Brockhouse Cooper

Archives: 2011 — Nov–Dec

The first rule of investing:  Prepare to be surprised
GlobeAdvisor.com, December 30, 2011

"The macro-economic bible of gloom for next year could be a report this month by Pierre Lapointe, a strategist at Montreal-based Brockhouse Cooper, and his analyst colleague, Alex Bellefleur. Amid charts and commentary analyzing global stocks, bonds, economies, central banks, currencies and trade flows, they aim their what-ifs at a single target: What could go wrong in 2012?

"We think that a deeper-than-expected financial and economic contagion from Europe has not yet been factored in for the U.S. and emerging markets," said Mr. Lapointe and Mr. Bellefleur.

Winners in tempestuous times
Globe and Mail, December 7, 2011

"Brockhouse Cooper global macro strategist Pierre Lapointe and financial economist Alex Bellefleur recently analyzed global stocks that were best able to beat the market, both in good times and bad, over the tempestuous past few months.

“While investing in low-beta sectors is useful to diversify risk, it doesn’t help to generate outperformance. Low-beta sectors will underperform in rising markets,” they said. "

Beware the flip-side of positive economic surprises
Globe and Mail, November 18, 2011

"The string of unexpectedly strong U.S. economic indicators this autumn has undoubtedly been a key driver in the resurgence of stocks from their early-October lows. But history shows that once economic surprises get too far above economists’ expectations, it usually means a period of underperformance is on the way for equities, researchers at brokerage house Brockhouse Cooper said. "

Escalating risks hurt U.S. banking shares
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2011

"Experts said the exposure of U.S. banks, both to MF Global and at-risk European debt, is not onerous. However, the MF Global situation was a reminder that financial firms may have other exposures to European debt – either directly or through assets of European banks that may be in danger in the event of an outright Greek default – that investors can’t see.

“The direct exposure is pretty low. It’s not that important,” said Pierre Lapointe, global macro strategist at Brockhouse Cooper in Montreal. “What we don’t know is the indirect exposure – do they hold any paper of the European banks?”