Guiding you along your financial journey
You might be thinking about adding gold to your portfolio since gold rices are at 5 year lows. In addition to gold prices being well of their 2011 highs, gold can provide diversification benefits to a portfolio of stocks and bonds. When priced in Canadian dollars, gold has often been negatively correlated to Canadian stocks and bonds. While the correlations […]
For most of July investors continued to focus on Greece and turned their attention to China as Chinese stocks continued to correct from what is looking more and more like a bubble. The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 0.25% for the second time this year, while the US Federal Reserve talked up the possibility of an interest rate […]
The price of oil has dropped 50% in the last 12 months from around $100 to less than $50. If you think that oil prices are going to recover, how can you take advantage of that? You could buy oil the way oil traders do and buy oil futures or options thereon. Trading oil futures or options is complicated and […]
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.
There has been plenty of talk about whether actively managed mutual funds are worth the fees they charge. There are many people on either side of the argument. The proponents of active management argue that active managers can add value by selecting the best securities to own or by tactically shifting the asset allocation of the fund. The growing list […]
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 […]
