Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of December 16, 2014

Article Excerpt

The U.S. dollar hit a low below $0.95 Cdn. in October 2011, and has since risen above $1.16 Cdn., a gain of 22.1%. In the same period, the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has gained 88.1%, even after allowing for the setback of the past couple of weeks. Together these two factors mean that if you followed our advice and put around a quarter of your portfolio in high-quality U.S. stocks, you probably have substantial capital gains. If so, you may feel tempted to sell some of your U.S. stocks—“harvest” some of your capital gains, as brokers sometimes say. It’s generally a bad idea to sell high-quality stocks simply because their stock prices have gone up. When you do that, you risk selling your best selections when they are just starting to rise. But it’s a particularly bad idea to sell U.S. stocks right now. Yes, they’ve gained a great deal in the past three years. They’ve gained even more in…