TDAM Quantitative Equity Investing: Year in Review & Look Ahead

Two thousand and eighteen ended with a United States equity market rout of almost 20 percent, after peaking in late September. Despite some investor anxiety still present in the early days of 2019, the year proved to be a great one for most investors. Although events such as the collapse of the Argentinian economy and its asset markets or the faltering of U.S. unicorn IPOs, such as We Work, were notable headwinds, most asset classes generated positive absolute returns for the year. In Canadian dollar terms, the S&P 500 Index returned 24.1 percent, the S&P/TSX Index returned 22.9 percent and the Scotia Universe Bond Index rose close to 6.9 percent.