2015 was a disappointing year for many Canadian investors, against a background of tumbling commodity prices, worries about Chinese economic growth and the expectation of higher interest rates in the U.S. Norman Raschkowan, senior partner at Sage Road Advisors, told Financial Pipeline co-editor Malcolm Morrison that investors will find similar challenges but at the same time, improving economic conditions and a likely bottom for commodity prices.
NR: Do I see things looking markedly better? I do. I think that the general trend is going to be towards improvement. I think you’re going to start to see interest rates moving up and you’re going to see interest rates moving up for the right reasons, which is that economic activity is going to start to improve. Right now, you’ve really got the U.S. serving as the engine of growth for the rest of the world, but I think next year you’re going to start to see Europe kicking in and hopefully by the end of the year, you’re going to start to see commodity prices improving, which will be very good for Canada. We’re going to benefit in central and eastern Canada from the low Canadian dollar and that’s going to help our manufacturing sector, but western Canada is still going to struggle through much of the year because of the weak commodity prices. Hopefully, towards the end of the year you’ll start to see commodity prices start to rise after a period of basing, which is what you’re seeing right now.
