I hope you have been able to get some time with
your family and enjoy the incredible weather we have been having. Our
family was fortunate to spend some time in Stoughton with Kim’s family, took in
a Rider game, (in the rain) and camped in Saskatoon for a week. Rest assured, I
am still constantly reading and reviewing your portfolio options, even at the
campsite!
June was a small negative month again for most of our portfolios. The
TSX(Canada) has retreat to now being up only by about .9% so far this year. The
S&P500(USA) is now up 8.85% while Europe continues to lead with a gain of
11.9% this year. The Canadian dollar slid a bit in June so our
foreign holdings had their gains magnified again. The Greek
situation weighed on all markets but that seems to have been sorted out for
now. The 12 month rate of return on all our portfolios is still above
average and it looks like July will help that back up
again. (source:Fidelity Investments:Datastream)
I would like to emphasize that the dropping
Canadian dollar is enhancing the current rates of return on our portfolios but
we should not expect this to continue indefinitely. No one is
capable of accurately speculating currency movements so there is no point in
trying. We do know that if the US interest rate policy and the
Canadian interest rate policy go separate directions, it will force the
Canadian dollar lower. We also know that the Canadian dollar is viewed as a
“Petro Dollar”, or a currency that is dependent on oil prices. For both of
these reasons we do know there will be downward pressure on the Canadian
dollar. For how long or how far, that is anyone’s guess.
Warren