The week ahead

Today is the 69th (nice) day of 2025. We are 32% of the way through March already, and approximately 77% of the way through Q1. The year is 19% done. The PSEi ended the week with a surge to push it more comfortably above the 6,000 mark.

> PH:  This week is incredibly light on scheduled events. We have the FILRT Q4 dividend ex-date on Tuesday, but that’s it. There are a ton of analyst briefings between Wednesday and Friday, but those aren’t reliable sources of interesting news. 

> International:  On Thursday we will get US CPI data for February.

  MB BOTTOM-LINE:  It feels like we’ve thrown the calendar away in favor of watching Trump TV. How else can we stay up-to-date on what is happening? Trump announces tariffs, setting off global counter-measures, only to retreat the next day. Are the tariffs on or off? This is a devastating environment for Canadian and Mexican businesses, which is perhaps the point, but it’s also devastating to a wide array of American businesses as well. Will it be worth it? The answer depends on who you ask, and it largely depends on whether you believe Trump to be an eyes-wide-open agent in alliance with Russia, or that he’s just a dull-witted pawn that’s been tricked into moving in a certain direction by Putin. Either way, the shock over the Zelensky meeting has given way to the cold reality that the US is acting like a rogue nation. With the way Trump has torn up global alliances, can we trust that the US will uphold the Mutual Defense Treaty that was signed more than 70 years ago? Europe is talking (and acting) like it is preparing for a wider regional conflict. None of this is normal in the least.

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