Every quarter, Horizons ETFs surveys Canadian investors and investment advisors for their outlook on expected returns for distinct asset classes.
While investors were overwhelmingly bullish on the psychedelics space, with a commanding 53% bullishness, advisors were more cautious, with 41% of advisor respondents registering a neutral rating, compared to 39% of those which were bullish.
In contrast, investors were confident about the price of bitcoin’s forward momentum in Q2 2021, signaling a 52% bullishness overall.
For a second quarter in a row, marijuana companies, as represented by the North American Marijuana Index, were the best performing asset class of the original 14 measured, achieving a +39.59% performance gain in Q1 2021.
“Psychedelics and bitcoin have been two of the most widely discussed areas of investing in 2021 and have captured significant attention, so we think it is important to add these to our quarterly survey,” said Mark Noble, Executive Vice President, ETF Strategy, at Horizons ETFs.
During Q1 2021, Canada’s major equities benchmark – the S&P/TSX 60™ Index – grew +7.96%.
Energy stocks, as represented by the S&P/TSX Capped Energy™ Index, registered a +28.25% return in Q1 2021 – the second highest quarter-over-quarter return of the 14 originally measured asset classes.
Advisors, previously cautiously optimistic on the sector, jumped 28 percentage points to 73% bullishness to tie the S&P/TSX 60™ Index for their most bullish metrics measured in the Q2 Surveys.
dollar, both investors and advisors were more temperate in their forecasts, in response to the +1.38% growth over Q1 2021.
For the S&P 500, investors heightened their expectations for its performance in Q2 2021, adding 6 percentage points to an overall bullishness of 61%.
Advisors, already bullish on the U.S., bolstered their stance on the NASDAQ-100, adding 5 percentage points to secure 53% bullishness overall.
In response to the deceleration in growth, investors eased their outlook on global markets by 1 percentage point, to still a commanding 58% bullishness overall.
“With the massive vaccination program underway which is also supported with massive stimulus package, there seems to be a solidifying view that the U.S.
On the back of massive vaccination programs being rolled out globally and lockdowns easing in many countries, signaling a potential return to normalcy, crude oil futures have surged, posting a +21.93% return in Q1 2021.
After posting a +2.72% gain in Q1 2021, natural gas futures, now entering into a period of relative historical seasonal weakness, saw a 9 percentage point decline in bullish sentiment from investors, leaving their stance at 39% bullishness overall.
“While there is certainly an increased focus on green energy, a rapid global economic recovery will still nonetheless need be driven by key fossil fuels, such as crude oil.
In response, investors decreased their bullishness on gold bullion by 13 percentage points to 44% overall, while advisors actually added 2 positive percentage points, pushing it to 35% bullishness and tying it with 35% of the bearish quotient.
Again, advisors were still loyal to the prospects of precious metals and their miners, adding 4 percentage points of bullishness, while tied for bearish sentiment at 36% in each.
Neutral last quarter, investors are now overall pessimistic at 34% bearishness overall, while advisors remain 41% neutral on the asset class as well, despite some reduction in bearishness.
The Horizons ETFs product family includes a broadly diversified range of solutions for investors of all experience levels to meet their investment objectives in a variety of market conditions.
The Horizons Exchange Traded Products are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.
These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the authors do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that is contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.