U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to recast American foreign trade has been a rollercoaster ride for Canadian investors. For those looking to tune out the noise from south of the border, CIBC Capital Markets chief market technician Sid Mokhtari has a top 10 “best ideas” list for investors in February 2025.

Technical analysis generally focuses on trends in a stock's price and volume over time, as opposed to fundamental analysis, using factors like a company’s financial statements and economic data.

Mokhtari says his matrix-process yielded a 3.4 per cent absolute return in January, 14 basis points higher than the S&P/TSX Composite index (^GSPTSE). This month, he says the Canadian stock market’s behaviour back in 2018 offers a roadmap for TSX-listed equities.

“In March 2018, President Trump issued tariff orders that subsequently brought about a 16.8 per cent peak-to-trough correction that lasted six months, from July through to December,” he wrote in a research report.

“At the time, energy and consumer cyclicals/discretionary underperformed the most at a rate of 1,200 and 800 basis points (bps), respectively. Defensive and bond-like proxies, staples, telecoms, real estate investment trusts, and utilities, outperformed by 1,300 bps, 1,200 bps, 750 bps, and 600 bps, respectively.”

For February 2025, three of Mokhtari’s picks are in the financial sector, and two are gold miners.

Here's the full list from CIBC Capital Markets:

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

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