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Trump will be empowered this time. He's more experienced and wants to make things more efficient for U.S. business. Everyone is wondering what his impact will be internationally, including Russian and Ukraine. U.S. earnings season so far sees the big banks doing very well, but there remain issues with the long-bond rates. Blackrock's deputy CEO expects inflation to be far stickier than what the street expects. So long-bond yields have to stay higher for longer. 

Trump 2.0 will see him using tariffs as a negotiating tool to add jobs to the U.S., but there will be inflation. The debt problem is real. Trump wants tax cuts, too. His decisions will add a lot of volatility. For every 10% tariff, the US dollar gains 4%, so we're pricing in a 20% tariff across the board now. But at 8:30 am, the Wall Street Journal said that Trump won't impose tariffs, so the Canadian dollar rallied as the US futures and US bond market rallied. Risk assets rallied. Get used to volatile markets in the first 100 days. Private equity and bonds are very attractive now.

An ETF to park money and pays a good dividend. It has a little credit risk, but exposes you to corporate bonds for year, so it acts like a money market fund in a sense. However, it pays you a little more yield by 20-30 basis points.

It's a challenge going forward. He likes it for using hedging strategies which mitigates a good part of your risk. It still gives you upside potential. Gives exposure to equities with an income tilt. Markets are overvalued, but it's possible that markets can keep grinding higher. He prefers buffer ETFs, like ones that BMO offers, which offer more safety.

The version that gives you exposure in USD has given you a stronger return in past years. He prefers /F, the one that gives you the hedge.

He's the wrong person to ask for a crypto recommendation. He doesn't touch them for being highly speculative. He's an investor. Pick any crypto ETF.

In quantum computing, follow this company. Doesn't know of an ETF in this sector; it's too early. Quantum is way too early. Earnings aren't there yet. The hype has made this sector volatile.

The CAD has weakened, and ZSP has the USD in it. So, he much prefers ZUE. Because interest rates are much lower than the U.S., it will cost you 1.25% in hedging. Weigh that 1.25% over, say 5 years, to where the CAD-USD exchange will go. If you expect the CAD to strengthen, then ZUE will give you a better payout than ZSP. Be hedged over not.

The CAD has weakened, and ZSP has the USD in it. So, he much prefers ZUE. Because interest rates are much lower than the U.S., it will cost you 1.25% in hedging. Weigh that 1.25% over, say 5 years, to where the CAD-USD exchange will go. If you expect the CAD to strengthen, then ZUE will give you a better payout than ZSP. Be hedged over not.

With Trump, there's a little less concern of threats of breaking up the company. GOOG is doing well in cloud, and Europe won't be as hard on them as before. GOOG is one of the cheaper Mag 7 stocks, but still vulnerable to market risks. Prefers it at $150 than $200, though.

He expects the gold trend to continue as central banks keep adding gold among many reasons. He buys on dips, though, not on rallies.

TER does develop 'advanced robotic systems' so we would expect it to at least be involved in the sector. It spent $435M on research and development projects last year. The stock has had a good start to the year, up 10%. P/E is 43X. It has about $600M net cash and earnings growth is projected at 30% in 2025. The last quarter was very good and estimates have ticked higher in the last four weeks. We think it looks good for a higher growth thematic stock. 
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We note that it has been one of the best performing REITs over the past two years amidst broad sector weakness. The Trust has managed to navigate the high-rate environment and execute its acquisitive growth strategy with 2024 being a record year. Unit prices have appreciated significant to where it is quite expensive from a valuation standpoint, but there are plenty of positive fundamental trends, with increasing occupancy rates, fund flows, and margins. We like its recent momentum, and its distribution is well-covered by cash flows. It is not exactly cheap, trading at 3.7X book, but its FFO interest coverage ratio and FFO/debt have all been increasing, showing a positive trend in profitability. We would be comfortable buying here for an income name.
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On average, they have cash, massive cash flow and good growth. On advantage the Mag 7 has is that they have the capacity to spend billions on R&D. GOOG, for example, spends $40B annually. Smaller companies just do not have this advantage. The group would likely grow faster if they were allowed to do acquisitions. They will be continue to be closely tied to the overall economy, and are not immune to declines (i.e 2022). But we think they have several years of growth, if not more, ahead of them. 
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Advantages of ETF's for Investors:

They are a great tool for investors transitioning from passive to DIY

In investing, there is no need to choose between being an exclusively passive ETF investor or a DIY stock investor. There’s certainly room for investors to do both and create their own hybrid strategy. Investors who want to make the gradual switch to DIY stock investing can also take a hybrid approach by starting with broader market exposure through ETFs as core holdings, then selecting individual stocks as “satellite” holdings. As one gets more comfortable with the risks and concentration of owning individual names and develops a more refined strategy, an investor can slowly sell off units of core ETF holdings (or take new cash that come into the portfolio) and move more towards individual names.

 There are many ETFs with niche exposures that allow you to differentiate from the market

There are enough ETFs and variety out there for an investor to create a portfolio of ETFs that he or she views as more optimal than the broad market. An example we often use is owning a TSX ETF which would be overweight in financials, materials and energy. A more optimal allocation may include increased exposure to technology, industrials and other cyclicals for investors looking for growth or utilities and REITs if one is looking for a higher yield than TSX. These adjustments can be achieved via specific sector ETFs. One can also tilt their portfolio towards smaller market cap ETFs that may have higher growth potential and are not well represented in market-cap weighted indices.

Why buy one or two stocks when you can buy the sector?

While this sounds like a rhetorical question, there is an actual reason for this: superior returns by being concentrated in a winning stock of course! But the trick is getting to a level of conviction where one can believe the particular stock is a winner in a specific indsutry. Of course, this can require a lot of time and energy researching a company and its competitors. Meanwhile, one may want exposure to this sector until deciding which name(s) to be more concentrated in. The solution: ETFs. For example, you want exposure to the cybersecurity space and are bullish on the sector in general. To not rush the decision of which cybersecurity stock(s) to pick while getting exposure one can purchase an ETF like the First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (ticker: CIBR) or ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (ticker: HACK) to benefit from industry tailwinds and ultimately let the market decide which individual companies get a higher weighting in the ETF (assuming a market-cap weighting).

Low knowledge areas

Related to the point above, another benefit to ETFs is that they give investors access to instant diversification in areas that are far out of an investor’s realm of knowledge. For example, an investor may want emerging market exposure in their portfolio for geographic diversification. If one knows barely anything about emerging markets, it can be a daunting task to learn the ins and outs of companies in foreign countries that have very different economic cycles, regulatory and competitive. Many investors may not even want to own individual securities outside of North America and this is understandable. Again, ETFs offer a solution to gain this exposure of broader regions or specific countries. Of course, low knowledge areas for an investor can also be specific sectors in local or North American markets.

 Final Thoughts

ETFs have many other uses that we can on and on about such as hedging a portfolio’s broad market exposure through inverse ETFs, getting exposure to commodities, currencies and precious metals or even using as a proxy for exposure for the 30-day period one needs to wait before buying back a stock sold as part of a tax-loss selling strategy. The point is, given how easy ETF make it for an investor to customize a portfolio and quickly gain diversified exposure, ETFs can find a place even the most active investor’s portfolio.
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