Market fears that positive inflation statistics and stingy central bankers would combine to finally end the 35 year bull market in bonds fueled further sector rotation in stock markets during October. Down 2.9%, bonds had their worst month since May 2013 when Bernanke signaled that the Fed might slow down its purchasing of bonds. With shares in bank stocks benefitting from this “rate shock”, and with oil equities gaining on the hype of an OPEC cut, the TSX advanced during October, despite a decline in the majority of the various index components. In the US, all indices declined. So did the Forge First funds...
The two focal points for markets this year, central banks and oil, certainly took centre stage during September 2016. Led by the actions of the Bank of Japan, the former catalyzed the largest volatility spike in months while chat from OPEC last week enabled Canadian stocks to end the month on a positive note. Each of the two Forge First funds generated positive net returns for September...
August represents the start of our fifth year in business. I’m proud that the Forge First team has been able to deliver industry leading risk-adjusted returns since inception. To our unitholders - thank you for your trust and support over the last four years. Moving forward, our value proposition continues to be that of helping investors to protect assets, diversify their portfolios and generate a competitive rate of return...
There were seven record highs for the S&P 500 during July, a month that saw US Treasury 10-year yields close at 1.46% (vs. 2.25% at December 31, 2015 and 1.47% a month ago), the VIX at 11.97 (vs. its month earlier level of 26.72) and, since July 8th, cyclical assets outperforming defensives. Markets don’t seem to have a care in the world; each day investors succumb to the allure of TINA (“there is no alternative” to stocks). Not even oil’s threat to break its 200 day moving average (at $41.20) to the downside has interrupted the music. During the month, all North American equity indices generated solid returns, with former “FANG” stocks enabling NASDAQ to post the best returns. Both of our funds generated profits during July and marked their four year track record...