On a semi-annual basis S&P Dow Jones produces a scorecard called the SPIVA® Canada Scorecard that reviews how actively managed mutual funds performed versus their benchmarks. It’s difficult reading for proponents of active fund management and heartening for those promoting passive, index-based strategies. S&P Dow Jones has been producing this scorecard for Canadian mutual funds since 2004, so we now […]
Investors around the world were rattled by the continuing saga in Greece, sending stock and bond markets lower around the world. Yields on short-term bonds dropped below zero briefly in the US as investors rushed to safety. Earlier in the month investors focused on economic data which was largely positive.
Equity markets outside Canada continued to perform well as economic data showed strength. Outside of high yield, bond markets were generally weak as economic and interest rate concerns weighed on investors.
A question most people with a mortgage have is: if I have extra money, should I invest it or make a prepayment on my mortgage? There is no easy to use rule of thumb and what works for you might not work for someone else. When you make a mortgage prepayment you are getting a guaranteed risk-free return equal to […]
Most of the financial industry is geared towards selling products. You answer a risk questionnaire to put you onto the risk spectrum from very conservative to very aggressive, regardless of what you are saving for. All of your assets may be combined into a single plan that is optimized to hopefully provide the highest level of return for a given […]
Financial markets had a relatively solid month with no major surprises either positive or negative. Earnings and economic data provided little reason for investors to sell. Europe, despite Greece, continues to show signs of strength and is one of the best performing areas in the world so far in 2015.
You may think that getting paid to borrow money is impossible, but that is what the Swiss government did recently.As you may have read last week, Switzerland became the first government ever to sell 10 year bonds with a negative yield: on April 7 Switzerland sold 10 year bonds with a yield of -0.055%. How is this possible?
An overview of March Market Performance, including a March Economic Indicator recap. All index returns are Total Return (includes reinvestment of dividends) and are in Canadian Dollars unless noted.