October 2021 Pricing Commentary

North American equity markets made a remarkable recovery during the month of October after a particularly weak September. U.S. equities generally outperformed Canadian common stocks during the October period, enabling our ABC Funds to outperform their respective benchmarks.

Moreover, with the Canadian dollar’s appreciation of approximately two and a half cents relative to the U.S. dollar our currency hedge mitigated our portfolios’ risk exposure.

Outperforming Canadian equities during the month included: TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, TC Energy, Brookfield Asset Management, and Canadian National Railway.

In the United States, our funds’ top performers were: S&P Global, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Zoetis, Home Depot, Waste Management, NVIDIA, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Salesforce.

Looking ahead to the final two months of 2021, we remain optimistic with regard to the economy and common stocks. More importantly, our three ABC Funds remain fully invested and will retain this stance into 2022.

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