The end of 2021 nears, and it was clearly a win for investors. Although the pandemic retains it grip on humanity, economies, companies, and behaviours have adapted relatively well, in aggregate. 2022 looks like it will be a more challenging year, as some trends are poised to change, which adds uncertainty. But, there is good news too, as the global economy appears to be expanding with solid momentum. This year ahead outlook is a collaboration among the investment management team at Purpose Investments. A team that continues to expand in both numbers and breadth. In the report, you will find: I. Market Recap – 2021 A Good Year with Many Market Surprises II. Key Macro Trends for 2022 The global tightening cycle has begun Economic growth continues to broaden Inflation risks remain persistent III. Market Cycle & Portfolio Positioning Current market cycle Portfolio positioning IV. Rising Trends in Asset Allocation Searching for alternative sources of diversification Positioning for continued energy transition Defending your long-term financial plans from inflation 2021 – A Good Year with Many Market Surprises — Greg Taylor Looking back at a year where many equity indices were higher by 15% or more, you could assume that it was a rather dull year and easy to make money. However, that wasn’t the necessarily the case as many multi-year trends reversed, and we expect many more trends to be at risk of turning in the near term. The year started with one of the strangest rallies in market history —the rally of the ‘broken’ meme stocks. In many cases, this trend was the result of the return of the retail investor, rediscovering the stock market and day trading during lockdown. Through tools such as the Robinhood trading platform, which gave access to options, leverage, and social media chat groups, these investors were able to cause massive moves in the most-shorted companies in the market. In the end, these share-price moves hurt many established hedge funds, which were on the wrong side of the new trend. It wasn’t only the meme stocks that participated in this retail mania. Cryptocurrency joined the party too. And not just the usually suspects, like Bitcoin, this year DeFi tokens, coins like Ether, Solana, and even dogecoin, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) all experienced a surge in popularity. Like many historical rallies, looking back in a few years, we will shake our heads at some of these moves, but like the dot.com bubble, there will also be several winners that come out of this trend and go on to change the world. Could it be Ethereum? How Ether should fit into investor’s asset mix will be a fascinating debate over the years to come—it doesn’t seem like an asset class that investors can ignore going forward. Outside of the more speculative pockets of the market, there were also strong returns in many traditional parts of the market, notably the cyclicals, in particular the energy stocks. This sector had been left for dead in the new ESG world, as investors assumed demand would fade away and the group would disappear. However, those who ignored it missed the best performing group for the year .