Opinions Terry Shaunessy
iShares S&P 500 Index ETFXSP.TOCOMMENTSep 21, 2018
Terry ShaunessyStock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 09, 2026. Market Open.
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The hedged version. Is a core holding of his. Can hold this a long time and can generate income from it instead of buying a covered call ETF.
Richard OrrellInvestor's talking about a way to use some leverage to get exposure to the market. That's a sophisticated strategy, and he wouldn't recommend it for most people. If the S&P valuation is pretty fully valued, then he doesn't love this strategy here. After a correction, sure.
What he does like a lot right now, with capital preservation in mind, is BMO's series of buffer ETFs. Upside potential, but there the covered call pays for some put protection. For the short term, he's more in the camp of "down" than "up". Long term, you have to love the S&P 500; but you just can't love it at 22x forward PE.
He hasn't sold a single share for years, just keeps buying it. Hold on. Has it in all his portfolios.
John Hood
VSP is a hedged version for the S&P index, for those wanting exposure to the S&P but using Canadian dollars. XSP is fairly similar. MER costs are quite low for both. He prefers the market-weighted over the equal-weighted right now. Large and mega-caps will continue to perform well.
His mid-term target for the S&P 500 is 5500, then maybe a pullback in September-October, and then go on to hit 6000 in the first quarter of 2025. Good opportunities in it, even though the market's performed well.
He likes to keep it simple. XSP or VSP are his choices. Both similar, market-weighted, hedged to CAD, track fairly closely to the underlying index. Though there are offerings from other companies, these 2 have the lowest fees.
Buy a hedged ETF when Canadian dollar is lower? Currency decisions are an active part of their process, they are active on currency decisions, and then they use passive ETFs. Not hedged on anything right now. Canadian dollar is stuck in a range between 0.75 and 0.77 cents. Doesn’t think Canada will raise interest rates as fast as US, which means the Canadian dollar will come under pressure. If you are buying S&P now, you are buying it for a long-term portfolio with 2-5 years horizon, because in the near term you are probably not going to get much out of it. XSP is currency hedged. XUS is not currency hedged, and it’s his ETF of choice in the US. XSP should be in a portfolio and replace big US stocks. His opinion is to don’t edge it. XUS definitively affordable at 0.10% MER. You have to really watch the underlying costs when putting an ETF in your portfolio.