Market Insights

Weekly Pulse: Greek code blue averted…again

After a difficult week last week, equity investors were still in a selling mood on Monday as global economic concerns and a confidence vote in Greece weighed on investor sentiment. Eventually the Greek Prime Minister survived the confidence vote, providing some relief to the markets until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hosted his quarterly Q&A session after the Fed lowered its U.S. GDP growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012. Mr. Bernanke noted that the U.S. economy had slowed recently and attributed that performance to higher commodity prices and the global supply chain disruption caused by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

By Gareth Watson |June 27, 2011

4 min read

Market Insights

Earnings season will disappoint: Scotia analyst

Scotia Capital’s recently released Beat the Street report for Q2 2011, penned by associate strategist Hugo Ste-Marie, is calling for less than stellar earnings reports for both the S&P 500 and TSX. The report suggests the S&P 500 is facing a number of challenges in Q2, singling out three main headwinds pushing against the likelihood […]

By Staff |June 24, 2011

2 min read

Industry

Mitigating risk through SRI

Mary Jane McQuillen has been described as a rock star in the world of socially responsible investing. The New York City-based fund manager heads up the ESG (environmental, social and governance) division of Clearbridge Advisors, which was recently appointed to sub-advise the Meritas U.S. Equity Fund. McQuillen was in Victoria this week, speaking at the […]

By Doug Watt |June 24, 2011

3 min read

Industry

The quarter-point return is not everything

Everyone wants to find extra cash. There is no shortage of articles, webcasts, and conferences discussing investments, the market and how to get the best return.

By Elaine Blades |June 24, 2011

6 min read

Canada missing the boat on emerging markets

There is a growing sense of urgency in the air about Canada’s need to broaden its economic participation by adopting a more aggressive approach to doing business in emerging markets. Industry experts are becoming increasingly nervous about Canada as an ‘underachiever’ in emerging markets deal-making, according to PwC’s new Capital Markets Flash report. Canada has […]

4 min read

Volatility demands active management

In a world where volatility is the new normal, getting the right asset mix and sector-rotation can make the difference between capital gain and loss. “You have got to be an active manager,” said John Zechner, chair and CEO of J. Zechner Associates Inc., speaking at the CIFPs 9th Annual National Conference-2011, in Ottawa. “Markets […]

4 min read

Fidelity’s Stein neutral on stocks, sees no double dip

Equity risk and concerns about the outlook for Europe and China received top billing from Geoff Stein, portfolio manager and co-lead manager of the Fidelity Canadian Asset Allocation Fund, during the fund company’s recent ‘Straight Talk on the Markets’ webcast. Stein explains that when he and co-lead manager Derek Young took over the fund in […]

4 min read

South Africa basks in glow of BRICS addition

For too long the world had seen South Africa as a morbid montage of crime, poverty and sky-high HIV-AIDS infection rates. A third world country considered short on skills and long on laxity, avoided like a cold sore by global investors. But that is all in the rear-view mirror. With its accession to the unofficial […]

5 min read

The Weekly Pulse: RIM Blackberries too sour

This week started off on a familiar note as the selling pressure we've seen since May continued for many global markets. While relatively in line, Chinese economic data gave markets a boost on Tuesday, but Greek debt concerns brought sellers back into the spotlight.

4 min read

From asset to risk allocation

The balance between return and risk is often equated with the trade-off between health and exercise. While all investors have an appetite for greater wealth (being healthy), they also have a limited tolerance for risk (exercise). Unfortunately, risk is a difficult, often abstract, concept for investors — especially when it comes to investment selection. As a result, risk is usually ignored altogether.

7 min read