Canadian advisors are bullish on Canadian equities, U.S. equities and cannabis, as well as several other benchmarks, according to the Q1 2018 Advisor Sentiment Survey conducted by Horizons ETFs Management (Canada).
The Q1 Survey, asked Canadian investment advisors for their expectations of returns – bullish, bearish or neutral – on 15 distinct asset classes for Q1 2018.
Dramatically more bullish
The survey found that advisors have become “dramatically more bullish” on the Canadian Cannabis industry. Sixty-four per cent of advisors expressed bullish sentiment for the North American Marijuana Index, compared to 46 per cent who were bullish on the space in Q4 last year. “The space performed extremely well last quarter, up by 95.26%,” observes Horizons ETFs.
"The Canadian Cannabis industry experienced explosive growth last year and advisors believe that will continue," said Steve Hawkins, President and Co-CEO of Horizons ETFs. "With the government legalizing recreational usage on July 1, 2018, advisors are expecting big revenues from these companies."
Relatively flat performance
The survey showed that advisors remained positive on Canadian and U.S. equity indices, despite relatively flat performance in the fourth quarter of 2017. In the Q1 Survey, 65 per cent of advisors stated they were bullish on the S&P/TSX 60™ Index, compared to 62 per cent that were bullish in Q4 2017 Advisor Sentiment Survey, despite the index only returning 4.11 per cent in Q4.
For U.S. equities, advisors' bullish sentiment for the S&P 500® Index increased significantly heading into Q1, rising to 65 per cent from 53 per cent last quarter. Similarly, the percentage of advisors bullish on the Nasdaq 100® Index increased to 65 per cent from 51 per cent in Q4.
