Included in Hinesight Q1 2021: - The Optics of 2021 - Our view on the upcoming year - An Introduction to CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency) - What We Are Reading

It is well known that September and October are vulnerable months for equities. Institutional rebalancing, end of some hedge funds’ fiscal year and now COVID in the White House. We expect the unsettled markets to extend into November with the election, mid-month ballot deadlines and a probable contested election landing in the Supreme Court. We remain protective of downside. Remember one does not always have to participate when the picture is uncertain.

The US Federal Reserve seems to have shown its hand and it is all in! Over the past few months the markets have rebounded, particularly in the US with major indices at or exceeding their February 2020 highs. Admittedly the extent of the rebound has surpassed our expectations at Hines Investments. Is this a bad thing? Are we too conservative and missing out? Perhaps, but our own research combined with one of our guiding principles maintains our faith: We would rather be out of the markets wishing we were in, vs in the market wishing we were out.

At CIBC Hines Investments, we believe the current recovery back to 2929, is part of a normal action in a bear market. Our philosophy is not to “hold and wait for the stocks to recover”. Economies change thru a bear market and leadership of economic sectors also changes. When we begin a new Bull market, new sector leadership will emerge. We prefer to be well equipped to take advantage of opportunities via a disciplined process vs a “hold and hope”.

Highlights in Hinesight: - 2020 has ushered in the start of a Bear Market - Overcoming Investor Fear - Corporate Debt Crisis - Top 3 Trends in Technology

The 5G wireless wave has been slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this blog, we update readers on the state of the 5G deployment in the U.S. and Canada. We find that despite some progress, major U.S. carriers are progressing slower than expected with their deployments of higher-frequency 5G networks. Handset development has also been hampered by supply chain issues caused by COVID-19. In Canada, 5G progress also remains slow. This has been further impacted by the postponement of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction and the government’s lack of communication on its policy towards Huawei. We continue to view 5G as an investable technology theme, but not until 2021. In the meantime, investors have extra time to assess the industry for opportunities.

The CIBC Economics team’s macro view of themes influencing Canada and economies around the world.

CIBC economists discuss relevant local and global themes.