Market Insights

Hedge funds might shine in 09

Hedge fund managers, once the swashbuckling frontiersmen of international finance, have quickly gone from hero to goat. As the global credit bubble burst with a vengeance in 2008, so too did the oft-touted myth that these alternative strategies could deliver positive results in any market. But such sweeping claims paint the universe with too broad […]

By Al Kellett |February 1, 2009

5 min read

Bountiful bonds

Corporate bonds might be suffering from their worst performance ever, but there’s a silver lining. Today’s investors are compensated with a significant risk premium for investing in shortand mid-term corporate bonds (corporates) over similar term Canadian government bonds (Canadas). Yield spreads for corporates in Canada have moved sharply higher due to a number of factors: […]

By Hanif Mamdani |February 1, 2009

6 min read

Budget 2009 commentary: Perceptions count

The 2009 budget is a remarkable about-turn for a government that only two months ago was saying, in effect, the land is strong. But politics is as much about perception as it is about substance. So too is economics. The two are most saliently joined in a federal budget, whatever the power of politics over […]

By Scot Blythe |January 27, 2009

4 min read

ETFs dominate fund sales

Are you wondering where all those redemptions from long-term mutual funds have gone? It appears a large swath have ended up in ETFs, if sales figures reported by ETF providers are any indication. Barclays Global Investors Canada’s iShares, Canada’s largest ETF fund provider, had a sales year that was nothing short of phenomenal. The firm […]

By Mark Noble |January 19, 2009

4 min read