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It's a bit of a problem in terms of messaging. They know what they want to do, and this is a bit of a headwind in terms of the message. He thinks they would like to cut rates. Some of the officials have been quoted as saying that it depends on which inflation measures you look at and, as we know, there are a few ways to look at it.

He thinks they're more worried, as they are in the US, about the health of the economy (and making sure it doesn't roll over) than they are about inflation. They're ready to accept that inflation might be just a touch stickier than it would be in a perfect world. It might take them over that 2% mark, which is largely an artificial baseline, but they're willing to live with that.

His team doesn't see the constituents of the classic bubble. You can't deny that the markets have moved forward. To most people that's a good thing. But of course it brings with it some risk, and then some people start to apply that "bubble" label.

In 1996, Alan Greenspan (Fed chair at the time) famously talked about "irrational exuberance". When Gordon looks at the market today, he'd label it as "rational exuberance". Exuberance is a bit scary for markets, as we like them to be discerning and analytical. 

But markets are like a lot of things -- if enthusiasm builds, the focus moves away from the company and toward the stock price, causing people to become momentum investors. We've seen a bit of that, but we've also seen very strong corporate earnings. The leadership is fulfilling the third leg of the so-called "economic revolution" -- from industrial, to technology, and now to early stages of AI.

Absolutely. It shows up in the returns that they're gaining off their investments, and those investments are mammoth. This year, the hyperscalers will invest close to half a trillion dollars in data centre development to create the capacity for what we're told will change our lives. And we're already seeing some of those changes.

Bottom line is they're making money. GOOG, for example, is trading at about a 3.5% discount to the valuation of the market as a whole, even though its growth rate is a number of times greater than the average company. Some of these companies have stretched valuations, but not all of them.

Deal with OpenAI, which leads to discussions of circular economics -- does a deal with a promise of business in the future. The deal itself propelled the stock quite a bit higher, but he's not sure it deserves the valuation bump. The effect is quite dilutive. In third place behind NVDA and AVGO.

You can't answer the question on the basis of the commodity itself. It depends on how you've constructed your portfolio, what percentage gold is in your portfolio, and how you invest in gold. Talk to your financial adviser.

His firm sees gold as a bit of an enigma. It's not really open to fundamental analysis, you can't really understand the value of gold, and this make them nervous. But they understand that it's driving forward on global macro forces. Central banks around the world are losing faith in fiat currencies, especially the USD. Geopolitical issues favour gold, and put pressure on the US dollar.

His firm owns AEM.

Owns this in his firm's Canadian portfolio, with about a 4.5% position, which is about 40% of the weighting of gold in the TSX. His firm doesn't feel comfortable owning a full weighting in a commodity like gold. It's certainly kept up over the last 1-2 years but, over the very long term, it underperforms the market.

Owned this until the spring, when the company reorganized and spun off the piece that owned the land. Smart from a corporate standpoint, but ramifications were not clear from a Canadian tax perspective and can be costly. He still owns other homebuilders.

They're very well positioned and much better managed than in past cycles. Extremely interest-rate sensitive. What we need to see with interest rates is an unlocking of mortgages, which gets people to move. Americans refinanced at very low rates, but those mortgages aren't portable.

Can't deny that the CEO has pedigree. Question is whether he can apply that success to the SBUX model. Bringing him in is akin to a Hail Mary. Turnarounds are hard. Serious issues, and one is that China is a very big component of their story and their growth story. Worries him that it's using debt to finance stock buybacks.

Take a step back and look at the whole healthcare insurance group. Higher and higher costs against its revenue stream. The whole model of taking in premiums and paying out claims was completely upended with Covid on both the number and the timing of claims. Many people delayed surgeries and health care, and so company margins did well because costs weren't that high. But now claims are catching up.

Industry showing signs of bottoming. Great opportunities for the patient investor as part of a portfolio, but not sure this name would be his choice.

See his Top Picks.

Tentacles in cannabis, but it's not showing on the bottom line yet. Headwinds of society and governments pushing against it more and more, and all that works against sales and revenues. You have to know what you're buying and why; people own this for the yield, not for growth.

Danger is that revenues will shrink, FCF won't be as abundant, and dividend may be in jeopardy. Pay particular attention to the payout ratio, quarter to quarter, and see if it's going up.

Trading at a discount to the S&P average multiple, even after this wonderful run. That's on the back of increased earnings. When earnings increase rapidly but the price does too, the valuation doesn't change, and a company can still remain a very good buy.

Depending on the day, commentary is that it's either winning or losing the AI race. It's all just noise. What matters is that they're in the AI race. YouTube, Waymo, and other initiatives are all irons in the fire.

Don't be scared by big numbers, he'd still put money in today. If the earnings are a big number, and the price is a big number, then it's just a number. You just want to make sure you're not paying 200x earnings. This name trades somewhere in the mid-20s.

Hasn't trimmed. In a portfolio, not all stocks move at the same time. Some take leadership, while others take a breather. Visa's been successful at gaining market share, inflation also helps. Trades just south of 30x PE, and analysts give it 13% growth. A stable hold.

On a pop, his firm tends not to trim (though it has happened in his career). Because the pop is on good news. Incredibly inexpensive at 6x EV to EBIT. Faced lots of negative headlines, but overcoming headwind of tariffs, and increased guidance for next year. Now the hope is that it forms a base, from which future earnings can rise.