After years of strong returns, the commodity sector has taken a serious beating the last few months. Crude prices in particular have been hit hard, with a barrel of oil falling from a peak of $145 in July to around $58 in mid-November. With one of Canada’s most prized growth areas suddenly stalling, what’s going […]
With the markets still in freefall and housing prices continuing to drop, it doesn’t look as though America’s financial future is going to turn around anytime soon. Peter Drake, Fidelity’s vice-president of retirement and economic research, says the bottom might not be far off, though three things have to happen first. “U.S. housing prices need […]
If you mentioned the names Bear Stearns, Ospraie and Sowood to investors a year ago, their eyes would likely have lit up with dollar signs flashing across their retinas. These hedge funds were powerful players, making big returns and helping investors get rich. But utter a word about these companies to investors today and you’ll […]
When Desjardins Group announced Monday that it was closing two lines of its principal-protected notes (PPNs), it was just another nail in the coffin for the once-popular investment vehicle. Over the last few years it seemed as if everyone was offering PPNs, but lately that hasn’t been the case; Sun Life, for one, hasn’t issued […]
While many clients are worried that their RRSPs will be affected by the market downturn, a new survey shows that most investors aren’t panicked enough to stop contributing to their registered savings account. A poll commissioned by Edward Jones revealed that 66% of Canadians won’t make any changes to their RRSP this year. “We thought […]
With markets in a non-stop freefall — Asian markets were down between 800 and 1200 points Friday morning — the chatter around whether or not we’ve hit the bottom is growing. But many people worry that we won’t hit rock bottom until we’ve seen “market capitulation,” which means everyone’s so fed up with the markets […]
If you think America’s economic fortunes can’t get any worse, think again. One American economist says the States is heading for one of the worst inflationary periods of its existence. John Williams, founder of the website Shadow Government Statistics, which offers alternative economic data to what the feds release, says the country can expect to […]
With pension plans losing money thanks to the market downturn, clients are becoming increasingly worried about whether they’ll have money left for retirement. And they have reason to be nervous. The majority of plan members in Canada participate in defined contribution (DC) pension plans. These act like RRSPs, with members contributing money into different funds; […]
(October 2008) Flip through any travel magazine and you’ll see bright, glossy photos of a majestic Dubai, one of the Middle East’s most sought-after tourist destinations. The port city, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, boasts a population of about 1.4 million, but it’s the local tourism industry, which attracts about 5 million […]
Although most advisors would tell their clients not to sell, even as their portfolios take a big hit, a lot of investors are still getting out of the market. Luckily for panicky clients, bailing out of tanking investments means they’ve just accumulated capital losses. The benefit of a capital loss is that it can be […]