This month, we highlight a new actively managed global equity fund from AGF—albeit part of a larger mutual fund. The second is an actively managed ETF from Fidelity that takes long and short positions in stocks.

Vale SA is a major Brazilian company and one of the largest mining outfits in the world, with a market value of $76 billion.

The company has transitioned from a state-owned entity into a global mining powerhouse, focusing its core operations on iron ore, nickel and copper.

Vale reported revenue of $38.2 billion U.S. and net income of $2.1 billion U.S. for all of 2025. Earnings are dominated by its iron ore business and a much smaller base metals division consisting of nickel mines and smelters, along with copper mines producing copper in concentrate.

Brazil is one of the top 10 global economies, and it is richly endowed with a range of basic commodities.

The country has great long-term growth potential, although in the near term, the country needs to get its economy back on track. Here is one ETF that provides exposure to the top Brazilian publicly listed companies for investors who want to tap the country’s long-term prospects.

Canadian ETF industry assets under management reached $616 billion at the end of January 2026—up by 5.4% from the end of December 2025 and setting a new record high level. Net inflows in the month were $19.5 billion—also a new monthly record.

Investors were allocating new money into consumer staples ETFs so far this year, with the iShares S&P/TSX Consumer Staples ETF (symbol XST), the BMO Global Consumer Staples ETF (STPL), and the BMO SPDR U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (ZXLP) receiving strong new inflows, measuring almost 10% of the new assets. Utilities, materials and financials also received strong positive net inflows. The energy sector had outflows in the first few weeks of the year, but inflows turned strongly positive in February.

VANGUARD FTSE GLOBAL ALL CAP EX CAN ETF $73.90 (Toronto symbol VXC; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $3.09 billion) tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex-Canada Index. Stocks are weighted according to their market capitalizations.


U.S. stocks account for 64% of the portfolio, followed by Japan (6%), the U.K. (4%), China (3%), Taiwan (2%), Switzerland (2%), France (2%), Germany (2%), and India (2%). Stocks from emerging markets make up about 10% of the portfolio.



Technology stocks (31%) have the biggest weight in the portfolio, while Financials (15%), Industrials (14%), Consumer Cyclical (13%), and Healthcare (9%), are other key segments.

ProShares Short MidCap 400 ETF $17.04 (New York symbol MYY) provides daily inverse exposure to the S&P MidCap 400 Index—the ETF’s price will rise when the S&P 400 Index declines and vice versa.

We generally advise against short selling for many of the same reasons that we advise against options trading, leverage, currency speculation and bond trading. In all of these activities, it’s a rare investor who makes enough profit to offset the risk involved.

Institutional investors, particularly hedge funds, carry out around 60% of all trading in leveraged and inverse-leveraged investments. They generally use them as part of complicated multi-investment trading plays. They also trade frequently, and in large quantities. This reduces the percentage costs of this kind of trading. However, the trading costs still tend to eat up the invested capital.

Traditionally, the price of most stocks, and the ETFs that hold them, drop with broad market declines. However, certain segments generally perform better than the overall market in a correction.

Below, we highlight two ETFs focused on companies that produce and sell consumer staples. Those funds should, in theory, bounce back faster after a recession than investments focused on other economic sectors.

Meanwhile, the supplement starting on page 39 provides more information on the performance of the consumer staples sector relative to the broader stock market.

A: Church & Dwight Co. Inc., $101.84, symbol CHD on New York (Shares outstanding: 236.7 million; Market cap: $24.2 billion; www.churchdwight.com), develops makes and markets consumer household, personal care and specialty products.

Founded in 1846, the company began by producing sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. In the 1860s, it first started calling its baking soda Arm & Hammer, a name that was officially registered in 1888.

Today, Arm & Hammer is Church & Dwight’s most well-recognized brand. It includes not just baking soda, but cat litter, laundry detergent, carpet deodorizer, and other baking soda-based products.

A: Corning Inc., $138.38, symbol GLW on NYSE, (Shares outstanding: 858.0 million; Market cap: $110.7 billion; www.corning.com), is a leader in material sciences and specializes in the production of glass, ceramics, and optical fibre.

The company traces its history back to 1851, with its first stock-market listing in 1945. It is headquartered in Corning, New York.

Corning’s biggest products are display glass for TVs and optical fibre for telecom networks and data centres. It also provides cover glass for smartphones, glass for cars, pharmaceutical glass, and polysilicon for solar panels.