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Energy a favourite of small-capitalization fund
swon@globeandmail.com WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?Every quarter, we check out what stocks some mutual fund managers have been buying.The top holdings, which some funds reveal after every month or at least quarterly, can be a source of investment ideas for your own portfolio.
Dividend lovers take note
INVESTMENT REPORTER Attention dividend investors: You haven't missed the boat.True, the stock market has been on steroids since hitting its March lows, but there are still plenty of juicy dividend yields out there.
Got stock-phobia? Mix and match ETFs
When financial markets are in turmoil and the economy is on the ropes, the thought of buying individual stocks strikes terror into the hearts of many investors, especially those planning for retirement. What if the company gets into trouble and has to chop its dividend, or worse, files for bankruptcy protection or even liquidation? Nortel or Circuit City, anyone?
Assessing the newsletters in a tough market year
The stock market volatility we've seen lately is the sort of thing that makes investors question their ability to pick stocks and mutual funds.This brings us to investing newsletters, which provide expert stock and fund recommendations. Can you depend on them for guidance in difficult markets? The answer, based on a snapshot review of the picks made a little over a year ago by five investing newsletters, is a qualified yes. Some newsletters did well, others stumbled. The message to investors: Tough stocks markets humble both pro and amateur alike.
Sceptre fund outperforms
Back in the 1990s, I had nothing but good things to say about the Sceptre Equity Growth Fund. Manager Alan Jacobs was able to produce terrific returns for investors year after year, under all economic conditions.
Commodity wary? Try custom indexing
Index investing in the Canadian market today sort of resembles the 1854 British cavalry attack that was immortalized by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his poem The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Small-cap scene spurs manager to play it safe
The valuations being accredited some Canadian small-cap stocks are making fund manager Christopher Fernyc a little nervous. He remembers only too well what happened in August, 1998, when the Canadian small-cap market lost 20 per cent in a single month.
Fund manager expects S&P/TSX to slide this year
Fund manager Pierre Bernard thinks fair value for the SandP/TSX composite index is 9,900, which is considerably below its current level of 11,816.46. He expects Canada's benchmark index to drop this year -- it is just a question of how much.
Small, hidden gems
Good things come in little packages, they say. Indeed they do. In fact, the smaller fund companies in Canada have a disproportionate share of top-level performers.
It's hard to find any other valuable trees in TSX's forest of oil and banks
Pity the poor Canadian portfolio manager. So much cash to play with, so few ways to sensibly use it.The good news for the country's mutual fund managers is that the investing public no longer treats them like they've got some ghastly, contagious disease. Faith has returned, bearing cheques. Canadian fund firms took in $1.9-billion in net sales last month, the best July in at least four years (give or take a few million, for these days you never know when the cops are going to raid one of them and accuse them of falsifying the books). Considering fund investors' long and not-so-proud record as a contrary indicator, this is an excellent sign that the stock market is due to cool off.
