Merry Christmas!
This marks the final Weekly Update of 2025 – and somehow, another year has flown by while markets did what they do best: surprise, frustrate, and occasionally reward us patient investors. 😊 I’ll be taking a short break over the holidays, but the Weekly Update will be back in early January to kick off 2026.
Tag: ccl
Monthly Portfolio Update October 2025
For the sixth month in a row, all four major North American indexes finished in the green: the Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index (TSX), the S&P 500 Index (S&P), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), and the Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq). The Nasdaq continued to lead the pack, rising more than 4% for the second straight month and marking its seventh monthly gain in a row – its longest stretch since early 2018. The TSX, S&P, and DJIA each posted their sixth straight monthly gain, with the DJIA’s streak being its longest since January 2018, the TSX’s longest since mid-2021, and the S&P’s longest since late 2021.
Weekly Update for the week ending October 3, 2025
A Government Shutdown Doesn’t Mean a Market Meltdown
This past week, funding for the US government expired at midnight on September 30. With Republicans and Democrats dug in, no deal was reached to pass a temporary spending bill and avert a shutdown. As a result, the government was suspended for the 15th time since 1981, halting scientific research, financial oversight, environmental cleanup, and a wide range of other services. About 750,000 federal workers were ordered to stay home, while others – including the armed forces and Border Patrol agents – continued working without pay (they’ll be paid retroactively once operations resume). A shutdown usually doesn’t send markets into free fall, but it does tend to stir up volatility on both sides of the border. So, let’s take a look at what a US government shutdown actually is and what it means for us investors.
Weekly Update for the week ending July 4, 2025
When Good News Is Bad News (and Vice Versa)
This week brought a steady stream of US labour market data, and you might’ve noticed something that feels a little backwards: sometimes good news about jobs or the economy makes stocks fall, while disappointing news sends markets higher. At first, this can be hard to wrap your head around. After all, if more people are working and businesses are hiring, that should be a positive sign, right? But markets don’t just react to the data itself – they react to what that data means for interest rates and the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next move.
Weekly Update for the week ending March 7, 2025
With the US implementing tariffs on Canada and Mexico this past week – and Canada immediately retaliating, while Mexico held off implementing tariffs for now (as of the time of this post) – I wanted to dig deeper into how tariffs actually work. Beyond just driving up prices, tariffs play a significant role in trade and investing. So, what exactly are tariffs? Let’s take a look.
Weekly Update for the week ending October 4, 2024
October: A Month of Market Mayhem or Opportunities?
September may be notorious for its volatility, but October is when the real drama unfolds in the markets. October has witnessed some of the stock market’s most jaw-dropping crashes, earning its reputation for volatility. One of the earliest examples was the Panic of 1907, which peaked in October, wiping out about 50% of the market’s value due to a banking crisis sparked by failed speculation. Then there’s Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, a date forever linked to the crash that ushered in the Great Depression. Preceded by Black Thursday (October 24) and Black Monday (October 28), this period erased massive wealth and sent shockwaves across the global economy. Fast forward to October 19, 1987—Black Monday—when the Dow Jones nosedived 22.6% in a single day, the largest one-day percentage drop in US history. Fueled by program trading, overvalued stocks, and low liquidity, this crash triggered investor panic.
However, October is also known for remarkable recoveries. After the 1987 crash, the markets began to recover within months, regaining most losses by year-end. Similarly, October 2002 signaled the bottom of the bear market that followed the dot-com bubble burst, paving the way for a bull run that lasted until October 2007, during which the S&P 500 more than doubled, driven by economic recovery, low interest rates, and strong corporate earnings. While October is notorious for downturns, it also marks key turning points toward recovery.