Despite worries that the Canadian economy is weakening and on the brink of a recession, the Canadian equity market is still bullish and has returned 4.36% year-to-date (April 22). Seasoned investor and value-oriented stock picker Dave Jiles confirms that the market’s behaviour is hard to fathom, and attributes some of the bullishness to fiscal spending and central banks’ potential rate cuts.
“Go back to the fourth quarter of last year and all investors were in a deep funk,” recalls Jiles, managing principal and portfolio manager at Vancouver-based Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel. Jiles heads a team that oversees silver-medalist $4.6 billion Leith Wheeler Canadian Equity Series F. The fund is part of the $8 billion in Canadian equities managed by a 5-person team. “They were concerned that the Federal Reserve had gone too far and people were concerned about earnings growth. Then, of course, in late…


