Ian Morrison

Despite worries over Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the Far East, China has exhibited an astonishing pace of economic growth. Research house Credit Suisse First Boston expects Chinese gross domestic product growth to exceed 8.5 percent in 2003. To put this in perspective, my estimates as of Sept. 29 are for GDP growth of 1.9 […] Read more

With the school year under way, you might want to consider stocks in companies that are positioned to benefit from the growth in spending on our youth as they prepare for another year in the classroom. The following are a few Canadian ideas to consider for the equity portion of portfolios. Sears Canada Inc. is […] Read more

Recently, dividend-paying corporations were considered old-economy firms whose managers lacked the vigour to use the money for acquisition or reinvestment. During the technology bubble, interest in dividend yield waned. Investors were often less interested in a quarterly income flow than double-digit capital gains. But the bear market has changed perspectives. Dividends have become a successful […] Read more

News that a cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was found in Alberta precipitated various reactions to food industry stocks in North America, given the potential for widespread consumer and business panic around the consumption of beef. The experience of BSE outbreaks in Europe and Japan was that consumer behaviour was driven more by headlines […] Read more

Just like a well-needed dose of rain and heat during the growing season, we finally had a month in the markets that was showered with positive news. Barron’s, an American business publication, capped the trend by speculating the return of the bull market. This may be a bold prediction, given the false market bounces we’ve […] Read more

Financing, or underwriting as it is sometimes called, is the process by which a company or government raises capital either publicly or privately. For corporations, this can be accomplished by an initial public offering, or IPO. The process may vary depending upon whether the security is equity, or corporate or government debt. An IPO is […] Read more

Despite continuing uncertainty in the broader markets caused by the war in Iraq and terrorism, the income trust sector continues to perform well. Since the beginning of the year, the S&P/TSX Canadian Income Trust Index has provided returns of 2.3 percent as of March 13. This compares to the S&P/TSX Total Return Index, which has […] Read more

In today’s market environment, investors are obsessed with yield. In past columns I have noted investors’ increased interest in securities such as income trusts and closed-end funds for yield pick-up. High-yield debt is often regarded as fixed income that offers the highest risk-reward tradeoff. To achieve high yields, these debt instruments may have lower ratings, […] Read more

Equity investments outperform all other financial assets over the long term. So, why is it that some people fare poorly when investing in stocks, even in years when the stock market is producing stellar returns? To suggest that these people have simply invested in the wrong companies is unfortunately only half the answer. For those […] Read more

As seeding progresses, you might be wondering how the agrochemical companies are doing. They too have been coping with adverse commodity markets and also might have to deal with a backlash of public opinion about products such as genetically modified seed. This has created a climate of change within the ag-biotech sector as agrochemical companies […] Read more