December 2015 Performance Commentary

While North American common stock prices did make an attempt to rally in early December all the popular stock averages closed down for the month. This included the TSX 300 which declined 3.41% for the month and -11.09% for the year. Oil fell almost $4.75 during the month to close out 2015 at approximately $37 for a December decline of over 10%.

Having repositioned our five ABC Funds earlier in the year we upgraded and diversified our holdings and eliminated our oil & gas/resource exposure. These changes are finally coming to fruition with our ABC Funds producing positive relative index outperformance during December. In fact, two of the funds posted positive 12-month returns for 2015. More importantly, all five ABC Funds produced positive investment returns for the October 1 – December 31, 2015 period.

Although we anticipate continued share price volatility during 2016 we believe that all five ABC Funds are liquid and well-placed for a positive 2016.

 

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