April 2020 Pricing Commentary

North American stock markets rebounded remarkably during the month of April, despite the global economic and investment pessimism which had confronted investors at the end of March. Investors’ worst fears did not transpire as significant government assistance and central bank monetary activity softened the consequences of the pandemic.

All five ABC Funds appreciated substantially in April. These results were largely due to our portfolio’s meaningful weightings in certain investment sectors including: consumer discretionary, health care, utilities, communications, and technology. Of particular importance was the conspicuous outperformance of a number of ABC Funds holdings, including Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Home Depot, NVIDIA, Alphabet, Microsoft, Tencent Holdings, Northland Power, Fortis, and Algonquin Power, which all closed higher at month-end than at the start of 2020.

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