by David Baskin
February 7th, 2012
When I studied economics in university, we were taught that people are rational, fully informed, and always act to optimize their self interest. This being the case, certain assumptions could be safely made, and thus projections about how the economy would perform. Over the past almost four decades since I graduated, economists have demonstrated a [...]
by Barry Schwartz
January 27th, 2012
After languishing in $60 range for most of 2011, CP Rail’s stock exploded higher in December on news that activist hedge fund, Pershing Square, acquired a material position in the stock. Pershing’s goal is to shake-up the management at CP, by installing Hunter Harrison as CEO. Hunter is a legend in the railroad [...]
by Jeff Pollock
January 19th, 2012
With the Toronto Stock Exchange down 11.1% in 2011, few investors made money last year. It would have been much worse without the strong appreciation from dividend-paying stocks in the Utilities, Telecom, and Real Estate sectors. After all, almost half the exchange is comprised of Materials and Energy companies. Because clients at Baskin Financial Services [...]
by David Baskin
January 12th, 2012
An unusual thing happened in 2011 – at least unusual for the last decade. The US stock market outperformed the Canadian one. That makes twice since 2000. In the past twelve years, Canadians who kept their money here have done much better than those who bought US stocks. There are two [...]
by Jeff Pollock
December 21st, 2011
The “butterfly effect” isn’t difficult to understand. The phenomenon states that a change of circumstances in one region can disproportionately create a much greater change in another. Illustrating its proof through deriving academic formulas is possible but unnecessary. One need not look any further than the European debt crisis and its effect on domestic stock [...]
by Barry Schwartz
December 21st, 2011
1) I will try to consume less financial news media. A steady diet of CNBC, BNN, WSJ, FT, FP, G&M and lots of unhealthy blogs has left me bloated and sluggish. I will try to remember that the scary daily headlines and ramblings of those who don’t know any more than me are [...]
by Barry Schwartz
December 14th, 2011
As I left my house this morning, I made sure to remember to put three things in my jacket, cellphone, keys and wallet. As I walked to the subway station, I checked the weather conditions on my blackberry, then I checked the stock futures (that was a mistake) and then I checked [...]
by Jeff Pollock
December 9th, 2011
All eyes were glued to yesterday’s press conference from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. The news flow seemed positive as each headline crossed the wire. Interest rates were cut for the second consecutive month. The collateral requirements for bank lenders would ease further. Unlimited loan availability for banks would be lengthened to 3 [...]
by David Baskin
December 6th, 2011
On November 30th, the Government of Canada ten year bond had a yield of 2.15%. Not only is this low, or very low, it is the lowest yield in the 76 year history of this basic security. To put this into context, over that 76 years the average yield was 7%, and in [...]
by Jeff Pollock
December 1st, 2011
Many suggest that “it feels like a recession.” Much of the US data, however, suggests that it shouldn’t. The latest evidence can be found from just last week when the reported Black Friday sales figure increased year-over-year by a strong 6.6% (based on a survey of 40,000 retail locations). While this number is not historically [...]
