Market Insights

Downgrade sparks gold, bond rally

The U.S. government’s credit downgrade has added more fuel to the fire which swept the equity markets last week, burning a massive hole in portfolios around the world. Money managers say the downgrade might not have been expected on Friday night, but it certainly didn’t come as a surprise. “This debt didn’t just suddenly appear […]

By Staff |August 8, 2011

3 min read

Currency markets shrug off U.S. downgrade

The historic decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the U.S. credit rating may have created scandalous headlines, but currency markets were quick to price it in—shockingly in favour of the greenback. And that trend may continue, according to industry participants in the Canadian financial market. From a currency standpoint, the first-ever downgrade of the […]

By Vikram Barhat |August 8, 2011

4 min read

Brace for a bumpy ride along the bottom

Notwithstanding better-than-expected U.S. job data, fears continue to grow that the U.S. economy is slipping back into recession. Coupled with the untamed Eurozone debt crisis, that fear is weighing on the global economy. As the curtain came down on America’s manufactured debt default drama, the veil lifted on a slew of grim global economic data. […]

By Vikram Barhat |August 5, 2011

4 min read

Soft confidence threatens U.S. recovery

The U.S. government has bought itself some breathing room on its financing, but the debate and brinkmanship leading up to the deal has crushed the nation’s already fragile consumer confidence. Slightly more than half (54%) of Americans say the debate weakened their confidence in the economy, according to the RBC Consumer Outlook Index for the […]

By Staff |August 4, 2011

2 min read