March 2023 Pricing Commentary (Audio version now available – use the controls above.) In March, global securities markets were influenced by substantial financial and economic news flow, such as the unforeseen regional banking crisis, which triggered massive deposit withdrawals resulting in a concerted rescue action by several big money centre banks and various U.S. government authorities. This precarious setting, along with the pre-existing interest rate uncertainty, enervated investors and compounded the gloomy investment sentiment, despite a benign macro economic outlook. As a contrarian indicator, this bearish overhang presented as a bullish bellwether. In the face of the overall market negativity, our ABC Funds exhibited exceptional outperformance for the month of March and their year-to-date benchmarks. This performance can be attributed to four appreciating sectors and specific ABC Funds’ holdings in consumer discretionary, healthcare, communications and information technology. ABC Funds’ standouts included Amazon, McDonald’s, Becton Dickinson, Boston Scientific, Thermo Fisher, Activision Blizzard, Alphabet, Meta, Adobe, Apple, Broadcom, Microsoft, and NVIDIA. As we enter the second quarter, we anticipate the stock market recovery to continue, underpinned by economic resilience, strong corporate earnings, and moderating inflation. Irwin A. Michael, PresidentI.A. Michael Investment Counsel Ltd.
