May 2015 Performance Commentary

The month of May was characterized by a wide divergence in stock prices, mainly driven by speculation on the U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy and the financial situation in Greece. Interestingly, while the Canadian market declined about 1.25% for the month, the various U.S. indices rose between 1% and 2.5%. Given that our five ABC funds are significantly invested in American stocks and that we have hedged approximately 80% of our $U.S. currency exposure, four of our five funds achieved positive returns for the month. Over the past six months we have repositioned our portfolios having diversified our holdings into a number of dividend-paying, all-capitalization and free cash flowing equities. More importantly, we firmly believe that our five ABC funds are now well placed for superior performance for the remainder of 2015 and into 2016.

 

Irwin A. Michael, President
I.A. Michael Investment Counsel Ltd.