Cutting Through the Noise
April 22, 2010
George Morgan joined Mackenzie Financial in January 2009 as a Senior Vice-President and Portfolio Manager for the Mackenzie Cundill American Class Fund. Mackenzie issued a public announcement at the time. Here are a few excerpts: "George is an...
Read MoreApril 21, 2010
I am not an economist and have never been to China. But I am an investor and a student of market cycles, and as such, I’m always wary when something that is far from certain starts being assumed as part of the foundation of the capital markets. Today China is...
Read MoreMarch 26, 2010
Dear Madam / Sir, Re: Application for a trader position. I read with interest that Google is looking to hire traders to manage its $24 billion cash reserve. I would like to apply. I have attached my resume for your consideration and would like to emphasize a...
Read MoreMarch 22, 2010
Kevin O’Leary is an intentionally controversial figure. I quite enjoy his TV persona...in small doses. He stirs the pot and is a great offset to my favorite TV host, Amanda Lang. I’m not sure what Mr. O’Leary’s day job is exactly, but part of it entails marketing closed...
Read MoreMarch 2, 2010
I admit to doing less reading over the last few weeks (which is criminal for an investment professional) due to a minor sporting event being held in Vancouver. But between the spectating, TV viewing and partying, I did manage to catch up on some...
Read MoreFebruary 25, 2010
By far the most popular topic in the business press these days is ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Not a day goes by without an article on them (and yes, I am planning to write one in the near future). In all of the commentaries, trading flexibility is put...
Read MoreFebruary 24, 2010
The notion of “active share” is in the news again. Coined by a pair of Yale professors in 2007, active share is a measure that indicates just how actively managed a fund really is. In other words, it is a gauge of how much a fund looks like, or overlaps, a certain...
Read MoreFebruary 10, 2010
Seth Godin is a renowned author, marketer and blogger. He has great insights and observations on human behavior and the business world. In a recent blog, Hunters and Farmers, he examines the differences between the two types of individuals. In Seth's...
Read MoreJanuary 21, 2010
Morningstar’s Manager of Fund Analysis, David O’Leary, recently published an article titled Six Changes We Would Like to See in the Canadian Mutual Fund Industry. O’Leary acknowledges that by and large, Canada has an investor-friendly fund industry. Yet...
Read MoreJanuary 7, 2010
Mercer, the pension and benefits consultant, reported this week that the funding status of Canadian pension plans improved dramatically in 2009. Its ‘pension health index’ moved up from 59 to 74, meaning that for a typical plan, 74% of the pension liabilities...
Read MoreJanuary 6, 2010
There is an interesting business case playing out in the U.S. right now with Kraft Foods attempting to takeover Cadbury. The saga started 4 months ago when Kraft made a hostile bid. Cadbury’s board rejected the cash and shares offer, but by then the...
Read MoreDecember 8, 2009
When I was working at Richardson Greenshields in the 80’s, my partners and I watched as all of our big competitors got bought up by the banks – Gundy went to CIBC, DS to Royal, McLeod to Scotia and Nesbitt to BMO. As one of the largest independents left...
Read MoreNovember 26, 2009
Tom will be on Business News Network (BNN) tomorrow morning (November 27th) from 9-10 AM eastern time. He’ll be sitting in with Marty Cej and Frances Horodelski on Market Morning. Black Friday just got a whole lot brighter...
Read MoreNovember 23, 2009
Recent data out of the U.S. suggests that American retail (individual) investors have been watching the stock market rally from the sidelines. According to a report by Morningstar USA, investors have pulled an estimated $4.4 billion out of U.S. equity funds so far this...
Read MoreNovember 18, 2009
Invesco Trimark announced this week that it is offering a new series of mutual funds based on existing exchange traded funds (ETFs) offered by an affiliated company, U.S.-based PowerShares (both companies are owned by the asset management...
Read MoreNovember 16, 2009
From: jsmith@mega-bank.com. To: NewProductCommittee@mega-bank.com. Date: Mon 11/16/2009 1:08 AM Subject: This Year’s Meal Ticket. Just woke up with a brilliant idea!! I’m putting it in an email while the juices are flowing. Still working on the name...
Read MoreNovember 10, 2009
In the Economics Focus column in the October 31st Economist magazine, the question is asked, “Why are the banks so averse to raising equity?” It’s a great question, particularly in the aftermath of last year’s worldwide banking meltdown. It has been a...
Read MoreOctober 30, 2009
We could’ve had some fun with a list of the scariest Halloween costumes this year. Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford and Jon & Kate come to mind. But we thought it would be more educational, and just as fun, to highlight some of this year’s scariest investments...
Read MoreOctober 26, 2009
The preacher: Tim Price, Director of Investment at PFP Wealth Management in the U.K. The converted: Steadyhand, Manager of the ‘undex’ funds. As noted in previous posts, I enjoy reading Mr. Price’s weekly note. He challenges the conventional thinking that...
Read MoreOctober 22, 2009
I’ve had lots of feedback on a posting I did on Balanced Funds – some as comments on the blog and other as feedback to me directly. A comment from a reader aptly named You Missed The Point said, “A good balanced fund with low fees and experienced with...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2009
In her Mutual Fund column in the October MoneySense magazine, Suzane Abboud looked at what balanced funds did through the market crisis, specifically how they managed their asset mix. A big part of the reason for owning a balanced fund is...
Read MoreOctober 2, 2009
In a recent posting (Complacency: A Major Misstep of Mutual Fund Investors), I talked about how commonplace fund mergers and manager changes have become in our industry. I referred to manager changes at Trimark, fund mergers at Ethical and...
Read MoreSeptember 16, 2009
I read that the recession is over. Both Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, and Mark Carney, the Bank of Canada Governor, have said so. I also read that out here on the wet coast, our provincial government has been dragging its...
Read MoreSeptember 15, 2009
Nokia is an interesting story. To many North Americans, the company is viewed as a has-been. While its cell phones may have been all the rage a decade ago, its star has fallen considerably as Apple and RIM have taken over as the market leaders thanks to...
Read MoreAugust 12, 2009
I walked into the office this morning to the news that AIC, the troubled fund company owned by Michael Lee-Chin, has been sold to Manulife. I smiled. I always smile when I hear that more consolidation has occurred in the wealth management industry. That’s...
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