what to do about them)
Take a pass on this type of ETF that tries to outsmart the big indexes
ETF investing at its best – cheapest, in other words – means buying exchange-traded funds that track the biggest, most widely followed indexes, Rob Carrick writes. But how many different cheap funds tracking the likes of the S&P 500 and S&P/TSX Composite Index can Canada’s ETF market support? Not that many, which is why companies in the ETF business are creating products that try to improve on the big indexes. Here is why he thinks an equal weight index fund is unlikely to outperform traditional market capitalization weighted funds.
More from Rob Carrick: Is this high-net-worth investor paying a fair fee for investment advice?
What investors need to know for the week ahead
It’s a busy week ahead for corporate earnings, with many big U.S. banks releasing second-quarter figures, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley. Other companies issuing results include Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX, Charles Schwab, Johnson & Johnson, Kinder Morgan, Choice Properties REIT, Kinder Morgan Canada, Netflix, Rogers Communications, IBM, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Union Pacific and West Fraser Timber.
Related: Expectations are low for second-quarter U.S. bank earnings but investors still say buy
Economic data on tap this week: Canada’s new motor vehicle sales for May plus existing home sales and average prices for June (Monday); U.S. retail sales and import prices for June as well as business inventories for May (Tuesday); Canadian inflation numbers for June, plus manufacturing sales and orders for May, and U.S. housing starts and building permits for June (Wednesday); Canadian retail sales for May (Friday).
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