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Dear Client, We hope that you and your family are having a great start to the year 2021. The mild weather thus far has given way to Canadian winters with double-digit negative temperatures. Apart from the extreme weather, the stay-at-home orders is also keeping people largely indoors. While society has been troubled by the limits put on their mobility; the light at the end of tunnel is now visible with vaccine inoculations underway. The daily worldwide new infections have shown a declining trend over the past few weeks, dropping from ~750k-800k to ~600k at the time of this writing. Below we mention a few noteworthy developments over the last month. Macroeconomic and market developments In January, both the S&P 500 Index and S&P/TSX Composite Index continued their upward momentum from last month helped by the Democrats wresting control of the Senate from the Republicans. A single party control over the House and Senate implies less bottlenecks to pass the much-awaited fiscal stimulus by investors. The Biden administration has indicated a package of ~$1.9 trillion to help the economy and curtail the pandemic. Expectations of a large stimulus bill have fueled the expectations of rising inflation. The reflation trade saw the financials, industrials and energy sectors advancing during the first half of the month. The second half of the month saw the “stay-at-home” stocks recovering some lost ground as fresh lockdown orders gathered pace around the globe. Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian convenience store operator abandoned talks to acquire France’s Carrefour SA, a supermarket operator, after opposition from the French finance minister on concerns of control over food supply. How does this affect my investments? The stock markets are inherently volatile and short-term market movements are impossible to predict. Historically, market declines have been followed by recoveries and new highs. By staying invested, your portfolio will be well positioned to benefit from a recovery. If you have any questions about your investment portfolio, your advisor at O’Farrell Wealth and Estate Planning would be happy to discuss them with you. Sincerely, O’Farrell Wealth and Estate Planning

Dear Client, We hope that you and your family are having a great start to the year 2021. The mild weather thus far has given way to Canadian winters with double-digit negative temperatures. Apart from the extreme weather, the stay-at-home orders is also keeping people largely indoors. While society has been troubled by the limits put on their mobility; the light at the end of tunnel is now visible with vaccine inoculations underway. The daily worldwide new infections have shown a declining trend over the past few weeks, dropping from ~750k-800k to ~600k at the time of this writing. Below we mention a few noteworthy developments over the last month. Macroeconomic and market developments In January, both the S&P 500 Index and S&P/TSX Composite Index continued their upward momentum from last month helped by the Democrats wresting control of the Senate from the Republicans. A single party control over the House and Senate implies less bottlenecks to pass the much-awaited fiscal stimulus by investors. The Biden administration has indicated a package of ~$1.9 trillion to help the economy and curtail the pandemic. Expectations of a large stimulus bill have fueled the expectations of rising inflation. The reflation trade saw the financials, industrials and energy sectors advancing during the first half of the month. The second half of the month saw the “stay-at-home” stocks recovering some lost ground as fresh lockdown orders gathered pace around the globe. Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian convenience store operator abandoned talks to acquire France’s Carrefour SA, a supermarket operator, after opposition from the French finance minister on concerns of control over food supply. How does this affect my investments? The stock markets are inherently volatile and short-term market movements are impossible to predict. Historically, market declines have been followed by recoveries and new highs. By staying invested, your portfolio will be well positioned to benefit from a recovery. If you have any questions about your investment portfolio, your advisor at O’Farrell Wealth and Estate Planning would be happy to discuss them with you. Sincerely, O’Farrell Wealth and Estate Planning

Dear Client, We hope that you and your family have been well. As the winter season approaches, the world is now experiencing a second wave of Covid-19. While strict lockdowns and movement restrictions helped control the first wave, new daily infections in most countries have picked up. Cases of Covid-19 are now higher than they were at the last peak in April when daily infections were averaging from ~80-85k. Today, daily infections are at about ~450-475k. Rather than implementing complete lockdowns, countries around the globe are now taking a modified approach to restrictions to find a balance between the economic and public health interests. Macroeconomic and market developments The S&P 500 Index and S&P/TSX Composite Index registered gains during the first half of October and trimmed most of those gains over the second half of the month. While there is a consensus that more needs to be done to help the economic recovery, and with the Presidential election looming, the political climate remains heated with talks on another fiscal stimulus dragging along. On October 26th the US Senate, led by the Republicans, confirmed ‘Amy Coney Barrett’ as the next Supreme Court Judge. With her appointment, six of the nine Supreme Court Judges have been nominated by Republicans. Canada had its share of political drama as the minority Liberal government survived a vote of confidence over a Conservative motion that demanded a special committee to probe the government’s pandemic relief spending. The Bloomberg Survey Report states that the quarter-over-quarter US GDP growth for the third quarter of 2020 is expected to be ~29.9% for the United States and ~45.2% for Canada. The corresponding numbers for the second quarter of 2020 were -31.4% for the United States and -38.7% for Canada. How does this affect my investments? The stock markets are inherently volatile and short-term market movements are impossible to predict. Historically, market declines have been followed by recoveries and new highs. By staying invested, your portfolio will be well positioned to benefit from a recovery. If you have any questions about your investment portfolio, your advisor would be happy to discuss them with you. Sincerely, O’Farrell Wealth and Estate Planning Sources: Bloomberg

Dear Client, We hope you and your family are continuing to stay well. We are writing to update you on some of the key economic, market and pandemic-related developments. Macroeconomic and market developments This week, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide surpassed 15 million. The U.S. continued to struggle to contain the spread of the virus, with California taking over from New York as the state with the highest number of infections. Other global hotspots include Brazil and India. Restrictions on gatherings and business activity continued to be relaxed in many regions of Canada based on low infection rates. North American equity markets moved marginally higher as companies reported mixed earnings results and various coronavirus vaccine trials in the U.K., Germany and Canada reported continued progress. Caution has begun to creep in with telltale signs of stalling economic recovery. The U.S. government said it was considering a program to provide unemployment assistance for workers for the rest of the year on a reduced basis. In Canada, the government extended wage subsidies for employers still struggling with the business impacts of the pandemic to the end of December. The annual inflation rate in Canada was 0.7% in June, exceeding market expectations. What does this mean for my investments? The markets’ rebound from the depths of the mid-March pandemic-driven drawdown reflects optimism that businesses will continue to recover and that as a global society we will find ways to contain the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, government and fiscal support measures for households and businesses continue to provide a strong tailwind for many parts of the market, particularly equity and corporate bond markets. Nevertheless, economic activity remains below pre-pandemic levels and significant adjustments are still needed for many businesses to recover, presenting significant risks to the outlook. Given recent unprecedented circumstances, it makes sense to remain true to your well-established investment plan that takes your goals and tolerance for risk into account, and to continue to invest using our expertise of professional investment managers. We have the knowledge and experience to take advantage of investment opportunities as they arise and limit risks that may be unappreciated by the market as a whole.

O’Farrell Wealth & Estate Planning works in partnership with Assante Wealth Management to offer a full range of investment solutions. The creation of our wealth management team ensures we are delivering suitable financial solutions in the developing investment landscape. The wealth management team actively monitors the markets to identify investment opportunities for our client’s portfolios. This team works closely with our advisors to develop tailor-made solutions to meet your retirement goals. Our objective is to keep our clients informed on the latest market developments and provide some perspective on the major themes we see in the economy. COVID-19 Update Two of the world’s biggest virus hotspots, Italy and Spain, have shown a decrease in the number of daily new virus cases after two-to-four weeks of strict lockdown measures. While the return to normalcy may still be far away, the progress seen in these countries in bringing the pandemic under control is encouraging. A vaccine for COVID-19 continues to be researched. There is an interesting study on a Tuberculosis vaccine (BCG) that demonstrates that those who have been inoculated with BCG vaccine are six times less likely to contract COVID-19. The BCG vaccine has other promising effects such as reducing respiratory illness and boosting the immune system. Countries with mandatory BCG vaccinations have had much less impact from the virus in comparison to countries where this vaccination is voluntary. This study is promising as the safety profile of the BCG vaccine is well established and some production capacity is already in place. Subject to the positive outcome of trials, this could be a potent addition to the arsenal of drugs available to healthcare providers to manage COVID-19 until a targeted vaccine is developed. If you are interested in reading the study, the link can be found below. With Global coronavirus cases increasing from ~1 million to ~3.26 million (as of this writing); the month of April is shaping up to be the worst month this year for economic activity and the disruption of day to day life. Nevertheless, evidence from countries that have successfully flattened the curve indicate there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Collapse of Oil The month of April saw oil prices collapse to new lows as a result of a disagreement between OPEC+ members Saudi Arabia and Russia on reducing their oil production amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Russia’s refusal to cut production lead to Saudi Arabia flooding the market with an oversupply of oil, placing downward pressure on prices. In an attempt to support the price of oil, the US administration extended production cuts to assist OPEC+ in finding a solution to their ongoing feud. As of last week, OPEC+ has come to an agreement to reduce production by 9.7 million barrels a day beginning in May, while a deal was made with the US to cut production by ~300,000 barrels per day. After an initial positive reaction, oil gains had reverted as the proposed production cuts did not seem to be enough to offset the expected demand decline due to the pandemic. The dislocation in oil prices took an extreme turn on April 20th when crude oil contracts traded at -$38 per barrel largely due to storage capacity limitations. This situation has since resolved with WTI crude oil trading at ~$19.12 as of this writing. Market Update As always, thank you for your referrals this month! They are always handled with great care and discretion. “Is Global BCG Vaccination Coverage Relevant To The Progression Of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic?” Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136957/ ) Contact Us Phone: 877-989-1997 Email: hsmith@assante.com