Unpacking the Defensive Investing Toolkit
Mar 19, 2026When markets turn, is your portfolio built to hold up? In this episode, Hilly Cutler and Bipan Rai join host, Tasha Konkin, to explore defensive investing — covering dividend, quality, low-volatility, and long-short strategies, and how they can help investors stay resilient in any market environment.
Tasha Konkin is Director of ETFs for Western Canada at BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM). She is joined by Hilly Cutler, Director of Portfolio Consulting and Senior Portfolio Consultant at BMO GAM and Bipan Rai, Head of ETF Strategy, Exchange Traded Funds at BMO GAM. This episode was recorded live on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
ETFs mentioned:
BMO US Dividend ETF (Ticker: ZDY)
- BMO Canadian Dividend ETF (Ticker: ZDV)
- BMO Low Volatility US Equity ETF (Ticker: ZLU)
- BMO Asset Allocation ETFs
- BMO SPDR Energy Select Sector Index ETF (Ticker: ZXLE)
- BMO Broad Commodity ETF (Ticker: ZCOM)
- BMO S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF (Ticker: ZCN)
- BMO S&P 500 Index ETF (Ticker: ZSP)
- BMO Low Volatility Canadian Equity ETF (Ticker: ZLB)
- BMO Long Short Canadian Equity ETF (Ticker: ZLSC)
- BMO Long Short US Equity ETF (Ticker: ZLSU)
- BMO SPDR Select Sector Index ETFs
Source: ETF Flows, according to the National Bank Report, February 2026
Alpha: A measure of an investment’s excess return compared to its expected return, adjusted for risk (beta).
Beta: A measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole.
Risk-adjusted Return: A measure of investment performance taking into consideration how much risk/volatility was assumed to generate it. Consider two investments, both of which return 10% over a given time period. The investment with the greater risk-adjusted return would be the one that experienced less price fluctuation. Two of the most commonly used measures of risk adjusted returns are Sharpe and Sortino ratios.
Sharpe Ratio: A risk-adjusted return measure calculated by using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk. The higher the Sharpe Ratio, the better the portfolio’s historical risk-adjusted performance.
“Steady Eddie” basket: A curated selection of stable, low-volatility investments — typically dividend-paying stocks or defensive assets — favoured by investors seeking consistent, reliable returns over time rather than high-risk, high-reward growth.
The Strait of Hormuz: A narrow waterway between Oman and Iran that connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It is one of the world’s most strategically significant shipping lanes, through which a substantial share of global oil and liquefied natural gas exports pass.
The Fed: The U.S. Federal Reserve Board
Disclaimers:
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