Asset-backed securities offer an attractive alternative to money market instruments such as guaranteed investment certificates and government bonds. They are debt investment vehicles issued against a pool of assets such as trade receivables, loans, leases and mortgages. They typically contain credit quality enhancements, such as a letter of credit from a highly rated financial institution, […] Read more
Stories by Ian Morrison
Is it the right time to buy bonds? – Capital Ideas
Bond investors know just how bad the first half of 2001 has been. The Canadian benchmark 10-year bond has fallen 40 basis points in yield since the beginning of the year. After that kind of thumping, it may seem tempting to shy away from the bond market in the hope that equities and the economy […] Read more
North American small caps: rally under way but for how long? – Capital Ideas
As interest rates have declined in North America, small-cap stock performance has responded favorably. By definition, small-cap companies that trade on a public exchange have market capitalizations, that is stock price multiplied by shares outstanding, of less than $500 million in Canada and $1 billion in the United States. Historically, small cap companies tend to […] Read more
Capital-protected closed-end funds – Capital Ideas
Canada has had publicly traded, closed-end equity funds since the 1920s, although they have represented a relatively small segment of the market. Over the past year, however, a number of well-established investment managers have introduced a new breed of closed-end funds to Canada. Capital-protected closed-end funds are securities that have raised more than $3 billion, […] Read more
Hedge funds weather the market – Capital Ideas
Hedge funds have exploded onto the Canadian marketplace since the beginning of the year. They have now gone mainstream and are more affordable. Estimated to be a $400 billion industry in the United States, the Canadian market represents a small but growing fraction of that at about $5 billion. Most Canadian mutual fund line-ups now […] Read more
Recession not in the cards – Capital Ideas
At this time last year, markets around the globe were focused on growth investments, growth fueled by feverish increases in the price of technology stocks and expectations of sustained economic expansion. Now, enthusiasm for growth investing has been replaced by fears about fizzling technology stocks, declining consumer confidence and a hard economic landing. The concern […] Read more
Business change affects Schneider’s quarter results
Schneider Corp. has reported net earnings of just under $5.4 million for the first quarter, down 51 percent from the same quarter last year. One reason for the drop was a change in reporting period that resulted when Schneider moved it fiscal year-end to correspond with its owner, Smithfield Foods. This quarter is now a […] Read more
U.S. company buys biotech firm BioStar
Saskatoon-based BioStar has found a Canadian company can’t go it alone in the expensive business of developing leading edge animal and human health products. So the biotechnology company, spun off from the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization almost 20 years ago, last week announced it is being bought by MetaMorphix Inc., a privately held agricultural biotechnology […] Read more
Klein has own view
QUEBEC CITY – Alberta premier Ralph Klein last week said the answer to low prairie farm incomes is not more direct federal aid but more deregulation. During a premiers’ conference Feb. 3 to pressure Ottawa to use its Feb. 28 budget as a way to bolster the health-care system, Klein signed a letter to prime […] Read more
