In light of the human and global tragedy that is the COVID-19 pandemic, economic activity has virtually ground to a halt.
Central banks, such as the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve, have cut interest rates outside of regularly scheduled meetings in order to provide liquidity.
Massive stimulus and bailout packages from governments led markets to finish March with overall losses that were perhaps less than many had expected.
Investment Outlook
The overall ramifications that COVID-19 will have on the economy much depends on the effectiveness of policy actions taken to offset the impact of the government response to containing the spread of the virus.
For Canada, we need to further discount the outlook for our increased sensitivity to the declining energy sector and higher levels of household indebtedness.
As an asset manager and steward of our clients’ capital, we will continue to stress test our holdings and focus on the fundamentals of the businesses we follow.