Weekly "Focus" and Canadians in New York

Toronto is a big city but a trip to New York City and the crush of people makes one think of Toronto as just a village in comparison. Spent a couple of days in the “Big Apple” attending BMO’s annual NY research conference with presentations from economists, strategists and equity analysts from BMO Capital Markets, JP Morgan, and Piper Sandler. The meetings were held mid-town and walking down 5^th Avenue I was struck by the concentration of Canadian retailers just south of Saks Fifth Avenue. Lululemon* has a large multi-story location near stores from Aldo, Aritzia* and Club Monaco. Retailers are classified in the “Consumer Discretionary” sector and Brian Belski, BMO Chief Investment Strategist has raised the sector to one of his favourites for 2025. His lookahead strategy report is attached and worth a read.

 

	Total Return in 2024	Dividend Yield
Aritzia (ATZ)	+57.6%	0.0%
Lululemon (LULU)	-38.4%	0.0%

Source: FactSet, Values as of November 21, 2024

 

This week’s "Focus" from our economics team is also attached.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Brad

Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor