Setting up your 2026 portfolio? While investing in long-term growth and dividend stocks is the passive investing approach, a few safe haven picks can reduce short-term volatility. These are the stocks that hedge your portfolio against inflation and economic crisis. They may not give you handsome returns, but they can surely minimize your downside risks.
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Why should you own safe haven stocks in 2026?
2026 started off with one of the biggest uncertainties: the US-Iran war. What did it do to an average Canadian household? The oil price surged, the gold price fell, inflation rose, and delinquencies increased.
Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 2.4% in March from 1.8% in February, as per data from Statistics Canada. The inflation rate was driven by a 21.2% monthly increase in gasoline prices, the largest increase on record. When inflation rises, gold prices are supposed to rise, but that is not the case. Gold prices rise when the central bank cuts interest rates. The central bank is pressured to cut rates when inflation grows consistently to make borrowing easy. Interest rate cuts reduce the value of paper currency, and the gold price strengthens as paper currency is no longer backed by gold.
Kinross Gold
The Bank of Canada is closely watching inflation, refraining from cutting rates as delinquency rates are rising. Thus, Kinross Gold (TSX: K) stock fell 30% in March when the Iran war spiked inflation; it then surged 30% by mid-April and fell another 17% as the Bank of Canada kept its interest rate unchanged.
Kinross Gold’s share price has nothing to do with the production and operating costs of the miner. It will continue to produce 2 million ounces (oz) of gold in 2026. However, its all-in-sustaining cost will grow to $1,730/oz compared to $1,571 in 2025. The recent dip in the stock price is a buying opportunity as global central banks are buying gold to build their gold reserves. Why are they doing this?
The war tensions, increasing US fiscal deficit, and the falling credit rating of US Treasury bonds have made global central banks reduce their US Treasury reserves and replace them with gold reserves.
Thus, gold stocks like Kinross Gold are a buy at every dip as gold prices may only increase in the medium term. They will grow higher than inflation and the market.
Loblaw stock
Loblaw Companies (TSX: L) can be a good stock to buy amid inflation. As a Canadian retailer that caters to food and pharmacies, it is a defensive stock to own. Loblaw keeps adding new stores, which take a while to become profitable. It added 65 net new stores in 2025 and grew its revenue by 4.2%. Sudden inflationary pressure affects consumer spending as they adjust their consumption to their budget.
The constant uncertainty, one after another, makes investors pour money into safe-haven stocks, which can offer some assurance even in uncertain times. Loblaw fits the description. Its stock price surged 93% between 2024 and 2025, driven by sustainable growth.
The retailer increased its earnings per share (EPS) by 8.8% in 2025 and expects to grow EPS by 8.15% in 2026 and 8.3% in 2027. The stock is trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23, which is on the higher range of its last two years’ forward P/E ratios. This lowers stock price growth from organic expansion.
Investing in the above safe haven picks
The above two stocks may not generate wealth or give you high passive income, but they can give you stability. And stability outperforms the bear market. Instead of putting your money in term deposits, you can invest in safe haven stocks and adjust your portfolio for inflation.
