Equity markets have recovered somewhat from the deep losses experienced in January and the middle of March and the performance of the Sleepy Portfolio during the first quarter of 2008 reflects that. The portfolio ended the quarter with a small loss of 0.7%. Bonds (XSB and XRB) were the only winners but equities fell slightly and were offset somewhat by weakness in the Canadian dollar.

[Sleepy Portfolio 1Q-2008 Performance Table]

I sold the last of our direct holdings in US equities and the only direct holdings are a handful of Canadian stocks and RioCan as a proxy for REITs. Since the vast majority of our portfolios are in ETFs or index mutual funds, our returns would (more or less) track the returns of the Sleepy Portfolio.

During the quarter, I added to our holdings in VTI, VEA, Bank of Montreal (BMO), TD Bank (TD), Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) and RioCan REIT (REI.UN) and sold some bonds (XSB). Only time will tell if the timing was fortuitous or bigger bargains can be had in the future.