S&P 500 ended the first half of 2022 lower by 20.6% for its worst start to a year since 1970.
Canada’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was 9.0% lower in June, resulting in a 13.8% decline for the benchmark in Q2.
All 11 of the benchmark’s underlying sectors were negative during the quarter, led by health care and information technology, with losses of 49.8% and 30.8%
Benchmark’s quarterly loss was led by the consumer discretionary, telecommunication services, and information technology sectors, with respective declines of 24.0%, 18.4%, and 18.0%
Price of a barrel of crude oil gained 5.5% in the second quarter
Natural gas was 3.9% lower.
Copper, silver and gold had a negative quarter, with respective losses of 21.8%, 19.3% and 7.3%
Inflation in Canada stayed elevated with a 7.7% year-over-year rise in May, the highest print since 1983
Food, energy and shelter were the largest contributors to rising inflation
BOC hiked rates 50 bps in June and another 100 bps July 13 bringing the key interest rate to 2.5%
The Canadian economy added 39,800 jobs in May, as the nation’s unemployment rate improved to 5.1%
Energy stocks have been top performers, suggesting that any benchmark that systematically avoids this sector likely has underperformed the broader market
Returns for energy stocks have now totally caught up with the performance of the MSCI World ESG Leaders index. -This begs the question – is the outright exclusion of particular sectors from a portfolio the right approach to ESG investing, or is a more nuanced approach appropriate?
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