Market Insights

Energy and commodities listed as value trap hot-beds

Energy and commodity prices reached unprecedented heights only a few short months ago; now their rapid decline has value investors kicking the tires. A new report from Merrill Lynch in the U.S. issues a buyer-beware warning on these sectors, calling them value traps. Traditionally a term used to refer to individual stocks, “value traps” are […]

By Mark Noble |November 10, 2008

4 min read

Active managers fare better in bear market

According to the recently released Russell Active Manager report, 65% of large cap Canadian equity active managers beat the benchmark during the extreme volatility of the third quarter of 2008. According to the report, this is the highest rate of outperformance since the first quarter of 2007, with the number of active managers beating the […]

By Romana King |October 29, 2008

3 min read

Reaffirming PH&N

The Royal Bank of Canada’s February announcement that it had agreed to acquire Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd. (PH&N) was a bombshell that took even the savviest members of the mutual fund community by surprise. PH&N had been rejecting overtures from various financial institutions for years, so more than a few eyebrows were […]

By Brian O'Neill |October 28, 2008

4 min read

Help your clients get back to planning basics

(October 2008) Everyone knows that market volatility and retirement preparation can make for an unhappy combination. It’s bad for the advisor, but even worse for clients. However, the unfortunate fact is that we are in a period of extreme market volatility, and no one knows exactly how long it will last. When markets are as […]

By Peter Drake |October 22, 2008

5 min read