April 2023 Pricing Commentary (Audio version now available – use the controls above.) During the month of April, the North American equity markets continued their impressive climb upwards, defying the predictions of many investment pessimists who had forecasted lower corporate earnings results, higher U.S. Federal Reserve administered rates, and an impending economic recession. The equity markets instead showed remarkable resilience, with this overhanging investor pessimism appearing to have been a contrarian market indicator, as the major stock market indices have ascended the proverbial “wall of worry”. Interestingly, the indices were driven higher in April due to the outperformance of large cap information technology stocks and ABC Funds’ favourites including: Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, which all delivered better than expected corporate earnings results. Additionally, our portfolios benefited from the impressive performance of Becton Dickinson, McDonald’s, Zoetis, S&P Global, Mastercard, Honeywell, and Boston Scientific in the United States, and TC Energy and Enbridge in Canada. In a number of cases, these holdings are reaching new 12-month and all-time highs. This outperformance led to our three ABC Funds posting positive returns during the month of April, but more importantly impressive year-to-date investment performance. With the completion of the first four months of 2023, we remain fully invested, expecting a continuation of the positive market trends to year end and beyond. Irwin A. Michael, President I.A. Michael Investment Counsel Ltd.
