One of the big questions for investors these days goes something like this: “Are we out of the woods yet; is a 50% rally in stocks warranted at this stage?” The consensus view seems to be “Yes.”  But going through my list of daily reads, I was reminded of some the ...

You would think the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus released by policymakers over the past year assures a recovery in the world economy. Sharp rallies in world stock markets since March suggest as much.

The Claymore Canadian Fundamental Index (CRQ) is supposed to perform better during bear markets than its counterpart, the iShares Canadian Large Cap 60 Index (XIU). It uses fundamental weights and gives more emphasis to value stocks whereas the iShares ETF uses market-cap weights and gives more weight to growth stocks ...

Today, President Obama is scheduled to outline a set of proposals for reforming the regulation of U.S. financial markets. The goal, of course, is to minimize the odds of another crisis ripping through financial markets.

I'm attending the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal this week (that's a mouthful). So far, not many surprises, as policymakers and think-tank thinkers gather to discuss what the heck's going on in the global economy and what should be done about it.

House prices continue to deflate in Canada. They fell 5.8% during the 12 months to March, according to the Teranet–National Bank National Composite House Price Index. Last month the 12-month decline was 4.1%.

Many people are suspicious of the rally in U.S. bank stocks. Some even go so far as to suggest the market is being manipulated to allow insolvent banks to recapitalize by issuing new shares to investors.

The 19 largest U.S. banks may now be off the critical list thanks to billions of dollars in government support, stage-managed “stress tests,” and a raft of equity issues floated into the rather suspicious-looking doubling in financial stocks over the past two months. But what about the 8,000 or so ...

Here’s some food for thought from Nandu Narayanan, one of the few hedge-fund managers to have lived up to his industry’s promise to deliver positive returns regardless of market conditions (see table below for his investment performance). He argues that U.S. policymakers are going to need to administer much more ...

Financial stocks in the United States have rallied mightily over the past two months. The table below shows the gains for 5 financial exchange-traded funds (including leveraged ones) since the low of March 6: