Market Insights

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

To praise fees, not to bury them

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” That’s a phrase financial advisors are well acquainted with. Originally, it referred to the practice in some saloons of offering a free lunch for the price of a drink, in hopes some would pay the freight in their happy hours with copious refills. Irrational exuberance, one […]

By Scot Blythe |October 1, 2008

13 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Licking the wounds

Investors are waking up to headlines that shout more market turmoil, so it’s no surprise they’re begging for answers. While this discussion doesn’t provide that, it will briefly explain what happened and remind investors of rational investing basics that have worked in the past. NO MORE ALPHABET SOUP The global scavenger hunt for yield made […]

By Philip Lee |October 1, 2008

4 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Getting your head around the equity collar

While in attendance of a presentation on a new issue that implemented a reverse dispersion equity collar on an energy stock portfolio, it struck me that this type of product can fit nicely into sophisticated client portfolios, but the mechanics of the collar are a bit beyond the basic option trading strategy. In order to […]

By Preet Banerjee |October 1, 2008

5 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Canadian economists talk about bailout; U.S. economy

(September 2008) With the U.S. bank bailout failing in the house of representatives, the questions now becomes, what’s going to happen to America’s economy? While you’ll hear a bevy of politicians and pundits pontificate on how this will affect the States in the coming days and weeks, on Friday, before the government’s rescue plan failed, […]

By Bryan Borzykowski |September 24, 2008

7 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

How behavioural finance can affect retirement

(September 2008) Volatile financial markets are not helpful to the economics of retirement. They can cause stress, worry or, depending on your risk tolerance, buying opportunities. Understanding and applying behavioural finance theories can not only mitigate much of the potential damage but can also actually improve the economics of retirement during these difficult times. Behavioural […]

By Peter Drake |September 15, 2008

6 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Synchronicity and the Modern Portfolio Theory

(September 2008) One of the key tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) holds that diversification among asset classes is one of the most important ways for an investor to both moderate his risk and enhance his prospects for above-average performance over time. Thus, over the years, investors have scrambled to find asset classes which generated […]

By Ockham Research |September 11, 2008

5 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

Bernanke has kept his helicopters grounded…so far

(September 2008) In late 2002, when deflation fears were running rampant through the financial markets, a little-known Fed governor by the name of Ben Bernanke thrust himself into the glare of publicity by giving a speech in which he explained what the Fed could do to ensure that deflation didn’t happen in the U.S. Like […]

By Steven Saville |September 10, 2008

5 min read

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Market Insights

U.S. dollar: to buy or not to buy?

(September 9, 2008) Economic news last Friday confirmed why the U.S. stock market had its biggest down week in five months. Friday’s Non Farm payrolls fell by 84,000 in August, and revisions to prior months added another 58,000 job losses. The increase in the jobless rate sent the Misery Index, which adds unemployment to inflation, […]

By Staff |September 9, 2008

3 min read

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Market Insights

Bear market rally or the start of an equities recovery?

(September 8, 2008) Equity markets in North America have staged a significant rally this morning following the U.S. government’s move over the weekend to take over beleaguered mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. While Fannie and Freddie have seen its share prices collapse and Sovereign Bancorp, a significant holder in Freddie Mac, has dropped […]

By Colin Cieszynski, CMC Markets |September 8, 2008

3 min read

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Market Insights

Active managers continue to underperform

(September 2008) Thanks to quarter-to-quarter volatility, active managers, once again, failed to beat the benchmark in Q2. Standard & Poor’s Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) Funds Scorecard reports that just 31.2% of Canadian equity active fund managers outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index. While that might seem low, compared to long-term numbers, that result is actually pretty […]

By Bryan Borzykowski |September 3, 2008

2 min read

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