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

Huawei situation. Companies have a knack of adapting long-term, and that's where you want to invest.

Fiat-Renaud merger. Going forward, it's going to be an arms race. They'd be the third largest company. Car sales is a GDP play. We're getting later in the credit cycle, so it's more challenging for people to afford cars.

How long do you see the bull market lasting? He looks at the S&P 500 as representing the US economy. It's 17-18% overvalued. So the last few weeks have been healthy for the market. Q1 earnings have been better than expected, but mostly due to share buybacks. Someday the music's going to stop, and that's when things will get very interesting in the market.

Investment strategy. Fundamental, long-term investors of 5-15 years. Lower fees, compounding dividend growth, and limited realized capital gains. Important to stay in a position for a while, rather than turn over the portfolio frequently. Looks only at companies with strong history of free cash flow and dividend growth. 30 stocks is a good number for a portfolio, so if something happens to one, it won't impact your portfolio all that much. There are 5 reasons to buy a stock, and these should go up on your fridge. You shouldn't buy stocks willy nilly. It should be a thoughtful decision. You want 30 stocks doing different things from around the world that are going to work as hard for your portfolio as they can. Think about why you bought a stock and if things have changed, it might be an opportunity to sell.

Market Outlook A large oil stock build this week when a draw was expected has put downward pressure on oil prices. We have almost 100 million barrels more in storage than last year and another 5 weeks before the summer driving season begins. We might see another run towards the low-$50s for WTI soon. Be a buyer on weakness. He thinks debt is still high for some key players like CPG-T and will hold back companies from buying back shares to improve per share metrics.

Why look at energy? He has seen two incredible bull trends in energy in his career. The last bull market was from 1999 to 2003. There were several 10-baggers during those cycles. He thinks a new bull trend started in February 2016 when we were at $26 per barrel. He is now watching India as the next source of major demand -- eventually growing to over 5 million barrels per day over the next five years. In the next five years, he thinks a five-bagger is possible in TSX Energy in the next handful of years.

How are you trading these markets? Not a retail market. It's a trader's market, it goes up and down on rumour. It's all noise right now. There's nothing new happening to these companies. It's just Trump talking the markets up and down.

Outcome of US-China trade wars? Money managers are caught in the middle. That's what makes it a trader's market. Until something materializes, that's all it is. Markets are either toppy or trading lower.

Are you a bull or a bear right now? Short-term, markets have been resilient. But he'd be erring on the sell side. Take wins if you have them, short it, or sell a bit and buy it back if it goes cheaper. Sell half, and then you look smart no matter what happens. The big stocks have been steady and boring.

Could we see another correction like December's? A correction is coming, but it won't be as fast as the one in December. We're slowly going lower in the S&P and the Dow. We've had a market slowly creeping up for the longest time, and it's way past its expiry date.

Gold sentiment. Stuck in a range for so long. Resistance around $1375, support around $1200. Avoid the little ones. Even the big ones have just drifted. We need more than a 1 day or 1 week pop.

Market Outlook - The trade war is weighting on the market. The US is basically holding all the cards. China can't stop importing what is importing. The only thing they could do is sell their US bonds but then they would have a currency problem driving their own currency up making the trade issue worst. India is then next big market to emerge. For now he prefers to play it by investing in large international companies with exposure to those markets.

Market. There are a couple of wars being fought. The super powers of China and the US are fighting a war that is bigger than is going to be solved this year. Now there is a technology war that is happening. It needs to be fought if the US is going to be a power in Technology. The smaller wars probably get solved with band-aids this year. China has their 70th anniversary this year and the US is starting the 2020 election campaign. He sees no recession on the horizon. Investors should be cognoscente of technical levels. The Fed has said they are not hiking this year.

Bitcoin vs. US$. The US$ is backed by a stable government. Bock chain may become a form of payment for younger generations. But Bitcoin is too volatile. It might change value before your transaction settles. There is always a market for something that gives you an alternative. With Bitcoin it is buyer-beware.

Market Outlook The Chinese trade situation is multifaceted. You have worries of spying in Canada and he wonders why our government is so uncertain how to proceed. You have to go back to the 1930s when we saw this type of trade wars.