Healthy cash flow, an attractive price-to-book ratio, and a great global reach. These characteristics make Barrick Gold a great choice for investors looking for a safe haven during the ebb   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay ponders a dilemma: For stock market investors, negative news about the economy is good—positive news is bad. Go figure.
Skeptics like to say: “Seeing is believing.”   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay ponders a dilemma: For stock market investors, negative news about the economy is good—positive news is bad. Go figure.
Skeptics like to say: “Seeing is believing.”   Read More

Floating-rate preferred shares have advantages and disadvantages. You earn higher dividend income, along with the potential for capital gains, when interest rates rise. But the opposite can occur when rates   Read More

Suncor Energy has made a hostile takeover bid for Canadian Oil Sands. Suncor offered 0.25 of its own shares for each share of COS. Both these oil and gas stocks   Read More

There appears to be lots of cheer as the markets keep rising. But the 200-day moving average suggests this is a bear . . . in bull’s clothing. Understanding institutional   Read More

The European Central Bank, or ECB, ushered in a new era by launching an aggressive bond-buying program in January. The euro zone is one of the global economy’s biggest trouble   Read More

 “As a technical analyst, I tend to avoid making longer-term predictions about markets, sectors or commodity prices. I find that forecasting market movements or events out beyond a few months   Read More

“The good times are over.” So says Bill Gross, a co-founder of the world’s largest bond company, Pacific Investment Management Co., which is better known by its diminutive, “PIMCO.” Mr.   Read More

It’s the job of any financial writer to see through fresh eyes, to look for traps and false assumptions in the world of money. Investors who weathered the stormy bear markets of 2000 to 2003 and 2008 to 2009 know only too well what can happen to the unwary.   Read More

This past year, 2014, was a difficult one for Europe. According to estimates provided by The Economist, the euro area is likely to have grown just 0.8 per cent for   Read More

Hamilton, Ont.-based Ken Norquay is a CMT (Chartered Market Technician) and the author of the behavioural finance book Beyond the Bull which discusses the impact of your personality on your   Read More

Recently, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (or “OPEC”) decided against cutting its production. This sent the price of oil down further.

OPEC could have cut back its production to raise   Read More

We’ve always held a high opinion of dollar-cost averaging. That’s because we’ve often seen this investment strategy richly reward those who follow it.

To dollar-cost average, of course, you invest equal   Read More

Our investment planning committee regularly examines MDC Partners Inc. (TSX–MDZ.A) (NASDAQ—MDCA). Since we last looked at it at the start of the summer, the shares have risen by 5.1 per   Read More

“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” When Shelley wrote his famous poem “Ode to the West Wind”, he was looking forward to the gentler times of spring. Instead,   Read More

Key market indicators are back in a ‘buy’ mode and it’s time to buy says Keith Richards, a portfolio manager at ValueTrend Wealth Management in Barrie, Ontario.

“It’s no secret that   Read More

To avoid risk, think like a trader, says Ken Norquay, a Hamilton, Ontario-based Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and author of Beyond the Bull, a book about behavioral finance and the   Read More

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebecor Inc. (TSX–QBR.B) focuses primarily—but not only—on the Quebec market. Its sprawling communications and media empire includes cell phone, cable and Internet services, as well as a   Read More

Despite the negativity surrounding the state of manufacturing, especially in Canada, things are beginning to look decidedly better, says John Stephenson, CEO of Toronto-based Stephenson & Company Capital Management Inc.   Read More

The advantage of investing internationally lies mainly in broadened diversification, which cuts risk. Similarly, you can cut risk by investing in dividend-paying stocks.

Here are two complementary exchange-traded funds that together   Read More

Sometimes it’s worth doing your own analysis, says Keith Richards, portfolio manager at Barrie, Ontario-based Value Trend Wealth Management. It may result in a satisfying contrarian payoff.

At Value Trend, says   Read More

Paying capital gains taxes may be an inevitable result of successful investing. But the longer you can delay the inevitable, the greater will be your ultimate success.

Sector funds offer aggressive   Read More

State Street Corp. provides big institutional investors with investment research, investment management, investment servicing and trading services. It recently reported on the cash holdings of individual investors. In Canada, individual   Read More

Valuations for smaller biotechnology and internet stocks are stretched, the U.S. Federal Reserve warned in its Monetary Policy Report delivered to the U.S. Congress recently.

But writing in The MoneyLetter, John   Read More

“This year’s Annual General Meeting could not have mirrored today’s real-life world and stock markets better. What a template! Talk about proven – and inspirational – value investing.”

So enthused Michael   Read More

When it comes to investing, it’s important that you invest your time as well as your money. That’s particularly true of portfolio planning.

For example, if you invest solely in Canadian   Read More

Following the announcement that its second-quarter profit fell by nearly two-thirds from the first quarter, the CIBC’s shares fell 1.4 per cent to $97.68 on the day its results were   Read More

Here are three real estate investment trusts that we recommend for buying at recent prices.

Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust or CREIT (TSX-REF.UN), delivered strong financial results in its first quarter,   Read More

Here’s a bond exchange traded fund (ETF) that arranges its portfolio in the same way you should if you’re setting up your own fixed-income portfolio. Its yield-to-maturity is low but   Read More

A look back at some investment hits and misses

When I worked for a major brokerage firm many years ago, I was always amazed to see how few of the Investment   Read More

Look beyond North America’s borders and benefit from ADR investing

ADRs, or American Depositary Receipts make it easy for you to buy overseas companies and provide you with an extra measure   Read More

This overly bullish market may be expecting a pullback this summer. Time to.. Get Defensive!

There has been a noticeable rotation lately out of higher-risk securities such as biotech, U.S. Small   Read More

World markets currently less desirable than developed markets, where some of the best opportunities lie in the oil patch..

March was a volatile month for the markets, with worries over global   Read More

Husky Energy (TSK-HSE, $35.12). An integrated Canadian energy stocks major, 70 per cent controlled by Hutchinson Whampao of Hong Kong, that was included in my Canadian Stocks Dozen for 2014   Read More

Five spring times ago, the doomsayers were running roughshod. This spring, the principal worries are of how much longer a bull run for the ages can last, how big the   Read More

Worries over emerging markets continue, but North America looks poised for a recovery

The stock market has been in quite a funk these last few weeks.

Expectations of a reduction in stimulus   Read More

I continue to advise you to bet on the big five Canadian bank stocks: That is, Bank of Montreal (TSX-BMO), Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce   Read More

TransAlta Corp. (TSX-TA, $12.65) has long been the acknowledged weak sister in my Canadian Stocks for Dividends 6-Pak. I concluded my last article (February/First Report) keeping my fingers crossed for   Read More

Some of my research involves sentiment indicators, which measure the level of bullish or bearish behavior by two distinct groups of investors.

One group, sometimes referred to as the “smart   Read More

At first glance, it appears that small stocks do much better than big stocks.

But look closer and both groups do about the same most of the time.

From 1926 through 2006,   Read More

One of the most important investment principles you can follow is to sidestep investments you don’t understand.

It’s a principle that some of the most successful, well-known investors, such as Warren   Read More

– Ken Norquay

We profit from the downtrend of the Canadian dollar by increasing the foreign content of our overall portfolios.

Investors who have owned U.S. stocks since 2011 know exactly what   Read More

– John Stephenson, CFA

After the banner finish to the market last year, the price action on the S&P 500 has so far been somewhat dismal with stocks consolidating and digesting   Read More

– Ken Norquay, CMT


Is there an economic indicator that can help the average investor sort out the long-term ups and downs of the financial markets?


In my book, Beyond the Bull,   Read More

– Marc Johnson, CFA

Here’s a quick and easy way to spot a possible takeover candidate.

First, add the company’s total debt plus other obligations that an acquiror would have to assume.   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

 
Parents of children face large demands on their cash flow. They likely service a high mortgage, pay off their   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

 
– John Stephenson, CFA For better or for worse, Obamacare is now the law of the land in the   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

– Keith Richards

As we begin the New Year, many of us find ourselves reflecting on past decisions we’ve made   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

 
If you want to include only exchange-traded funds for your portfolio, we’ve suggested in the past that you keep   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

Markets have come roaring back lately, fueled by optimism that the Fed is in no hurry to start scaling   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

According to Keith Richards (Portfolio Manager at Value Trend), the major U.S. markets have entered into a new mega-year   Read More