Stock price when the opinion was issued
Likes exposure to Europe, of which many Canadians have minimal exposure. ZWE looks at the dividend yields of its holdings. Plus, it does some covered writing, which gives you income along the way in tradeoff for upside. Attractive yield, but consider also owning some European stocks on their own. Nice piece of diversification for your portfolio, good bit of income.
Right now, this is his preference. Going over the history of this ETF, the extreme was $1.50-1.60 CAD to euro. So anything above $1.50-1.55, you'd want to be hedged. Anything lower than $1.35-1.40, you want to be exposed to the foreign currency.
Recently we got back above $1.50. If it keeps going higher, that's fine. When you're hedging the CAD relative to Europe, their interest rates are lower than ours, and so you actually earn extra doing it.
ZWU or ZWE Both are good defensive strategies. ZWE: He's not that bullish on Europe, but at least you get income from writing the covered calls here. ZWU: Utilities are much less volatile and more stable, yet expose you to Europe. If you belive in Europe and playing defence, then both ETFs are fine. These two ETFs are highly correlated, rising and falling together. Note that utilities are risk-off, not for you if you have long-term bullish.