Investments

Bountiful bonds

Corporate bonds might be suffering from their worst performance ever, but there’s a silver lining. Today’s investors are compensated with a significant risk premium for investing in shortand mid-term corporate bonds (corporates) over similar term Canadian government bonds (Canadas). Yield spreads for corporates in Canada have moved sharply higher due to a number of factors: […]

By Hanif Mamdani |February 1, 2009

6 min read

Hedge funds: The next generation

Despite headline blowups and depressed returns, not all is bad in the hedge fund world. There’s still growth to be found in the future — by planting a seed. Now is an opportune time to snag prospective managers at preferred fees, thanks to the shakeout in the industry, suggest panellists at a Toronto discussion on […]

By Scot Blythe |January 30, 2009

4 min read

Budget 2009 commentary: Perceptions count

The 2009 budget is a remarkable about-turn for a government that only two months ago was saying, in effect, the land is strong. But politics is as much about perception as it is about substance. So too is economics. The two are most saliently joined in a federal budget, whatever the power of politics over […]

By Scot Blythe |January 27, 2009

4 min read

The end of fund of funds

The $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff probably spells the end of the fund-of-funds business. While Madoff wasn’t operating a hedge fund, he was using some techniques that hedge fund traders would apply — or at least he said he was. /images/other/h/hedgemaze08_feature.jpg Friends and acquaintances took him at his word. But so too did a […]

By Scot Blythe |January 23, 2009

4 min read