“An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.” Evan Esar The passage of one year into the next is marked by some interesting customs and traditions.  Americans watch the ball drop, Spaniards eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight, and the Danes smash crockery on […]

“Tomorrow is promised to no one.” Clint Eastwood One More Sleep.   Every Canadian bond nerd has tomorrow circled in their calendar.  It is the day the Bank of Canada (BoC) delivers its latest installment in what has been an aggressive series of rate increases. So far this year, they have taken the overnight rate […]

“Fashions fade. Style is eternal.” Yves Saint Laurent For years, ultra-low yields led to fixed income falling out of fashion and being discarded from racks in favour of cooler, hipper trends.  Bonds were bullied off the catwalk and out of portfolios with taunts of ‘return-free-risk’ and ‘there is no alternative (TINA).’ Then this year, bonds […]

“They’re back.” Poltergeist After a long and dormant hiatus, it seems that ‘bond vigilantes’ are making a comeback.  The term, first coined in the early 80s by Ed Yardeni, refers to investors selling bonds to drive up yields and thus a government’s borrowing costs. It is a form of bond market activism to protest monetary […]

“The human brain is special. It starts working as soon as you get up and it doesn’t stop until you get to school.” Milton Berle For millions of students and teachers, it is that dreaded time of year again, back to school.  The long days of summer fun are relegated to the memory bank, as […]