Yearly Archives: 2013

no-cover
July 22, 2013
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Portfolio Management… Not Investment Management

Richard Croft

Portfolio management is not investment management. That may seem contradictory, but the distinction is important in terms of one’s financial health, And particularly relevant for investors who rely on their portfolio for income. A portfolio is the end result of a disciplined process that allocates an assortment of financial...

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11 years ago
no-cover
July 15, 2013
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Pulled Back In!

Richard Croft

Just when we thought we were out, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) pulls us back in! The markets were already turning the corner, as traders were starting to focus on real economic fundamentals rather than liquidity enhancements; what I have referred to in past blogs as visibility. Then, just as the markets were adapting to this...

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11 years ago
no-cover
July 09, 2013
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Energized?

Richard Croft

Canada’s May trade deficit was 70% of the deficit recorded in April. In what seems like a good news story, in reality it was the result of imports contracting at twice the rate of exports. The way to think about this data point is to envision a two edged sword slicing its way through the Canadian economy. Keeping in mind the...

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11 years ago
no-cover
July 05, 2013
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Strangling CIBC

Patrick Ceresna

The Canadian banks find themselves feeling a substantial hangover as the Canadian stock market continues to lag. The ongoing stories of the risks to the Canadian real estate market awaken fears of a U.S. style correction that would certainly leave question marks about the bank balance sheets. Debt continues to be a dominant...

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11 years ago
no-cover
July 03, 2013
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A Change In Visibility

Richard Croft

So much for last weeks’ commentary. Global financial markets did what they have for most of the year… exactly the opposite of consensus. Instead of following through on the sell-off that occurred two weeks ago, last week saw an about face. Pattern recognition is quickly becoming a lost art. The spotlight shifted away from...

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11 years ago
no-cover
June 24, 2013
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A Case for Comeco

Jason Ayres

A Case for Cameco Back in a May, a group of politicians in Japans parliament called for a return to nuclear power as a solution for overcoming the economic challenges of importing expensive economic fossil fuels. 2 years ago, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown that forced the shutdown of 48 out of 50...

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11 years ago
no-cover
June 24, 2013
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Tapering

Richard Croft

It did not take long for the markets to react to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s communique and subsequent clarifications following the Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The result; two successive days in which the Dow Industrial Average, and more importantly the Canadian equity markets, fell sharply only to stage a minor...

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11 years ago
no-cover
June 17, 2013
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Technical Backlash

Richard Croft

The year has been challenging for technicians. That’s the abbreviated term for technical analysts who attempt to predict market moves based on chart patterns. In the old days – twenty years ago – I use to kid that technical analysts did two things well; 1) they always provided an explanation as to why markets did not move...

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11 years ago
no-cover
June 11, 2013
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Beware Volatility

Jason Ayres

Option traders have been enjoying a period of low implied volatility for quite some time now. Periods of low implied volatility make option buying attractive as premiums trade at relative lows comparative to periods when implied volatility is high. In order to understand the implied volatility variable, we first have to...

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11 years ago
no-cover
June 10, 2013
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A Goldilocks’ Bear Call Spread

Richard Croft

The US Jobs report that was released on Friday painted an almost perfect goldilocks scenario. Something for everyone! Enough new jobs were created to support the thesis that the US economy is growing, albeit at a tepid pace. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose from 7.5% to 7.6% as more people entered the labour force....

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11 years ago
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