Monthly Commentaries

Aug 1, 2016

“A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one selected by experts.” Burton Malkiel – A Random Walk Down Wall...

Jul 8, 2016

A Look at Negative Rates For as long as we can remember, zero was considered the lowest interest rates could go. Anyone espousing that they could go lower received as much attention as ‘flat...

Jul 1, 2016

“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” Confucius Graham and Dodd (two rather wise men) once referred to fixed income investing as ‘the negative art’. This is because unlike equities...

Jun 1, 2016

“But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the freshwater system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” Monty Python After...

May 1, 2016

“The house doesn’t beat the player. It just gives him the opportunity to beat himself.” Nick the Greek For this month’s commentary we are following our colleague Brian on a field trip to the...

Apr 1, 2016

“The waiting is the hardest part” Tom Petty Waiting is one of the most frustrating yet inevitable parts of life. We are all waiting for something. And when that something comes, we’ll move on to...

Mar 1, 2016

“It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.” Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ‘Twas a warm summer’s day in August when equities ventured down a mysterious rabbit...

Feb 1, 2016

“Waves are not measured in feet or inches, they are measured in increments of fear” Buzzy Trent Warren Buffet famously quipped that ‘only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming...

Jan 1, 2016

“I hate to lose more than I like to win.” Larry Bird If you were watching your stock portfolio closely last month, you were reminded of just how much losing hurts. Behavioural economists postulate...

Dec 1, 2015

“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” Winston Churchill After a difficult 2015, which saw the TSX down over 11% and jokes of the northern peso...

Nov 1, 2015

The topic du jour in the corporate bond world is liquidity, or more specifically the lack there of. Despite significant growth in the size of the market, it has become increasingly more difficult...

Nov 1, 2015

“The luck of the third adventure is proverbial.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning After seven years at zero and nine years since the last hike, ‘Lady Janet of Brooklyn’ is poised to move interest rates...