CIBC World Markets senior economist Avery Shenfeld took a Canada-specific look at the subprime mortgage meltdown last week, concluding that recent selling on the Toronto Stock Exchange is driven by “unwarranted fears” the American malady would spread north because of its impact on global growth. Read More

A year ago, the Canadian trust market still had a few disturbing resemblances to Vancouver penny stocks in the 1980s. As I wrote in the August 2006 issue, many trusts were set up for one thing: to carry a big enough yield long enough to snare investor dollars and pay off the original backers and underwriters. Read More

Natural gas prices have softened up again, just weeks after their recovery looked set. The primary culprit is the mild start to the summer cooling season, coupled with better timing on the part of power utilities for keeping their cheaper, baseload coal and nuclear plants on line during months of peak demand. Read More

The rally that carried many Canadian trusts back to pre-Halloween 2006 levels officially ground to a halt last month. The key questions now are what it will take to get it back on track and when that’s likely to happen. Read More

Only in the Canadian income trust universe is a 10 percent-plus yield not a warning of dire risks. In fact, in this fear-drenched market, you can scoop up extremely high-quality businesses throwing off even higher distributions. Read More

No doubt about it. This market prefers private-capital takeovers to mergers between Canadian royalty and income trusts. Read More

Any advisor labeling anything but the shortest-duration, government-backed debt a safe haven after the onslaught of uncertainty unleashed by last week’s action in the US equity markets is the financial industry equivalent of Chip Diller plaintively wailing, "All is well...," as the citizens of Faber rush the homecoming parade route in a Delta-induced frenzy. Read More

Many of you with young children or grandchildren will head out to your local orchard soon, as the leaves begin to change, for some foliage-watching, hayride-taking and apple-picking. (And yes, it’s a little soon to speak of fall rituals while still so deep in summer.) Read More