The Canadian Investor · Sep 24, 2026 · 47m · 32m saved
With Simon Belanger, co-host of The Canadian Investor · Dan Kent, co-founder of Stocktrades.ca and co-host of The Canadian Investor
Canadian investors sold a record $31 billion of US stocks in July, after buying $78.1 billion in the first half of 2026.
Much of the recent money flow into Canada has been read as Canadians choosing to buy at home. The hosts of The Canadian Investor said the flag matters less than the yield, and that a US two-year Treasury paying close to 5% could pull money back south.
"But at some point, people start getting greedy and say, okay, like I can get way more yield with U.S. government bonds."
Simon Belanger and Dan Kent, co-hosts of The Canadian Investor, each run a portfolio the show reports on monthly to its members, and Kent co-founded the Canadian stock research site Stocktrades.ca. In this episode they went through fund-flow data, three earnings reports and a withdrawn takeover bid.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 47 minutes of audio, 15 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 calls that matter.
Key Takeaways
Canadians sold a record $31B of US stocks in July, most of it large-cap US technology, while foreigners bought Canadian bonds and shares
High-interest savings ETFs no longer make sense, the hosts said, next to Treasury-bill and money-market funds
The US two-year yield is almost as high as the 10-year, which one host called a sweet spot to lock in
Pesorama is a Mexican dollar store with no link to Dollarama, and the hosts expect more share issuance and more debt
Berkshire is betting the US housing market is near a bottom, adding to Lennar after buying Taylor Morrison
Lennar's average backlog price has fallen from about 513,000 at the pandemic peak to 376,000
Groupe Dynamite's margins beat every other North American apparel retailer, but its sales growth comes mostly from price increases
WSP walked away from Arcadis, and the hosts think that was probably right given WSP's debt
1. Canadian ETF Flows in August
Simon Belanger opened with a TD Securities report on August exchange-traded fund flows. Canadian ETFs took in $16.1 billion in August, down 11% from an unusually strong July. Equity ETFs drew $8.8 billion, fixed income $4.7 billion and mixed-allocation ETFs $2.8 billion. Mixed allocation covers the one-ticket funds that hold both stocks and bonds, which most big Canadian firms offer; one host said Fidelity has some with a little Bitcoin in them.
Within equities, US stocks took 33% of the inflows, international 27% and Canadian 26%
Fixed-income inflows rose 27% from July
Bitcoin had its second-best month since February
Year to date, Canadian ETFs have taken in $138 billion: 59% into equities, 20% into mixed allocation and 18% into fixed income
High-interest savings ETFs have fallen out of favor
The one weak spot in fixed income was high-interest savings ETFs, which park cash in bank deposits and saw slight outflows. The hosts named CASH and HSAV as examples. They said regulators cut these funds back about a year ago.
"I think the big banks kind of complained because they were offering way too high a rate. So regulators stepped in and kind of hit them." — The Canadian Investor
One host said he had written about them and thinks they are mostly dead now. CASH yields about 2%, and he said a 30-day notice deposit at an online bank pays him about 2.75% with similar access to the money. The other host said short-term Treasury-bill ETFs and money-market funds such as ZMMK pay more than both.
Treasury-bill and money-market funds are the better cash option
"You might as well go the Treasury bill or money market fund route, which will have a lot of liquidity, not really any duration risk." — The Canadian Investor
