Invest Skeptically

As a Canadian who invests heavily in U.S. stocks it alarms me to see the value of the USD slide against the CAD (and every other major currency) so far and so fast. Is this a sign of overall bearishness towards U.S. assets? Although many large cap names derive significant revenues from overseas, I’m finding [...]

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Over the last few weeks there has been intense media coverage of U.S. subprime mortgages (still), the securitization of such (still), Canadian ABCP programs (that’s new), and demands for new regulation (gasp). After much Googling and newspaper-flipping here are some of my comments.
U.S. Subprime Mortgages
I specify U.S. subprime mortgages because the Canadian [...]

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The Horizons BetaPro “Plus” ETF products have been getting some positive press lately with Jonathan Chevreau writing, Looking for shelter in a bear market, Rob Carrick writing, Bear’s best friend: an ETF to profit from bad times, and Don Vialoux writing, Lure of leverage gives boost to new ETFs. These products attempt to [...]

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Today’s entry is a bit experimental and so I’d appreciate any feedback you may have.
I’ve been reading lately of a number of interconnected issues and I wanted to try and fit them together in a simple picture. As such, I’ve put together a diagram of the interconnectedness between U.S. biofuel subsidies and inflation in [...]

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Recently, the media have been talking about CDOs (or Collateralized Debt Obligations) in a manner that makes me wonder if the sky isn’t falling. Fabrice Taylor wrote a piece called, The ABCs of CDOs. Can you spell RISKY? (The Globe and Mail, June 27, 2007) and warns, “there will be shocks, both in [...]

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