It certainly has been an incredibly busy year with so much happening to influence the markets thus far. And while market volatility has been a prevalent theme for 2025, the markets have remained extremely resilient and in fact have been extremely strong the last couple of months. Both the Canadian and US stock markets have recently turned positive again for 2025 overall. That being said, we expect that market volatility will continue through the summer. You do not need look any further than this week alone to witness this. Another conflict in the Middle East will cause some commotion to the markets for a brief period (especially for commodities like oil), but wars have proven to disrupt financial markets for an average of 16 days before they “move on”. We also have the G7 Summit that is happening in Alberta this week. To say that this meeting will be important to determine the future of global trade and security moving forward, would be an under-statement. Prime Minister Carney will see this meeting as an opportunity to solidify a trade agreement with the US, but also to strengthen ties that will provide Canada with further trade independence from the US. He has already met with England PM, Keir Starner and an invitation to India PM, Narendra Modi, is geared to not only repair a strained relationship between Canada and India but also initiate business ties between the G7 nations. Meanwhile, the US will make their latest interest rate decision as of June 18th, and there is no clear consensus on whether the Federal Reserve will take an interest rate decrease at this point. A weakening US dollar, with the Middle East conflict, plus a continued strong US economy, could push the Fed to hold firm yet again this month. It does not come without pressure from the US government to lower rates. Either way, all this latest information could result in market volatility well into the summer but in the big scheme of the markets, nothing they have not seen before and cannot handle.  Many money managers have become extremely bullish as of late due to the fact of continuing uncertainty the markets have shown their resiliency.

 

We have further information on the Fed and their looming decision on interest rates with views on why they may or may not move on interest rates. Have a look at the attached article.

 

With tariffs being a central theme for financial markets this year, we have an interesting article on how Canadian exporters are increasingly shifting from the US to overseas markets. Check it out!

 

Canada is becoming more of an attractive option for investors these days. We have an article that highlights one pension manager who is focusing more investments to Canada.

 

We have an excellent article that discusses the challenges that currently exist within our health care system. Longer wait times for surgeries is causing frustration for many. Read more about it.

 

Last week there was a tragic airline crash in India that killed all but one passenger. How did he survive, while all the others perished? We have an article that provides an explanation of how this may have happened.

 

A couple of additional notes specific to our clients:

 

  • Many of you may have noticed that the CRA website has been down for when trying to access your TFSA contribution room. This issue has largely been resolved and for 90% of people, they should now be able to access their information. For the additional 10% of people, the information remains temporarily unavailable and the CRA is looking for a prompt resolution. The issue stems from delays this tax-filing season in receiving and processing tax information slips — including TFSA annual information slips — because of the CRA’s new data validation process.
  • For those looking to access their investment accounts via the client portal, please be advised that the system will be down from Saturday, June 21st at 5:00pm to Sunday, June 22nd at 12:00am. The reason for the system outage is a migration from the current location to a Google Cloud Platform, which will benefit clients in the form of being able to see inter-listed securities and enhanced asset allocation categories.

 

Have an amazing week everyone!

 

As most of our clients know, we here at ThinkWise Wealth offer services such as travel insurance for those who are travelling abroad. But many people will often travel with nothing! We have an article that details the importance of travel insurance, especially with what has happened this year. Have a read!