A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert (A Commentary)

iShares Corp Bonds (XCB-T) or iShares Gov’t Bond ETF (XGB-T) or stick with preferred shares? He would stick with preferred shares. He is not a fan of the fixed income side at all. XCB is going to be at risk if rates start to go higher

Markets. Thinks his broad theme of energy, infrastructure and dividend payers for his clients will remain in place. Over the last 3 years, every once in a while, there are little upticks that people thinks points to an acceleration in the economy which gets money slightly rotating to cyclical securities. Every one of those have run out of gas shortly afterwards and you get a reassertion of the dividend trade. There is some money stepping out into US domestic based cyclical exposure, like consumer discretionary and financials. Generally he thinks this continues to be the dominating theme in this market.

Markets. There will be some kind of consolidation – a secular bull market. Doesn’t see that companies can keep pushing earnings higher. He would like to see the fed back away from the market and let it stand on its own legs. It is difficult to determine how robust the economy is underneath the stimulus. He can find names with pretty decent balance sheets and that can grow earnings.

Markets. Doesn’t think the fed is tightening any time soon. They are taking their foot off the accelerator but they are still in easing mode. The run has been 6 months and there has not been a correction. He thinks deflation is a bigger risk than inflation. Thinks there is phenomenal growth in emerging markets over the last few years but now there is some money coming out of those markets.

Preferreds. Doesn’t think interest rates will go up any time soon. Preferreds have a 2-4% premium that would be wiped out if interest rates normalized. But he doesn’t see it in a material way right here. He would consider that when the commons pull back 10-15%, flip out of the preferreds and buy the commons.

Gold. Emerging market countries are starting to acquire gold. If we have another global crisis then maybe gold has another move higher, but he doesn’t see it.

Educational Segment. Have we seen a healthy correction in the US markets? 2 weeks back to back of negative behavior in the S&P. Candle stick charts. The bigger the bar, the bigger the change from opening and closing price. Slide showed the 5 basic patterns. What we see on the S&P in the last couple of weeks, we are getting 1 to 2 months of correction after the recent move. What we are seeing is bearish. Doesn’t think correction will be more than 10% (between 5&10%).

Markets. 2^nd quarter has been a little more positive than what he expected. In the last 3 years, the economic data has rolled over in each of the 2^nd quarters and we have seen negative markets down about 5% on a total return basis in Canada. So far this year, we have been flat in the 2^nd quarter year to date. He continues to be optimistic and feeling pretty good about the dividend growth he is seeing in his holdings.

Interest rates. Since about 2010, he has been looking for interest rates to move higher. It appears that we may be finally seeing the 1^st signs of a sustained move upwards. However, we have been faked out on this before in the last 2 years.

Has the investment community just created a bubble in dividend stocks? He doesn’t agree with this. He understands the logic but the numbers just don’t bear it out. Looking at the dividend yield on the TSX, it is right in the middle of its average range for the past 30 years.

Bonds have gone up about 50 basis points in interest. What is happening with dividends on financials, REITs and utilities? On utilities, earnings could be hurt on a near-term basis but will ultimately catch-up. Not as positive on the REIT sector. Doesn’t feel it is a great diversifier. Regarding financials, it is mostly a spread game for the banks so it may compress margins in the near-term but ultimately they will figure it out and it doesn’t put any of the bank dividends at risk.

Comparison of dividend return on a large CAP such as Ensign Energy (ESI-T) to a small CAP such as Esential Energy (ESN-T)? You can buy a lot more shares on a small cap. In order to compare them, you have to just compare the dividend yields. Obviously a higher dividend return is more money in your pocket. You also have to be aware that for a smaller CAP, it takes less to go wrong to sink the company. He does take this into account.

Markets. We are in a long-term bull market, 5 to 8 more years, for the US. Thinks it starts with a bull market in the US$ and then spreads to all US assets. Every day there is a piece of good news, certainly for the US$. Sees the Cdn$ trading down to $0.90 or even $0.85. When world investors catch on, people will allocate portions of their portfolio into the US$ and US equities. He sees a power shift in Canada from the West Coast back to Ontario.

Markets. Bond market just sold off enormously. We were at 2.2% on the US 10 year and then in the last hour it was basically “let’s take some risk off the table” so the money flowed out of equities and into the bond markets. The selloff in the bond market is now starting to accelerate so we have had a big reversal in the last hour or so. Therefore, equities remain the place to be. You want to have some fixed income in investment grade corporates, perhaps some inflation protected government bonds as well as some good dividend paying stocks.

How would I achieve the best results in using a small percentage of a portfolio in emerging foreign markets? Using a global diversified front year markets fund would be a good way. You could use iShares MSCI Frontier 100 (FM-N) or Guggenheim Frontier Mkts (FRN-N).