Canada and the world enjoyed a particularly strong economic performance last year. In Canada, the unemployment rate fell to just 5.7 per cent at the end of December, while the World Bank estimates the global economy grew by three per cent last year. So with those positive results in mind, what should institutional investors keep […]
Robust equity markets led U.S. institutional investment plans to strong gains in 2017 with a median return of 15.3 per cent for the year, according to new data by Northern Trust Corp. The Northern Trust universe, which tracks about 300 large U.S. institutional investment plans, showed the median return for U.S. equity in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 6.1 per cent with […]
As interest rates rise, so, too, do investors’ concerns about the performance of fixed income. “An allocation to fixed income is considered a safe way to preserve capital and provide diversification against equity investments,” says Vjosana Klosi, director of portfolio construction at CIBC Asset Management Inc. and author of a December 2017 research paper on […]
Canadian defined benefit plans posted a median return of 4.29 per cent in the last quarter of 2017, a marked improvement compared to the median return of 0.55 per cent in the third quarter of the year, according to a report by BNY Mellon Asset Servicing. The firm’s tracking service, which consists of 88 Canadian corporate, public and university […]
While the majority of global fixed-income specialists see the global economy on the road to recovery, many have a significant appetite for alternative credit, such as real estate debt and bank loans, according to a new survey by Invesco Ltd. The inaugural survey interviewed 79 global fixed-income specialists, including heads of fixed income as well as chief investment […]
And why now is the time for global bond diversification.
Whether plan sponsors expect a bear or a bull market in 2018, if they’re in a position to de-risk their pension plan, they should do it now, according to two investment consultants who spoke at an event in Toronto on Thursday. “From our perspective, if you look at the world over the last six years, […]
Canada’s economic boom in 2017 surprised economists and supported strong labour numbers. Yet, inflation also remained dormant, “which created this Goldilocks environment and, therefore, very strong financial market returns for the year,” says Luc de la Durantaye, the head of asset allocation and currency management at CIBC Asset Management Inc. That won’t be the case […]
For some investors, tradition isn’t cutting it anymore. Rock-bottom interest rates are squeezing fixed-income returns, and the need to diversify through sturdy, lower-risk assets is apparent. While low volatility in equity markets is comforting, how long will it last? “We don’t know when but we’re pretty sure the equity market will correct, maybe severely,” says […]
Bond yields are likely to remain low in light of the Bank of Canada’s wait-and-see-approach in its October interest rate decision, says CIBC Asset Management Inc.’s Patrick O’Toole. After two consecutive rate hikes, the Bank of Canada maintained the overnight rate at one per cent on Oct. 25, citing uncertainty around North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations […]