Market Insights

Where does volatility come from?

It’s funny that, when markets go awry – when the expected step by step rise is asset values is thwarted – there’s hell to pay. Not by asset managers of course – since they were just doing what everyone else was doing. Nor by investors, who, by the same token, were just following advice.

By Scot Blythe - Canadian Investment Review |September 13, 2011

4 min read

Market Insights

Pension investing using ETFs: Part 3

In the now-iconic scene set in Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City, a woman of some years mischievously asks her waiter to bring her the rye and pastrami sandwich she assumes was responsible for Meg Ryan’s character Sally’s head-turning display of euphoria. Portfolio envy is a lesser-known form of a similar syndrome.

By Mark Yamada |September 12, 2011

3 min read

Market Insights

Balance clients’ risk into retirement

With risk rising again to the forefront of investors’ minds, it’s hard not to worry whether retirement assets are as safe as they could—and should—be.

By Raf Brusilow |September 8, 2011

3 min read

Economic Indicators

Will yuan become the new default?

As the U.S. tries to disentangle itself from its economic woes, China has slowly started to weave a web around the global currency system.

By Vikram Barhat |September 7, 2011

3 min read

Investment team revels in volatility

The volatility that rocked the markets from late July through the end of August could well be the start of a longer-term trend. When there is no rising tide, clients need to rely on experienced security selection teams to raise their fortunes.

By Staff |September 6, 2011

6 min read

Equity funds continue slump in August

Equity funds suffered the worst of their now four-month-long slump in August, as weak economic data and an historic debt downgrade in the U.S. pushed world markets downward, according to Morningstar Canada.

By Staff |September 2, 2011

2 min read

Alpha’s residual nature

In my last article, “The true cost of beta,” (June 2011), I noted that a portfolio manager’s return is made of two components: beta and alpha. Alpha is the extra return generated through manager skill above the return accounted for by the risk premium of the underlying factors the portfolio is exposed to. Alpha is a rare and fleeting commodity that fetches a higher price if it’s sustainable in the long run. Alpha is what is left after we’ve accounted for the beta portion of a manager’s return — it’s a residual value.

By Guy Lalonde |September 1, 2011

5 min read

Market Insights

Where does volatility come from?

Pension investing using ETFs: Part 3

Balance clients’ risk into retirement

Will yuan become the new default?

Investment team revels in volatility

Equity funds continue slump in August

Flagging consumer confidence points to recession

Plug into diversified utilities

Alpha’s residual nature

IIROC rules target bond, OTC markets