When looking at the locations that our clients live in, I'm not sure anyone escaped the heat wave that we experienced across Western Canada this summer. Here in the Calgary area, we got day after day of plus 30 temperatures and that was right before we left for Southern Saskatchewan which was also in the mid-30s. We literally spent about ten days in that heat and started to really appreciate days which were only in the high 20's. We recognize how dangerous situations like that can be and feel for anyone who ended up in medical distress because of the high temperatures. Our hearts also go out to the town of Lytton, BC. After hitting numerous temperature records (the highest in the entire country, ever)1 a large section of the town burnt to the ground in a fire.
While the heat has caused an enormous amount of grief and damage, the record highs on the Stock Market have been a lot easier to handle. The Canadian economy continues to open up and confidence is very high. It's a bit surprising to see so much confidence in the marketplace after all that we've been through. So much pent up demand seems to be leaving most businesses in the country very optimistic about the back half of the year2. We've seen Oil Prices rise dramatically this year and shares in those Energy Companies have really taken off. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to continue at a strong pace in the back half of 2021. All of this has driven Share Prices higher and as I write this, the Toronto Stock Exchange is sitting at over 20,300. We have never seen our market higher.
Summer is always busy but we want to let everyone know that we will be around for most of the next couple of months. With case numbers so much lower now, and restrictions lifted, we are finally starting to see people in person again. We are still trying to stay cautious and have just been doing outdoor visits at this point. Please let us know if you'd like to meet in a backyard or on a patio and we'll make that happen!
Bryce A. Borden
1BBC News: - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57678054
2Financial Post: - https://financialpost.com/news/economy/business-sentiment-rises-to-record-in-canada-on-vaccine-rollout