Canadians’ boycott of American goods apparently doesn’t extend to the stock market where they bought $14.2 billion in U.S. shares in May alone. (Credit: Getty Images)
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Canadians say they are buying more domestic goods and steering clear of the United States on their holidays, but there is one area where the \u201cBuy Canadian\u201d movement<\/a> appears to be falling short.<\/p>\n Canadian investors have been snapping up U.S. stocks at an unprecedented pace since President Donald Trump<\/a> took office in January, according to recently released data from Statistics Canada<\/a> on international securities transactions.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what kind of U.S. assets are Canadians buying? You name it,\u201d said National Bank of Canada economist Warren Lovely in a note on the data.<\/p>\n Most of the buying has been in stocks, but Canadians have also added $20 billion in U.S.-issued debt in the latest four months, most of it in\u00a0 U.S. Treasury securities<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn other words, Canadians have been helping to finance the deficit of the government that\u2019s repeatedly threatened our economic livelihood. Curious,\u201d said Lovely.<\/p>\n On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford renewed his call to buy \u201cCanadian-made everything\u201d<\/a> to pressure the United States to negotiate a trade deal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re encouraging all provinces and territories: start buying Canadian-made vehicles, start buying Canadian-made everything \u2014 that will hurt more than anything at all,\u201d Ford told reporters at the premiers\u2019 meeting near Huntsville, Ont.<\/p>\n The Bank of Canada\u2019s<\/a> consumer survey out yesterday also showed that Canadians plan to keep up their boycott<\/a> of U.S. travel and products. (See today\u2019s chart below).<\/p>\n It\u2019s a boycott that apparently doesn\u2019t extend to the stock market where Canadians bought $14.2 billion in U.S. shares in May alone.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, foreign investors are pulling back from Canadian equities. In May, non-residents cut their holdings of Canadian securities by $2.8 billion, the fourth straight month of divestment.<\/p>\n Foreigners are still buying Canadian bonds, but stocks not so much.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time on record (back to 1988), the first five months of the calendar year produced no net foreign buying of Canadian portfolio assets,\u201d said Lovely.<\/p>\n May marked a turnaround for stocks on both sides of the border after three straight months of decline. America\u2019s S&P 500 rose 6.2 per cent from the end of April and Canada\u2019s TSX<\/a> was up 5.4 per cent, said Statistics Canada.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 has hit record highs, but so has the TSX, topping 27,000, a 9.3 per cent gain since the beginning of the year, said National.<\/p>\n National Bank still advocates being overweight in Canadian stocks, and stands by its allocation of 21 per cent Canadian equities, 15 per cent U.S. stocks, and 3 per cent each to foreign equities and emerging markets. Fifty per cent fixed income and 8 per cent cash round out the portfolio.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n The outperforming sectors on the TSX this year have been materials, consumer discretionary and banks, they said. The laggards have been health care, energy, consumer staples and real estate.<\/p>\n Though President Trump\u2019s threat to impose 35 per cent tariffs starting Aug. 1<\/a> is hanging over Canada, National economists say the outlook for the TSX is \u201cnot entirely bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n A trade deal, which would be positive for the economy and corporate profits, is still possible before Ottawa tables its fall budget.<\/p>\n The economists are also encouraged by what they call Make Canada Investable Again \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s<\/a> business agenda which includes efforts to reduce red tape and revive business investment.<\/p>\n \u00a0Sign up here<\/a> to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n The trade conflict between Canada and the United States continues to affect what Canadians buy and where they spend their vacations, the Bank of Canada\u2019s consumer survey revealed<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n Half of consumers said they plan to cut their spending on U.S. goods and vacations south of the border. About 60 per cent say they plan to spend more on goods made in Canada and a third plan to spend more on vacations within their own country.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t be going to the U.S. anytime soon. I don\u2019t feel good about spending my money there,\u201d one respondent told the central bank.<\/p>\n Price, however, still remains a key decider for many consumers, the survey said. Most Canadians said they would be willing to pay up to 10 per cent more for goods made in Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I\u2019m going to do what works for my wallet. So, whether that\u2019s a Canadian brand, whether that\u2019s an American brand, I buy what works for my budget,\u201d a survey participant said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to build new energy and trade infrastructure at the premiers\u2019 meeting near Huntsville, Ont.<\/p>\n Earnings: Canadian National Railway Co., General Motors Co., Coca-Cola Co., Halliburton Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Equifax Inc., Baker Hughes Co., Capital One Financial Corp., Texas Instruments Inc.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Millions of Canadians who want help managing their money seek out the services of a financial adviser. But the term itself refers to a wide variety of professionals with different specialties. And, depending on where you live in Canada, it can be used without specific qualifications, expertise or certifications. The Financial Post breaks down what a financial adviser can do, what credentials you can check for and how to find the right fit for you. Find out more<\/a><\/p>\n Recently, we published a feature on the death of the summer job<\/a> as student unemployment reaches crisis levels. We want to hear directly from Canadians aged 15-24 about their summer job search.<\/p>\n Send us your story, in 50-100 words, and we\u2019ll publish the best submissions in an upcoming edition of the Financial Post.<\/p>\n You can submit your story by email to fp_economy@postmedia.com<\/a> under the subject heading \u201cSummer job stories.\u201d Please include your name, your age, the city and province where you reside, and a phone number to reach you.<\/p>\n Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at\u00a0wealth@postmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we\u2019ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we\u2019ll keep your name out of it, of course).<\/p>\n Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister\u2019s Financial Post column <\/a>can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won\u2019t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page<\/a> for Canada\u2019s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.<\/p>\n Visit the Financial Post\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> for interviews with Canada\u2019s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven<\/a> with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at\u00a0posthaste@postmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0financialpost.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadians’ boycott of American goods apparently doesn’t extend to the stock market where they bought $14.2 billion in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[52,49,48,13741,13742,13744,4191,13743,13740,44,50],"class_list":["post-15471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-bank-of-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-equities","tag-canadian-investors","tag-canadian-national-railway","tag-canadians","tag-doug-ford","tag-national-bank-of-canada","tag-news","tag-statistics-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} National Bank of Canada <\/p>\n
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