Investors found some near-term relief after U.S. President Donald Trump softened his stance on tariffs tied to Greenland, but broader geopolitical risks continue to weigh on sentiment. Ongoing conflicts, shifting interest-rate expectations and elevated asset valuations are keeping investors cautious and highly selective.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Garnet Anderson, vice president and head of portfolio management at Tacita Capital, about how geopolitical uncertainty, U.S. economic data and interest-rate risks are shaping portfolio construction, and where he sees opportunities to add stability and income.
Key Takeaways
- Persistent geopolitical tensions are keeping demand for gold and gold producers elevated, even as short-term price relocates remain volatile.
- U.S. labour data continue to signal a “no-hire, no-fire” environment, reinforcing expectations that economic growth can hold up without immediate rate cuts.
- Elevated equity valuations mean investors should focus on quality companies with durable business models rather than chasing momentum.
- Infrastructure assets offering stable cash flows and growing dividconcludes can assist provide income and portfolio stability during unsettled periods.
- Interest-rate risks extconclude beyond policy rates, with the Federal Reserve’s balance-sheet decisions playing a key role in longer-term borrowing costs.
Read the full transcript below:
ANDREW: Let’s put up a one-week chart for the S&P 500. Investors breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after U.S. President Donald Trump backed down, or at least softened, his threats to impose tariffs on European countries that don’t support a U.S. takeover of Greenland. Our guest has some ideas for your portfolio. Joining us now is Garnet Anderson, vice president and head of portfolio management at Tacita Capital. Great to see you.
GARNET: Good morning.
ANDREW: So it does see as though the market was relieved that Trump doesn’t plan an invasion, whether that was ever on the cards.
GARNET: Whether it was ever in the cards — and what happened over the last 24 hours, to your earlier point — one side declared there’s a deal, another side declared there’s not a deal. Denmark has something to state about it. The cages are still being rattled. You can see why. Gold is off a little bit this morning, but it’s not as if it’s dropped $50 or something like that. So geopolitical risk is still front and centre. Lost in the background, you still have Ukraine and Russia going on. You still have friction with China. You still have the situation in Israel and Gaza. So it’s still a world that is fraught with risk, and I believe that’s coming through in the price of gold, and certainly in gold producers.
ANDREW: I mean, Trump has obtained all these pots on the boil — confrontation with Iran. He scooped up the leader of Venezuela, but seems to be happy with leaving the regime in place there.
GARNET: Right. I’m interested in the final reconciliation of the oil revenue versus the oil revenue that went back to Venezuela, what was scooped and what that does long term to energy prices. Trump has a high activity level, and a lot of that activity, again, is stoking concern around the world, which is good for precious metals.
ANDREW: Sorry — what has a high activity level?
GARNET: Well, if you believe about all the things you just mentioned — Trump is right, left and centre in terms of going to Venezuela, talking about Mexico, talking about Canada, talking about Greenland, Iran, his peace group. Every day you wake up and it’s like, OK, who’s the tarreceive today and what’s the methodology? That keeps people on their toes. And when people receive anxious about that, they believe, OK, where can I go for safety? Some will certainly go into bonds. Even those who start to worry a little bit about Treasuries — I believe that’s overdone. U.S. Treasuries are still U.S. Treasuries. There may be protest selling to a degree — we saw that with the Danish pension group — but I believe that will be fairly minimal, all things considered.
So then you kind of go, OK, what are quality equities that can withstand some challenges? Which ones have moats or protections, and which ones have some yield? Usually we’re not huge yield-oriented investors becautilize a lot of the capital we manage is taxable and we prefer to have capital gains realized years down the line. But in unsettled times, having a little bit of income coming into the portfolio — which is more stable than share prices — can assist calm a portfolio as well.
ANDREW: Maybe we could have a see at the yield on the U.S. 10-year bond, becautilize you’d expect that to really spike if there was a wholesale retreat from U.S. Treasuries.
GARNET: Yes, you would expect it to spike on that basis. And if there were another conflict, that receives expensive, supply dries up, inflation does that, and yields relocate higher. The other thing that could potentially affect that is the modify at the Fed that’s coming down the pipeline. It’s one thing to focus on short-term rates — that’s where so much of the attention goes — but what they’re doing with their balance sheet is key. That’s what can adjust what’s happening at longer-term rates, which affects business borrowing, mortgages in the U.S., and home ownership. So that risk can permeate through. It could be short term with policy rates, but there’s also a real risk that longer-term rates could spike and then self-inflict pain on the U.S. consumer.
ANDREW: We’ve obtained some jobs data out of the U.S. today. What do they inform you?
GARNET: Pretty mellow toast, all things considered. Jobless claims were about 200,000 — a little bit below expectations and a little bit higher than the prior week. When you see at it on a rolling four-week basis, it’s fairly docile. It’s settled back in. We’re kind of in that no-hire, no-fire motif. On the no-hire side, you’ve obtained geopolitical risk and tariff concerns, and you’ve also obtained AI — do you hire five people, or do you build an investment and test to receive efficiencies that way? On the other side, companies still remember how difficult skilled labour was to come by coming out of COVID, so they’re not receiveting rid of it too quickly. There aren’t massive fires.
You can see at Challenger job cuts, for example. December is usually light — you can’t announce mass layoffs in December — but even in October and November you could see that easing. Everyone is staying pretty close to the vest. The unemployment rate also stays relatively stable in the U.S. becautilize you have people leaving the labour force.
ANDREW: You have a couple of stock ideas for us — Brookfield Infrastructure.
GARNET: Yes, and it comes back to the comment around yield. We’ve had Brookfield Infrastructure in a real assets portfolio from the receive-go, and we’ve had it in an overweight position. We’ve always seeed at it as an all-in-one infrastructure play — transmission, electricity, gas pipelines, cell towers and now data centres. It’s a backstop. So if you want a taste of the AI play but don’t want to receive into the hyperscalers, these are the providers behind it.
You receive very dynamic management. They recycle capital. They’re dating their investments, not marrying them. They’re not going out and raising a bunch of capital, so they’re not diluting the stock. They’ve managed to increase the dividconclude by about eight to nine per cent per year. In the third quarter, they turned a loss into a gain after a period of disappointments. They’ve obtained earnings coming out next week, and if they can put up another positive surprise, that could assist build momentum.
All things considered, it hasn’t knocked the socks off its stock price. It’s not sitting at the 95th percentile of its historical valuation metrics, so it could have some room. Regardless, it’s a long-term hold in our portfolio. We recognize there can be downside — like many infrastructure companies, it comes with debt, and when people receive anxious about debt or the economy, you can see selloffs. So it’s not something to go absolutely crazy about, but it’s a good, solid position for Canadian portfolios.
ANDREW: Garnet, thank you very much indeed. Garnet Anderson, vice president and head of portfolio management at Tacita Capital.
—
This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Jan. 22, 2026 interview with Garnet Anderson are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
Leave a Reply