Even though Canadian and U.S. markets delivered strong results in 2023, veteran equity manager Jennifer McClelland saw it as an extremely challenging year. Rapid moves in interest rates hit many of the dividend-paying stocks she favours.
Moreover, this year, with 50/50 odds of a recession or a soft landing, McClelland argues that the forecast appears to be cloudy.
“Predicting the future is futile, as I’ve found out over the last 30 years,” says McClelland, lead manager of the 4-star rated gold medalist $3.1 billion RBC Canadian Equity Income F (also available in Series D) and vice-president and senior portfolio manager, North American equities, at Toronto-based RBC Global Asset Management Inc. A 1993 graduate with a BA in economics from the University of Western Ontario, McClelland oversees about $10 billion in assets in a variety of funds. “But if we start to see more negative economic impacts from higher interest rates…
