Market Insights

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Farewell to trusts

(November 2006) Cecilia Mo is as soft spoken as they come. In front of a packed audience of advisors attending the final leg of Fidelity Investments’ latest road show last week, she sat uneasily on stage with both hands tightly gripped around a microphone as she shared her views on income trusts. While she is […]

By Mark Brown |November 22, 2006

3 min read

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Market Insights

Funds shrug off tax

(November 2006) The federal government’s surprise announcement that it would level the playing field between income trust distributions and dividend payments has had a sudden and massive impact on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Announced on Hallowe’en, whether the move is a trick or a treat depends on what’s in a portfolio. Canadian bonds, for example, […]

By Steven Lamb |November 1, 2006

4 min read

Decorative pattern

Feds hit trusts in surprise mini-budget

The federal government has announced a new plan to tax the distributions of income trusts, among other measures, in what amounts to a mini-budget released late Tuesday night.

By Steven Lamb and Kate McCaffery |November 1, 2006

3 min read

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Market Insights

Currency risk and mega-cap investing

(October 2006) Market commentators have been calling for a U.S.-led economic downturn for nearly the entire length of the current recovery. The fact that it has not yet materialized should not be taken as a sign it won’t, but rather as a sign of the futility of timing the markets. Whether it’s next month, next […]

By Steven Lamb |October 20, 2006

6 min read

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Market Insights

Investors find alternative to money markets

(September 2006) By now, the history of the bursting stock market bubble and the ensuing flight to safety has been well documented. Suddenly risk-averse investors went hunting for yield at the same time that central bankers were slashing interest rates, killing the appeal of some traditional safe-havens. But money market holdings have been consistently on […]

By Staff |September 26, 2006

2 min read

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Market Insights

Currency hedging on the rise

(September 2006) Since the elimination of the foreign property rule, Canadian investors have been increasingly interested in holding foreign investments. Sure, there have always been ways around the 30% limit, but few retail clients were reaching that threshold. First to take advantage of the change were pension funds, which served to convince retail investors that […]

By Steven Lamb |September 8, 2006

5 min read

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Market Insights

1990s Redux: Volatility may be back

(September 2006) In the 1990s, investors and advisors, out of necessity, learned to be Fedwatchers. The unexpected rise in interest rates in 1994 hammered bond funds. An observation on “irrational exuberance” by U.S. Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan in 1995 precipitated a market pullback. Currency shocks in 1997 and 1998 made U.S. Treasury bills a […]

By Scot Blythe |September 1, 2006

3 min read

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Market Insights

Retention proves trickier than sales

Despite strong gross sales performance across the industry, many mutual fund manufacturers are facing an uphill struggle in retaining assets, according to the July edition of Investor Economics Insight. In some years, strong sales have helped to mask the problem. While redemptions have been increasing in dollar terms, inflows have been growing at a faster […]

By Steven Lamb |August 1, 2006

5 min read

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Market Insights

Asian markets maturing slowly

Investors looking to make a quick buck in Asia may very well reach that goal, but the developing economies of the region should really be considered as a long-term opportunity, according to managers who specialize in that part of the world. The Asia-Pacific region is still largely seen as risky and extremely volatile by outside […]

By Steven Lamb |July 14, 2006

4 min read

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Market Insights

Investment hybrids

(July 2006) The theorem “keep ’em separate” no longer applies. As baby boomers begin to retire, expect to see more product innovations that combine investments with insurance. Annuities or segregated funds are only the beginning, says Moshe Milevsky, executive director of the Individual Finance and Insurance Decision and associate professor of finance at York University […]

By Deanne N. Gage |June 30, 2006

5 min read

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