AI Analysis: International investment position, foreign portfolio investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares, by type of instrument and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), market value, monthly

Executive Summary

Foreign portfolio investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares grew 224% over 11 years, rising from approximately $2.3 trillion CAD in January 2015 to $1.78 trillion CAD at its February 2026 peak, with Finance and Insurance and Energy and Mining emerging as the dominant sectors attracting foreign capital. The dataset — spanning 1,742 monthly records across 13 time series, 9 NAICS industries, and 5 instrument types — reveals a strongly right-skewed distribution where a small number of high-value positions drive the aggregate, with a mean of $278,246M nearly double the median of $121,964M. Major market disruptions are clearly visible, including a -16.2% single-month collapse in March 2020 during the COVID-19 shock and a +21.3% rebound in January 2021, while the long-term trajectory remains one of sustained growth.

Key Findings

• Total foreign portfolio investment in Canadian equity grew 224.4% over the study period, from approximately $2.3 trillion CAD in January 2015 to $1,782,708 million CAD in February 2026.
• The distribution of investment values is strongly right-skewed, with a mean of $278,246M more than double the median of $121,964M, and a standard deviation of $339,828M that exceeds the mean itself — indicating high variability driven by a small number of very large positions.
• Five IQR outliers were identified, all concentrated in the high-value tail above $1,481,083 million CAD and occurring in the most recent period, reflecting the sustained post-pandemic surge in foreign investment.
• The COVID-19 pandemic caused the largest single-month decline in the dataset at -16.2% in March 2020, followed by the sharpest recovery at +21.3% in January 2021 — the two most extreme monthly swings in the 11-year series.
• Finance and Insurance (NAICS 52) and Energy and Mining rank among the top industries by median investment value, consistent with Canada's economic profile as a resource-rich, financially developed economy.
• The dataset tracks 13 unique time series (VECTORs) across 5 instrument types — including listed shares, unlisted shares, and investment fund shares — enabling granular analysis of how different investment vehicles have evolved over time.
• Month-over-month swings exceeding ±10% are rare across the full series but cluster tightly around major macroeconomic events, confirming that foreign portfolio investment in Canadian equities is sensitive to global market shocks.