The Week in 60 Seconds

Split-screen week. The NASDAQ Composite fell from 27,366 to 26,140 — a 4.5% slide — after firm US core CPI (+0.33% m/m, 2.6% y/y) and a September PPI print of 6.3% versus 5.3% that made near-term cuts look like a hope trade. The TSX Composite did the opposite, climbing from 35,665 to 36,177 as energy and gold carried the tape, even while US–China tanker rates hit $80 million a voyage and widened the WTI-to-Canadian-heavy basis (▶ Episode 198 · Oct 12).

The plot twist was the toolkit. TFSAs picked up BMO’s GDP-weighted Latin America ETF ZLAT.TO (▶ Episode 199 · Oct 13), PowerStock single-stock ETFs including GOOP for Alphabet (▶ Episode 201 · Oct 15), and a Brookfield 15% jump in distributable earnings that put infrastructure back on the watchlist (▶ Episode 202 · Oct 16). Then India dumped Rs 52,000 crore of FPI money — a loud reminder that one-country concentration can wreck a registered account in a month (▶ Episode 204 · Oct 18).

For your book: US growth got repriced, Canadian cash-flow names held up, and waiting until December to use the $7,000 2026 TFSA room is the lazy trade (▶ Episode 200 · Oct 14).

The NASDAQ Race Update

The NASDAQ spent the week in reverse. We didn’t. Four simulated practice marks — OSK, IAG.TO, BTE.TO, and GD — netted +0.84% equal-weight against that 4.5% index drawdown. Call it a five-point swing in our favour: the index pulled a hamstring, and valuation-plus-volume kept us on the field. The play to protect the lead is blunt — stop funding catalyst headlines that print without volume, and keep swinging at depressed multiples when the tape confirms.

Practice Investment Scoreboard

Win rate: 75% (3 of 4). Equal-weight P&L: +0.84% (sum of marked holds: +3.34%).

IAG.TO was the only red card. A segregated-fund milestone sounded great until sector rotation ate it. OSK, BTE.TO, and GD did what cheap, cash-generative names are supposed to do on a growth-selloff tape.

Strategy of the Week

The five-year P/E screen with a 20-day volume gate.

1. What it is: Only add risk in quality names trading below their five-year average P/E, and only when same-day volume beats the 20-day average — a buffer when momentum rotates out (▶ Episode 204 · Oct 18).
2. When to use it: After inflation shocks, EM outflows, or tech washouts like this week, when high-multiple names get punished and cash-flow stocks go on sale. It shone in 2022’s rate-hike tape. Skip the volume check and you get IAG.TO.
3. How to set it up:
   - Wealthsimple: Open the screener (or your watchlist), flag P/E below the five-year average, then compare today’s volume to the 20-day average on the chart. If you’re in Canadian energy and tanker rates are extreme, cut the add in half — don’t flatten it (▶ Episode 198 · Oct 12). - Questrade: Pull the quote, check P/E versus history, overlay 20-day average volume. Same half-size rule when Gibson-style freight costs sit in last year’s 90th percentile. - IBKR: Run TWS Scanner plus the Volume Scanner for P/E below the five-year average and volume above the 20-day average, then cross-check sector rotation before you click.

If you do nothing else: run that scan once this weekend and write down three tickers that clear both gates.

What to Watch Next Week

1. Canadian CPI (September) — Monday, Oct 19. The Bank of Canada sees this print before Oct 28. A hot number after 6.3% PPI raises hike-or-hold odds and hits TSX financials and REITs; a cool print keeps the late-October cut path alive (▶ Episode 203 · Oct 17).
2. Federal Reserve — Oct 27–28 (preview week). Markets already priced limited room for a cut after firm US CPI. A hawkish hold extends the NASDAQ hangover; a dovish surprise would bounce high-beta growth and single-stock products like GOOP.
3. Bank of Canada — Wednesday, Oct 28, 10:00 ET. If they hold, expect TSX financials to stabilize. If they hike on energy-driven inflation, duration and rate-sensitive Canadian holdings reprice again. Size before the meeting; don’t discover your duration on the print.
4. Gibson tanker rates vs the WTI–Canadian heavy basis — daily. At $80 million a voyage, producers absorb the spread. If rates stay above last year’s 90th percentile, keep energy sizes halved rather than abandoning the cash-flow names that beat the NASDAQ this week.
5. Earnings digestion — all week. Banks and mega-caps already reported into a weaker tape. Check whether beats came from volume or price, and whether the first 48 hours still offer a mispricing before rotation overrides the catalyst.

This Week's Listener Challenge

Fifteen minutes, this weekend. Open your TFSA on Wealthsimple, Questrade, or IBKR. Confirm the $7,000 2026 room is funded — or fund it. Search ZLAT.TO, note the premium or discount to NAV, and write one line in your notes: no single country above 10% of the registered account. If you have time left, add one name from the P/E-and-volume scan. That’s the India lesson and the “don’t wait until December” lesson, done before Monday’s CPI.

Canadian Corner

Your TFSA, RRSP, and FHSA just got more useful. ZLAT.TO, ZCRB, ZEMB, GOOP, and HDIV (Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Covered Call, 9.8% indicated yield) all trade in CAD on the TSX — no extra FX click-tax on every rebalance. Single-stock ETFs let you hold Alphabet-style exposure inside a TFSA without owning the US share directly. Contribute the $7,000 room now so year-end cash-flow drama can’t steal a year of tax-free compounding. Watch the loonie: a hawkish BoC versus a still-cautious Fed can firm CAD and nibble US-asset returns in Canadian-dollar terms, which is another reason to prefer TSX-listed wrappers when the thesis is the same. Energy holders: the $80 million tanker rate is a margin story, not a “sell Canada” story. Hedge or half-size. Don’t abandon the cash-flow names that won the week.

The Bottom Line

Fund the TFSA in October, buy cash flow on volume, and treat country concentration like the risk it just proved to be.

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