News Tidbits

14-Oct-2011 | Reggie | Asia Banks Bonds Canadian Investing Commodities

 

Canadian banks managed to escape the debt crisis of 2008 without much trouble thanks to their safe balance sheets and relatively high capitalization ratio.  That safety is paying off 3 years later as banks in Europe are once again struggling with high debt levels.  In order to raise capital, Euro banks are unloading assets and Canadian banks are in great shape to snap those up.  So far RBC has grabbed up some assets from Dutch bank Dexia and will probably get more.

 

Inflation in China is down slightly from their highs which came as a bit of a relief to Chinese authorities who have been struggling hard to get rising prices under control.  Over the past year, China has constantly raised interest rates and bank reserve rates in an effort to get inflation under control and it finally seems to be working.  Food prices are still up significantly which means that there likely won’t be any rate decreases in the near term future.

 

Bill Gross: “This year is a stinker.” This comment was made by the world’s biggest bond manager in his October newsletter.  He attributes the poor performance to investors moving into US government bonds as European debt issues continued.  The PIMCO bond fund was positioned to perform best in a scenario of about 2% global growth.

 

Oil price rise over $3.00 thanks to strong economic data released today.  The price increase is being mainly attributed to strong US consumer spending, increased bank lending in China, and the G20 meeting where the European debt issues continue to

 

Occupy Wall Street continues in New York and spreads throughout the world.  The protesters that have been basing their operations out of Zuccotti park will be allowed to continue to camp out in the park thanks to the Canadian real estate trust, Brookfield Asset Management.  Brookfield owns and controls the park in downtown New York.  The movement has gained more momentum as folks and businesses continue to make the endorsement and activists spring up in different cities throughout the globe.  The Canadian Auto Workers union is one of the latest to give their encouragement to the movement.

 

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Benchmark Interest Rate to hold Steady

08-Sep-2011 | Reggie | Banks Canadian Investing

 

Today the Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney announced that he will once again be leaving interest rates flat, as he has for the past 8 meetings.  This was not much of a surprise as the Canadian economy struggled to put forth positive growth data for the 2nd quarter.  In his announcement he made mention that he was not worried about the Canadian economy as it seems to be growing, but for the rest of the world which could have a deep impact on our exports as Europe and the United States continue to struggle with debt and employment issues.

 

The stock market reacted quite well to the announcement, jumping up by 200 points for the TSX, 75 for the NASDAQ, and 275, for the DJIA.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Self Employed Pension Plan

21-Dec-2010 | kate | Budgeting Canadian Investing Economy Estate Planning Government New Announcements

For once they agreed. Federal and provincial finance ministers agreed on creating a system that would encourage self employed and employees of small firms to save for retirement. The minister had different views on how to ensure Canadian have enough saved for retirement but they did agree that they want to make sure that employers are not put under a burden by the new plan. The Pooled Registered Pension Plan, called PRPP’s for short will be used to increase retirement savings for individuals with out a corporate pension fund. Employer contribution will be determined by the provincial registration. PRPP will enlist insurance companies and financial institutions to administer then new saving plan network which will make it easier and cheaper for small companies to offer employee sponsored pension plans to their workers on a voluntary basis. Self employed would be able to contribute to the pooled pension plan under the government proposal. The terms for PRPP’s will be worked out next June, where they will also be working on trying to a consensus on changes to the Canada Pension Plan. So far, there have been no estimates of how many people would join the plan and how much it would cost them per year and the expected savings that the plan would generate.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Banking Stress Test

13-Jul-2010 | kate | Banks Europe

The European Commission has finally agreed on the criteria for the “Stress Test” which will be given to 91 European banks. The idea behind the stress test is to test the banks’ ability to withstand various scenarios so that fundamental issues in the banking system can be exposed and then addressed.

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors announced last week that they will test “adverse scenario’s” in which the EU GDP is three percentage points lower than the current forecast for the next two years. And will set a minimum capital basis for banks to maintain. The test, however, will vary unemployment, inflation and GDP on a country-by-country basis.

The purpose of the stress test is to help restore consumer confidence, as evidenced by the 36% increase in US banking stocks following the release of their test results. The test is made to help reassure consumers that the banks will survive the difficult scenarios and come out stronger on the other side. As a result the test has been made hard enough to be realistic, but no too difficult that too many financial institutions will fail. The European Commission faced a difficult task as their issue is complicated by a possibility that one or more country may default on their loans.

With market funding pretty much none existence to some of the EU banks, the banks are welcoming the stress test. Countries like Spain and Portugal, who have been borrowing form the European Central bank, are becoming passionate advocators of the American Style stress test to restore confidence.

The stress test is done by an independent body examining the banks books, losses and making the results public as to force the banks to raise more capital and restore confidence. The results of the EU bank stress test results should be made public in mid to late July.

The EU hasn’t yet decided whether or not they will provide cash to banks that fail the test, meaning that some countries could have trouble finding a bail out. European lenders have already loaned out 2.29 trillion to at risk EU countries by 2009.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Goldman Sachs still in the headlines for all the wrong reasons

19-May-2010 | Reggie | Stocks US Markets USA

Goldman Sachs managed to further its reputation as one of the biggest villains of the United States even after having one of the world’s richest men stick up for it.  Many thought Goldman couldn’t be more evil after allegations they made bets against their own clients and US homeowners, but they may have found another way to tick off the world.  As the most successful firm on Wall Street many seek out Goldman for advice on how to make money as a trader.  If you would have followed the 11 recommendations Goldman analysts made last quarter, you would have lost money on 9 of those.

This came as quite a surprise to many after the phenomenal success Goldman had for itself over the same period.  Goldman made money every single day of trading over the first quarter.  This is apparently an issue that has come up before.  Back in 2007 the United States Senate questioned Goldman about whether they were better at making money for themselves than their clients.  So far the only response regarding the subject has been an inter-office email from Peter Kraus, the head of the Investment Management division to CEO, Lloyd Blankfein which read that individual clients occasionally make comments like “ur good at making money for urself but not us.”

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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