Market Insights

Shielding portfolios against next Sino-Forest

It’s certainly no easy task for advisors to avoid portfolio bombs like Sino-Forest Corp. and Armtec Infrastructure Inc., both of which lost over 80% of their value recently. The reasons for the losses are different, but the pain is still the same. Up until mid-April, Sino-Forest stock (TRE) was humming along quite nicely. It had […]

June 16, 2011

6 min read

Industry

Invesco launches three PowerShares ETFs

A day after launching two fixed income ETFs, Invesco has unveiled three more PowerShares ETFs, including one equity and two equity-income mandates. PowerShares QQQ (CAD Hedged) Index ETF seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the NASDAQ-100 Currency Hedged CAD Index. The ETF will distribute income quarterly. PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index […]

By Staff |June 16, 2011

1 min read

Industry

First PowerShares listed in Canada

Invesco has listed two PowerShares ETFs on TSX today, the company’s first-ever ETF launch on a Canadian exchange. “The arrival of PowerShares ETFs on TSX establishes an exciting new footprint in the Canadian marketplace, expanding the range of next-generation ETF solutions available to investors in Canada,” said Ben Fulton, Invesco PowerShares managing director of global […]

By Staff |June 15, 2011

1 min read

Industry

Rethinking asset allocation

One of the casualties of the market meltdown was the confidence portfolio managers and investors had in traditional asset allocation models. At this year’s Canada Cup of Investment in Toronto, Frank Nielsen, executive director and head of Equity and Applied Research (Americas) at MSCI, explained some emerging trends in portfolio construction. One strong trend is […]

By Dean DiSpalatro |June 13, 2011

3 min read

Standard Life adjusts five fund mandates

Standard Life Mutual Funds has received securityholder approval to change the investment objectives of five of its funds. The affected funds are its Global Monthly Income Fund, Canadian Dividend Growth Fund, Canadian Dividend Growth Class, Dividend Income Fund and Canadian Small Cap Fund. The investment strategies will be amended to reflect the new objectives and […]

By Staff |June 10, 2011

2 min read

Sprott to merge Growth, Small Cap funds

Sprott Asset Management has proposed the merger of its Sprott Growth Fund into Sprott Small Cap Equity Fund, saying investors would benefits from the creation a more cost-efficient fund. The company has closed the growth fund to new money immediately. Allan Jacobs and Peter Imhof are expected to remain as managers of the Small Cap […]

By Staff |June 10, 2011

1 min read

Five forces affecting your client’s portfolio

Soaring debt levels in advanced economies, overheating emerging markets and strict capital controls are among the global economic and financial challenges faced by financial planners, according to Thomas Hockin, executive director, International Monetary Fund, speaking at the CIFPs 9th Annual National Conference-2011, in Ottawa. “We’ve had 22 financial crises since 1945; financial crisis is the […]

3 min read

Recession was easy, recovery will be tough

Canada managed to navigate its way through the Great Recession of 2008 without much damage, but the time for self-congratulation may be over. There are a number of hazards on the horizon, including the withdrawal of government stimulus, rising interest rates and the stubbornly strong loonie is stifling exports. Canada—indeed, the world—still has some challenges […]

4 min read

HSBC closing climate change fund

HSBC Global Asset Management (Canada) Limited has announced that it will close and wind up the HSBC Global Climate Change Fund on or around 19 August 2011. Effectively immediately, new investments into the fund will no longer be accepted. The decision to close the fund was based on the small fund size and relatively small […]

By Staff |June 6, 2011

1 min read