MacNicol’s Monthly Commentary – December 2021

With this commentary, we plan to communicate with you every month about our thoughts on the markets, some snapshots of metrics, a section on behavioural investing and finally an update on MacNicol & Associates Asset Management (MAAM). We hope you enjoy this information, and it allows you to better understand what we see going on in the marketplace.

“This mountain, I thought, was like education: the higher you climbed, the further you could see”
– Christiaan Neethling Barnard

“Small o…”

Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and the latest variant of COVID 19. Initial reports of omicron hit the press right around the US Thanksgiving which meant the world’s largest capital market was closed at the same time as a market headwind was beginning to spread. The ensuing market tumult was unpleasant but not much more than that. Still Omicron’s virulence and ability to outsmart vaccines are two major question marks at this time. Officials with the World Health Organization, drug company executives and prominent economists differ in their views on how dangerous the new variant is and what it might do to the economic recovery. But investment banks reckon that Omicron will – at the very least – shave off a good chunk of next year’s GDP forecast. Indeed, cuts to GDP forecasts are already beginning to make their way around Bay and Wall Street but we can’t help but feel this is more of an attempt to preserve vanity rather than investment capital.

Click the link below to download the full commentary…

Click here: The Monthly December 2021