December has not been kind to major indexes around the world to say the least. There has been a continued rout on North American indexes as they have all posted steep losses. The TSX in Toronto is down 9% for the month and over 15% for 2018. In New York, the DJIA was down 14% in December wiping out 2018 gains and bringing a heavy loss to 11% year to date. The NASDAQ also suffered 14% losses in December bringing 2018 losses to 10%.
There has been nothing pretty on the markets this month. Economic data continues to be positive, although investors seem to simply be in a panic mode and fear has set in. Fear over the unknown items such as trade wars, tariffs and taxes. Interest rates rising and political tensions are all used as items to cause the downturn. The crash in oil prices is probably the biggest impact on the markets currently.
Only time will tell when the buying opportunity today will be over and when the markets will recover from the current lows, but keep in mind that a quality investment portfolio will be able to stand the test of volatility. If your not comfortable with the amount of volatility in your portfolio, its time to revisit your risk tolerance and your security mix.
Thank you for reading,
Please see the attached link for additional market commentary.
