Oil

Coping with oil price volatility

Recent oil price volatility has raised concerns about managing portfolio risk, particularly when oil and Energy occupies a significant weighting on the TSX 60 and Composite -approximately 27%.

By Rayann Huang |May 17, 2011

5 min read

What’s driving commodities? Scarcity

Canadian investors are well versed in the volatility of commodity prices. Recent months have reinforced the connection between the value of industrial inputs and the returns of the stock market. Less understood, however, is what is causing commodity volatility. There’s no question that macroeconomic shocks—such as the earthquake/tsunami in Japan and political turmoil in the […]

By Staff |April 26, 2011

3 min read

Canadian oil stocks hit by UK tax hike

Apparently not all Conservatives are oilpatch friendly—Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced a “windfall tax” on oil companies operating in the North Sea. According to the UK budget tabled on March 23, the tax rate on production will rise from its current 50% to 62%, sucking up to $3.2 billion per years […]

By Staff |March 24, 2011

1 min read

Canada surefooted in wobbly world

Having turned the corner in 2010, Canada’s economy continues to inspire a positive outlook despite some uncertainties, according to the latest Economic and Financial Outlook by Desjardins Economic Studies. The study, released this morning, said the outlook for Canada’s economy is overall optimistic. The main sources of this sanguinity are the S&P/TSX, which has outperformed […]

By Vikram Barhat |March 21, 2011

4 min read