Oversight

Exploring the stealthy rise of US deficits and the quiet shift in fiscal policy amid economic gains.

Navigating August’s market: Resilient assets, easing inflation and potential growth resurgence?

Are interest rates sufficiently high given the housing market’s resilience?

Economic resilience has given way to some optimism in equity markets, but under the hood, markets appear more fragile.

While the BoC paused rate hikes, other central banks raised them. What could this mean for Canada?

Our insights on bank failures and tightening lending standards and how rate hikes impact markets.

On International Women’s Day, we hosted a panel discussion focused on our Women in Leadership (WiL) initiative that aims to tackle issues contributing to gender imbalances in the workplace.

The recent market cycle can be characterized by numerous unusual aspects. Many of these relate to being in a highly inflationary environment for the first time in more than 40 years, a climate that predates the majority of today’s market participants. This month’s Outlook highlights some of the effects of inflation that are offering perplexing signals as investors navigate through this inflationary environment.

We recently published our 2023 Financial Markets Forecast, which presents a comprehensive review of our investment thinking for the year to come. Therefore, as in years past, we devote the February edition of Outlook to providing an annual update on organizational developments at Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management (CC&L). The one overriding mission for our firm is to ensure that we put the necessary amount of time, energy and resources into managing mandates and meeting the performance objectives of our clients, accompanied by industry-leading standard of service. In this edition of Outlook, we provide an update on our business and our commitment to reinvesting in the company to ensure future success both for our clients and the organization.

This year’s Forecast looks at the secular themes that underpin our outlook, and then considers the shorter-term cyclical factors influencing the outlook for the economy, inflation, and monetary policy. We examine market valuations and taking into account all these factors, we set the framework for our portfolio strategy. Throughout the next year, updates to our Forecast will be highlighted in our monthly newsletter – Outlook.

The nearterm economic deterioration fable for Canada has been well told. Canada’s citizenry is engaged in a love affair with real estate. Not needing, yet still benefiting from the global drop to near-zero interest rates we embraced home ownership, taking on massive mortgage debt to pay for increasingly expensive homes.

We discuss the approach to delivering returns from fixed income by using alternative tools.

The global economy is heading for a slowdown in economic activity. Central banks, after having pushed through a series of rapid increases in policy rates, have begun to slow down the pace of rate hikes. The Bank of Canada, a global leader in policy tightening, put forward a smaller than expected rate hike late in the month, which was especially noted. This had asset markets closing the month higher. Against this backdrop, we ask whether it now time to dive back into risk assets. We think that it is still too early.

Financial market volatility picked up in September as a result of diminished liquidity globally, which can set the stage for unexpected shocks. In September, the BoE came to the aid of the UK government bond market amid financial instability due to a sharp rise in gilt yields. This had ripple effects through UK pension funds and triggered selling in an already difficult market. It is evident there is a distinction between risks related to financial instability and day-to-day financial volatility, and when policymakers may step in with support. With inflation above target, and absent financial stability concerns, we believe they will remain resolute in their battle. We are watchful over unforeseen instability, but focused on the fundamental outlook.

In our fourth annual Responsible Investing (RI) Update, we are pleased to share the progress we have made regarding our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices over the last year.