John HoodiShares Russell 2000(CAD-Hedged)XSU.TOTOP PICKMar 22, 2018

MER of XSU is 0.36%. Around for a dog's age. Replicates small-cap index well. Doesn't have the same valuation challenges as with the S&P 500 and concentration of the Magnificent 7.

Also consider XMC for more mid-cap exposure, MER of 0.16%, has done a bit better.

(Don't forget to incorporate foreign, developed areas from EMs ;)

It's the US small caps index. They do better in times of declining yields and higher growth. This is good if you want to hunker down and hedge the US dollar. Small caps are beat up, but he predicts a rotation in the coming year to favour small caps. XSU is decent, but he prefers SCZ.

An ETF to cover the Russell 1000 or 2000? O’shares tend to be expensive. This straight Russell 2000 ETF is better.

Small-mid caps are starting to rise to the performance of large caps. This ETF is behaving very well. He'd buy it. If tariffs continue to be a concern, then small-midcaps are less exposed, which is maybe why they're performing better than the large caps. He has 10% US small-midcaps in his holdings.

iShares S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) (XSP-T) or iShares Russell 2000 (CAD-Hedged) (XSU-T)? He frequently talks about factor investing, and one of the factors that is very real and very tangible is the small caps outperforming large caps over time. As a result, he expects this will give slightly higher returns, although a bit more volatile.

XSU-T and IWM-T. They broke down in September. They should find support just below here. If it breaks down below that then it has to find the next support level.

Small caps in the US are much more overvalued. He is short the Russell 2000 right now.

(A Top Pick Jan 16/13. Up 33.9%.) Just in the process of moving his taxable accounts out into other ETFs. Really nothing wrong with this, except that he wants the hedge off at this time.

(A top pick Jan 16/13. Up 19.33%.) He can see this going a lot further so would consider it a Buy. He is just waiting for the decision to move off the Cdn$ hedged and at that time he would switch from this to iShares Russell 2000 (IWM-N).

Really likes the tilt towards small cap in value. Because Russell is a benchmark that tracks 2000 securities, you are getting a massive diversification and you are getting into the mid-cap and small-cap space. A really good way to increase your expected return.

Russell 2000 is small cap, but by American standards they are pretty big companies. This tends to be a bit more domestic US oriented. Because he thinks the US itself will do well this tends to outperform the broader market initially. About a quarter of it is in small financials.