Ottawa has just grounded the Boeing 737. He doesn't own Boeing, but he doesn't know how big this issue will be, so stay away. Avoid it. The grounding has a significant impact. The FAA hasn't grounded the 737 and makes the US another outlier on the world stage. Air Canada is under pressure today. Westjet could take a hit due to this grounding. The trickling down will cost both airlines money. They may have to lease planes from other companies. A big problem. Boeing's competitors have their own issues as well...He's pretty comfortable about the current markets. December 2018 was an aberration, a terrible decline that perplexed many people including him. We've since had a very good earnings season since, with 69% of S&P companies beating the street....China and the US seem to be moving towards a deal. He doesn't see a return to December's pullback. Market valuation is fair at 16x for the S&P.

The S&P 500 hit a new high with a quite a return year to date of 12 after a brutal December. The markets are fairly valued given earnings and inflation, though he's a little cautious. The global economy is slowing, including Canada's, and earnings have rolled over. In 2018, earnings were up over 20%, but he projects only 5-7%. But market valuations are better and interest rates are down. Things are okay, but he doesn't see much upside. He started 2019 holding 10% cash and slowly invested it in defensives in energy, insurance and consumer discretionary; he's usually fully invested. He's not a big tech investor. He looks for dividend growth, which is not FAANG. The Canadian banks are a core holding, instead. He expects them to perform better this year with dividend growth. Yes, he owns energy--three pipelines and four producers; all are modest holdings that pay dividends, including Suncor and CNQ. Companies can make decent money if WTI trades between $ - 65.