2022 Second Quarter Letter
July 15, 2022
The 2nd quarter of 2022 was again marked by extreme volatility with both global equity and fixed income markets suffering large declines. The aftereffects of the pandemic including supply-demand imbalances, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions exacerbated by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and lockdowns in China, have caused inflation to remain higher for longer, inciting central banks to raise interest rates more aggressively to suppress demand. This has put tremendous pressure on both equity valuations and bond prices.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ stock indices plunged -16.1% and -22.3% respectively during the quarter, finishing down -20% and -29.2% year-to-date and marking the worse first-half for US stocks since 1970. Europe, the Far East, and Emerging Markets were down -11.4%, -10.4% and -8.4% respectively during the quarter, and are down -18.7%, -16.5%, and -15.7% year-to-date in Canadian dollar terms. Bonds performed almost as poorly, with the Canadian Universe Bond Index down -5.7% during the quarter and -12.2% year-to date, while the U.S. bond benchmark was down -4.7% during the quarter and -10.4% year-to-date. With bond markets on track for their worse performance in history, there has been no place to hide…
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