Not a fan of the infrastructure space, but at least SNC Lavalin today has put this fraud scandal behind them (by pleading guilty....He's not bullish emerging markets, particularly India which may be entering a real estate crisis; Chinese growth keeps slower; and Latin America is not in great shape...The rest of 2019 will be calm--no interest rate hikes, no hawkish statements from banks, unless Trump says something about the China-US trade deal. We'll end 2019 on a positive note.

Brexit deal positive for them? Doesn't know how Brexit will effect them. 33% of their business is in the UK and half in the U.S. They've been struggling like all insurers because of low interest rates. If those rates don't rise, AEG will languish. They have enough capital, and boast reasonable total returns. Dividend is high at 7%.

Sell in reaction to grounding the 737? The news is no surprise. The FAA will take their time to approve the 737 and this will cost Boeing--and the whole airline industry. Expect more downside, but not a ton--downside is already factored in the current share price. The suppliers will get hit who depend Boeing. Boeing is well-capitalized, but are in the penalty box.

Has John Chen turned it around? Looked like they were heading the right direction a few times, but stumbled. Hard to turnaround. Cyber-security is a key issue these days, but can't tell if BB will succeed in this space. Prefers peers that are bigger and better-positioned.

Given consolidation announced this week, is it a value trap? Little incentive for owners, the Desmarais family, to create shareholder value, so the stock has done nothing for a very long time. The dividend is safe and the underlying insurance holdings are steady, but little happening. Prefers Sun-Life which offers more upside. Nothing wrong with POW-T per se, but is management working for the shareholder?

European banks have been feeling massive pain due to near-zero interest rates. If Brexit is finally resolved, it should help the UK pound and banks. Lloyd's is in pretty good shape. Hang onto it.

Better than Royal Bank? Recent bank weakness is due to Canadian debt levels and a tick-up in non-performing loans. But these banks are very well-capitalized and Canada is a growing place due to immigration. He likes the banks as a group, and investors will earn a decent return as long as they can deal with an earnings downdraft if the economy pulls back in the future.

(A Top Pick Dec 05/18, Up 29%) Remains a cheap stock. They're the best in P&E insurance and executes very well. Consumers aren't making claims on car accidents, fearing higher rates. Allstate is firing on all cylinders and trading cheaply. They've bought back half shares and raise their dividend every year.

(A Top Pick Dec 05/18, Up 31%) They used to make personal care products, but now make healthcare tech products and gaining market share. Managers have executed very well, transforming the company to higher-margin products.

(A Top Pick Dec 05/18, Up 14%) Trades at a cheap valuation in the cheapest market in the world. Japanese companies pays a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500. Espec delivers strong growth for a Japanese company. Japan has no immigration so growth is zero, but this is slowly changing. Japan has many great industrial businesses. Companies as a whole are starting to buyback shares and raise dividends, prodded by the government (see top picks).

China He doesn't own Chinese stocks, because few are world-class and there's no investor protection. China's economy is starting to struggle and is seeing slower growth. He doesn't invest in EM because of corruption and lack of transparency.

European banks are on sale. ING pays out 50% of its earnings and paying a high dividend. You can buy here--it's come off the bottom--but be patient. Low interest rates hurt these banks. Collect the fat return and wait.

Outlook for Japan The Japanese small-cap market has been rallying a lot. A new law has forced Japanese to raise dividends and share buybacks, and Japanese companies now pay a higher yield than the S&P for the first time ever. Private equity.

A Canadian ETF to profit from Japanese growth? There's much better value in small-cap Japanese stocks. This trades at a discount to NAV. Japanese large caps like Sony have lost their way for a long time. With small-caps, there's a lot of room to grow.