Investments

Sentiment mixed on future of trusts

(December 2006) A month after the federal government’s about-face on tax policy, there is still no consensus on the future of income trusts. But there does seem to be sufficient doom and gloom to go around. A new poll released by Deloitte shows that most executives think the sector will collapse by 2011, when federal […]

By Steven Lamb |December 11, 2006

3 min read

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

Products

Venture capital market slows

(November 2006) The Canadian venture capital industry has become more conservative with its funding disbursement, focusing its relatively scarce capital on later stage financings, according to the industry association. In its quarterly study, the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association reported a continued decline in venture capital investment in Q3, with emerging companies seeing […]

By Steven Lamb |November 14, 2006

3 min read

Products

Hunt is on for quality trusts

(November 2006) In the days following Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s announcement that income trusts would face similar taxation levels as corporations, the markets reacted with their characteristic good sense: a mass sell-off of the affected asset, followed by an immediate — albeit partial — rebound in prices. Having time to digest the news, market analysts […]

By Steven Lamb |November 10, 2006

4 min read

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

Lifting the hood

(November 2006) You invest in mutual funds, good, solid, long-only investments that everyone can understand. No surprises, no mystery. Market goes up — money is made. Market goes down — well, the fund’s active manager has presumably preserved wealth through defensive (tactical) positioning. Plain and simple. Not so fast! Did you know that your plain-vanilla, […]

5 min read

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

5th Annual Dollars and Sense: Managed money gains traction

(October 2006) It appears the popularity of outsourcing investment decisions has surged. In our 2005 Dollars & Sense Survey, 28% of respondents said they were selling or recommending managed products. This year, the number has climbed to 43%. “I am a big proponent of asset management programs — 90% of my book is in them,” […]

By Steven Lamb |October 12, 2006

5 min read

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