"Canada’s aging population is likely a leading cause of the systematic undershooting of inflation we have seen since the financial crisis,” says Ambler. March 27, 2018 – Canada’s aging population has acted as a drag on the effectiveness of monetary policy since the financial crisis, according...
Read MoreCommodity Prices Not Best Predictor of Loonie February 8, 2018—Contrary to popular belief, commodity prices are not the best predictor of the future exchange rate for the Canadian dollar, according to new research from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Understanding the Volatility of the Canadian Exchange...
Read MoreEconomic Progress Doesn’t Equate to Market Returns (Morningstar Research Oct 2017) by : Daniel Sotiroff One of the pillars of virtually every investment thesis for emerging-markets stocks is these countries’ current or potential growth rates. The rationale typically follows the line that sustained high economic growth will fuel high rates of return for...
Read MoreDid you know that 41% of investors who plan to drop their financial advisor rate “Friendly” as the advisor’s top personality trait? 75% of those who adore their advisors rate “Professional” highest. What personality traits do Canadian investors tent to ascribe to their financial advisors?...
Read MoreSmall Caps: The Easy Game for Active Managers? The odds may be better for small-cap managers, but they're still long. By Christopher Davis | Aug 22 2017 Imagine you've entered a poker tournament and have the choice to sit at one of two tables. Seated at table one are enthusiastic newbies...
Read MoreAn analysis of dividend-oriented equity strategies ■We examine two popular dividend strategies, high-dividend-yielding and dividend growth equities, exploring their similarities and differences and considering implications for their use in the context of portfolio construction relative to both high-quality fixed income and equities. ■ Our analysis finds that...
Read MoreHave Strategic-Beta ETFs Delivered For Investors? by Ben Johnson, CFA, Director, Global ETF Research and Editor, Morningstar, June 2017 Conclusion: Strategic-beta ETFs attempt to marry the best attributes of active and passive approaches to security selection. Their undeniable advantages over the majority of their actively managed peers include their relatively...
Read MoreKey Takeaways × Over the past five years, flexible bond portfolios have generally exchanged interest-rate risk for some other type of risk, whether high-yield corporate, emerging-markets debt, structured credit, or currency risk. × High correlations to credit-sensitive sectors and equity markets reduce the appeal of funds in...
Read MoreWith Emmanuel Macron’s defeat of the rightwing populist Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election, the EU and the euro have dodged a bullet. But geopolitical risks are continuing to proliferate. The populist backlash against globalisation in the west will not be stilled by Macron’s...
Read MoreWhen Conventional Wisdom Fails Underappreciated Risks of Fixed Income’s Flagship Benchmark For thirty years, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (Agg) has been the most widely used proxy for the U.S. fixed income market. The index represents the investment-grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. Despite...
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