Your Q1 update: Confidence over chaos
Is it 2027 yet? It feels like a year’s worth of world events have come and gone in the last three months. Markets have responded to all this nervous energy the way you might expect: crankily. But as we’ll discuss below, volatility itself may be less of a risk to your investments than overreacting.
Investor insight 🔎 There’s always an excuse to stop investing
There is such a thing as paying too close attention to the news. From geopolitical conflict to the unemployment rate, everything can start to look like an excuse to sound the alarm and sell off your investments.
But watching an investment go down in price is not the same thing as actually losing money on it. It is the moment you sell that you are locking in any loss — and missing out on any potential gains that may follow.
And historically, there’s one good reason not to sell: the market as a whole has always tended to go up over time.
Let’s zero in on a whole range of global crises that have occurred since Tangerine introduced its first Core portfolios 18 years ago, including the 2008-09 financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and last year’s tariff scare. In each case, the market dipped a bit — sometimes more than a bit — before bouncing back and reaching new highs.
Source: Scotia Global Asset Management and Morningstar. This chart shows the inferred growth of CAD$1,000 invested in the U.S. equity market, as represented by the S&P 500 TR Index, from January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2026 and is for illustrative purposes only. This graph assumes the reinvestment of income and no transaction costs, fees or taxes. Indices are not managed and it is not possible to invest directly in an index. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Zoom in | Portfolio performance
Growth stocks can’t always be the ones to shine. Our Tangerine Dividend Portfolio, which invests in companies from Canada and around the world that pay higher dividends and tend to have lower volatility, delivered a positive return.
Meanwhile, our SRI Portfolios, three of which earned a FundGrade A+ Award^ for 2025 performance, retreated a bit this quarter, owing to their higher allocation of U.S. companies, which struggled more in Q1.
Portfolio performance as at March 31, 2026. Source: 1832 Asset Management L.P. Past returns are not indicative of future performance.
ÂSee historical performance here
Zoom out | Global performance
It’s been a rough few months for the Magnificent Seven. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Tesla all dipped in Q1 — Microsoft most of all.
Since those seven lag-nificent stocks account for about a third of the S&P 500’s total market cap, the results of these and other tech-forward stocks dragged down the U.S. market as a whole.
Canada fared better, with the TSX up on the quarter, owing largely to gains in energy, commodity prices and a strong financial sector.
Subject |
Grade1 |
|---|---|
Nvidia
|
The AI chipmaker fell 4.8% in Q1, yet remains up a magnificent 56% over the last year. C- |
Microsoft
|
Down a whopping 22% in Q1 — and 3.5% over the last year. F |
Gold
|
U.S. bullion price is up about 8% despite a difficult March. Some of the shine has diminished. B |
Oil
|
About $101 USD for a barrel of WTI crude, up 84% from just $55 at the beginning of the year. Any guesses why? A |
S&P/TSX Composite Index |
Up 3.9%. Hey, we’ll take it. B |
S&P 500 Index |
Down 2.6%. C |
As of March 31, 2026. Source: Morningstar
1Price changes (in %) based on Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted.
The Big Question
With Mike Allen, Head of Advice at Tangerine Investments
Q: How do you deal with market swings like we’ve seen this quarter?
A: Swings in the stock market — what we call volatility — can be nerve-racking. But overreacting to that volatility is the true risk. We saw this happen with last year’s tariff panic.
Unless you actually need the money in the immediate future, it’s almost never a good idea to sell during volatile periods.
The more you can distance yourself from simply pressing the “sell” button at the wrong time, the better. It can save you a lot of future regret.
Read more of Mike’s insights: 12 mistakes that investors make
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^FundGrade A+® is used with permission from Fundata Canada Inc., all rights reserved. The annual FundGrade A+® Awards are presented by Fundata Canada Inc. to recognize the “best of the best” among Canadian investment funds. The FundGrade A+® calculation is supplemental to the monthly FundGrade ratings and is calculated at the end of each calendar year. The FundGrade rating system evaluates funds based on their risk-adjusted performance, measured by Sharpe Ratio, Sortino Ratio, and Information Ratio. The score for each ratio is calculated individually, covering all time periods from 2 to 10 years. The scores are then weighted equally in calculating a monthly FundGrade. The top 10% of funds earn an A Grade; the next 20% of funds earn a B Grade; the next 40% of funds earn a C Grade; the next 20% of funds receive a D Grade; and the lowest 10% of funds receive an E Grade. To be eligible, a fund must have received a FundGrade rating every month in the previous year. The FundGrade A+® uses a GPA-style calculation, where each monthly FundGrade from “A” to “E” receives a score from 4 to 0, respectively. A fund’s average score for the year determines its GPA. Any fund with a GPA of 3.5 or greater is awarded a FundGrade A+® Award. For more information, see www.FundGradeAwards.com. Although Fundata makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Fundata. For standard performance data of the funds listed above, click here.
