In this market, it's tempting to scrap low-return investments for riskier fare. But the move can have unintended consequences.
Government fiscal stimulus and central bank programs are trying to motivate businesses and consumers to spend more by keeping the interest costs low, but at the detriment of long-term savers.
The U.S. economic recovery is well underway. So we can sit back and watch our investment portfolios grow steadily - right?
The U.S. economic recovery is well underway. So we can sit back and watch our investment portfolios grow steadily — right?
The U.S. economic recovery is well underway. So we can sit back and watch our investment portfolios grow steadily – right? Not so fast. There’s still the pesky issue of a record-high consumer debt-to-income ratio blemishing the otherwise sparkling visage of the equity market landscape, particularly in Canada. The issue is by no means trivial: […]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke continues to stand against allowing the U.S. economy to enter a period of deflation, an economic condition he believes would spell long-lasting financial hardship for Americans. His solution — the centrepiece of a monetary control philosophy often referred to as the Bernanke Doctrine — is to open the valves of the U.S. money supply and let the dollars flow into the economy. The availability of so much cheap money, the theory goes, would stimulate spending in all corners and give the economy a much-needed nudge towards a renewed era of sustained growth.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke continues to stand against allowing the U.S. economy to enter a period of deflation, an economic condition he believes would spell long-lasting financial hardship for Americans. His solution — the centrepiece of a monetary control philosophy often referred to as the Bernanke Doctrine — is to open the valves of the U.S. money supply and let the dollars flow into the economy. The availability of so much cheap money, the theory goes, would stimulate spending in all corners and give the economy a much-needed nudge towards a renewed era of sustained growth.
Last month, I talked about the secular bear markets of the 20th century and how they, by necessity, impact the approach people should take with their equity investments.
Recently, in a column in The Globe and Mail, a respected chief economist with a large Canadian investment management firm declared the ongoing economic malaise in the U.S. is, in fact, a full-fledged economic depression, not simply a garden-variety recession. The evidence he presented was compelling: Scarce credit availability; Record-high levels of lasting unemployment; Feeble […]