The economy and stock market are separate. It comes down to easing by the US Fed with three interest rate cuts this year. The economic data, however, hasn't been good in the U.S., Japan and around the world. The glass is half full. Trade data in the US and China was better than expected, but only because exports from China have fallen less than imports. We're near the end of the cycle, though without the typical inflation. Point is, he doesn't see where the growth will come from. He's getting tired of getting whipsawed by the US president, tired of playing this game of reacting to his tweets. The telecoms look good, trading at 6x operating cash flow, whereas the utilities and REITs are at 15x. Financials are high-dividend places to hide, but he isn't rushing to buy any banks.

Take profits? He's short the US banks and owns them. He expects interest rates to head down. Loan growth is anemic. What's great here? Either a stronger economy or interest rate hikes would excite him. BAC is more levered than its peers. Its valuation is full.

Great operators in a fine niche. But same-store sales growth has recently disappointed and are feeling more margin pressure. Price points are getting squeezed. Valuation is still high at mid/high-20s. DOL is positioned well long-term, though there are risks if they miss a report. Wait a quarter or two to see how their results fare.

When they IPOd they had zero revenues in mobile ads. Now, they own that. They face no competition from another app (that they don't own). He's not even on Facebook, but he owns it. They know how to make money. It is one of THE stocks to own in big-cap tech (like MSFT).

Good, long-life production. Balance sheet is stretched, though. MEG Energy is better on the heavier oil side; it's in better shape. Problem is there are no new buyers of energy stocks. We are seeing a bit of a bounce in the past month in oil, however, which is encouraging. Don't rush out to buy ATH, but MEG, Baytex or Crescent Point. There's some risk in ATH.

Short-term, when a Canadian company moves to the States, it loses a lot of shareholders. Also, they made an acquisition at the start of 2019, so they carry a lot of debt. He isn't sure that this will turnaround soon. ECA used to be big holding in Canadian portfolios, which he suspects will be unwound. Meanwhile, pension money is flowing into private equity which is buying....energy. It's convoluted--people are selling oil stocks to buy private equity which is buying oil.

He's added to this. He owns it for the yield and valuation. Pipeline stocks used to trade at 10x earnings with no growth. There's still no growth, but today with zero interest rates, these stock look attractive. In turn, pipelines will get higher valuations of 12x or more operating cash flow. But ENB's dividend last year was more than the total earnings of the company--scary. The balance sheet is stretched. All in all, it's a defensive play that's done well.

(A Top Pick Dec 31/18, Down 5%) The uranium stocks (and new uranium supplies) won't move up until the commodity rises above $50. It's trading under $30 now. Uranium demand is probably 40% higher than supply. Demand is growing as new nuclear reactors increase; there's demand, but there's an inventory overhang that's pressuring the price. Once the inventory winds down, the stock will move.

(A Top Pick Dec 31/18, Up 20%) He still likes it. They did wrong things in the past--issuing alot of equity--but are doing the right things now--share buybacks and selling off assets. These please shareholders, not production growth. CPG just sold its infrastructure assets last month at 7x, but the stock is trading at 3x. The balance sheet is now 2x debt-to-EBITDA.

(A Top Pick Dec 31/18, Down 0.4%) Slower global growth, not Amazon, has pressured this stock. Also, FedEx is in the crosshairs of the US-China trade war which has hurt the earnings. But FedEx has a great global footprint, trading below 10x forward earnings.

Recent pullback The downturn recently has hit the sector, not just TD. Loss-loan provisions will increase given the state of the Canadian economy. Canadians are heavily indebted. There's no loan growth now, but TD has fine US assets and they are well-positioned in the Schwab purchase of Ameritrade. There isn't big downside risk in this sector, but there isn't much earnings growth this late in the cycle. Estimates of 3-5% profit growth in coming years is a little optimistic. The dividend is safe, which you can hold and collect. You're okay to hold this. If you're a trader, though, it's not worth buying.

Oil 2020 outlook He's bullish oil, given OPEC production cuts. The perception of BTE is heavily levered, heavy oil, but they actually have 60% production in Permian light oil. The balance sheet is much better now after paying down debt, dropping to 2x debt-to-cash flow. They could buyback shares. He's added to this recently. Tax-loss selling and the flight of capital have pressured oil stocks. He expects a bounce to come, but doesn't know when. Eventually, rationality comes to markets. Oil stocks boasts 20% free cash flow yield--you should make money on these at some point. When, he doesn't know, but the situation looks better now.

Be cautious. Recently we've had a bounce in value cyclicals that we've endured a temporary slowdown and now we'll see growth ahead. He disagrees. These value stocks won't do better--we're near the end of the cycle and capital projects will slow down. Look at Caterpillar, down a third from its peak 18 months ago. The writing's on the wall for this sector--slowing down. You can hold onto a portion of this.

It's been under pressure, partially from a US short-seller, alleging CTA's weak online selling platform. He doesn't know if this is true, but CTA has taken on more debt to make acquisitions. They have a lot of oars in the water. Its valuation is cheap, though. Retail is full of landmines, like CTC's financing/lending arm. Yes, CTC has holes in its online strategies and is unable to migrate to newer markets.

He can't poke any holes in this. Dividend is okay, but little production growth though that doesn't matter much these days. There's some free cash flow generation. But this faces the same risk as the oil sector. XOM has the same downside as the sector, but XOM offers more upside.