Caisse delves further into infrastructure projects

BERTRAND MAROTTE  

The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec is deepening its involvement in infrastructure projects through a partnership in a consortium making a $1.25-billion (U.S.) takeover offer for an Australian gas pipeline owner. Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Betting on the farm

BRIAN MILNER  

bmilner@globeandmail.comWhen Shonda Warner first set out to attract wealthy investors for a fund to acquire farmland across the vast U.S. grain belt, she was almost laughed out of the drawing room. That was back in the halcyon days of 2006, when ordinary mutual funds were delivering double-digit returns, gold gained 19 per cent and mortgage-backed securities and other derivative-based junk were still being snapped up by unwary institutional investors. Heck, even cash accounts were bringing in something north of 4 per cent. Monday, May 14, 2012

Investors prefer bullion: A less-than-golden year for precious metal equity funds

SHIRLEY WON  

swon@globeandmail.comWhat are we looking for?How bullion and precious metals stock funds have fared over the past year.The screenLet's look for the eight best and worst performers among precious metals equity and bullion funds for the year ended April 30. (Some funds may have a mix of stocks and bullion.) U.S. dollar, segregated and duplicate versions of funds were excluded. Monday, May 14, 2012

Why index investing isn't for everyone

ROB CARRICK  

rcarrick@globeandmail.comNo one feels a stock market slump like an index investor.The Canadian market is dominated by energy and metals, which are among the worst-performing sectors this year. Meanwhile, the micro-sectors of our market - health care, consumer staples and consumer discretionary - are the top performers. If you own the index, you own a lot of what's not working and next to nothing of what is. Saturday, May 12, 2012

A peek behind the curtain of covered call ETFs

TOM BRADLEY  

Tom Bradley is president of Steadyhand Investment Funds.tbradley@steadyhand.comA long-standing investment strategy is back in vogue. ''Covered call writing'' is designed to generate income from a stock by selling a call option against it (the right to buy the stock at a set price in the future). While the strategy has been around forever, what's new is covered call ETFs, which now total over $1.5-billion. The BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF (ZWB) was the second-best selling exchange-traded fund in 2011 and is a sales leader again this year. The Horizons Enhanced Income Equity ETF (HEX) is the other large fund in the category and is growing rapidly. Saturday, May 12, 2012

Shining stars since the dark days of 2009

SHIRLEY WON  

swon@globeandmail.comWhat are we looking for?Stars among Canadian stock funds since the market bottomed in March, 2009.Let's see which funds have managed to navigate through the wild market swings since the global credit crisis, and come up with sparkling returns. Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Shedding light on MERs, slumping gold stocks and RRSPs

JOHN HEINZL  

jheinzl@globeandmail.comWhen I look at a mutual fund price quotation, is that how much I'll get if I sell that day, or does the management expense ratio (MER) have to be deducted first? Friday, May 04, 2012

The nitty-gritty on ETF payouts

ROB CARRICK  

rcarrick@globeandmail.comEven the most useful and sensible of investing products can turn out to be more complex than you thought.Exchange-traded funds that pay monthly income are a good example. Put them on your short list if you need a well-diversified, low-cost way to squeeze income from your investment dollars, but mind the details. Two areas to focus on: yield, and the extent to which a return of capital is present in the monthly payouts. Saturday, April 28, 2012

A brutal year for resource-focused funds

SHIRLEY WON  

swon@globeandmail.comWhat are we looking for?The biggest fund losers over the past year: Let's look at funds that have struggled the most amid uncertainties arising from the euro-zone debt crisis, the slowing Chinese economy and a tepid U.S. recovery. Tuesday, April 24, 2012