The World Bank estimates that total world population is about 7.43B at the end of 2016. By 2050, the world will have about 9.71B people. That is an annualized 0.79% natural growth rate. Productivity, the other main factor of growth, has been running about 0.5%
The last time our three key Canadian dollar indicators lined up like this, the Canadian dollar rallied from 67 cents to 80 cents in early 2016. The most stable longer-term driver of the Canadian-U.S. Dollar exchange rate is the interest rate differential between short-term bond
We get many questions on foreign currency hedging. When investing globally in developed markets, currency is often the most important consideration in the difference in returns. With the French election uncertainty mostly behind us and most strategists suggesting Europe is getting stronger, what is the
As I scan the ETF world each day to look for good value, there are not many places to find it. So, despite my long-term view that energy prices are at best range bound, dividends are now attractive again on a risk-adjusted basis, compared to
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets this week and word is they will begin planning how to reduce the balance sheet. Yellen has long said the Fed has a plan to do this. At a high level, the US economy has been growing at
I’ve been asked a dozen times in the past few days about Home Capital Group. My look at it combines some fundamental, technical, and a general understanding of the housing market. Conclusion: Avoid the stock because there are going concern issues. Speculators love to catch
The government shutdown. It’s happened before – a lot! In 1995-96, the government was shut down for one month. The Congressional Budget Office estimated it cost the US economy about 0.5 per cent of its GDP that quarter. So, from a major economic perspective it’s
Our own Robyn Graham is featured in this recent Globe article: Every basis point counts in this low-yield world. That’s especially true for retirees, who need steady returns from their portfolios. In this respect, ETFs can help. They often have management expense ratios of less
The only free lunch on Wall Street is diversification. Putting assets in your portfolio that can help reduce your risk is the prudent thing to do. For 15 years, analysts and strategists have been telling you to be bearish on bonds – that prices would
Last week Bank of Canada Governor Poloz tossed a bit of a curveball to investors. There is no doubt the unbelievable Canadian employment numbers have been improving. When I say unbelievable I mean not credible, rather than “wow they have been so impressive”. Despite the