Since stock markets can turn on a dime, long-term institutional investors may find some opportunities amid the current chaos. It’s been a long time since genuine panic hit markets, says Greg Taylor, chief investment officer and portfolio manager at Purpose Investments. “Generally, markets hate uncertainty and, arguably, we’ve never had a more uncertain time than […]
The solvency levels of Canadian defined benefit pension plans are down off the back of roiling equity and bond markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey found DB plans were down 6.7 per cent on average, from 102.5 per cent in early January to 95.8 per cent at […]
After a week that saw coronavirus worries wallop equity markets into correction territory, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 0.5 per cent rate cut on Tuesday morning. Following suit, the Bank of Canada cut its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday, bringing it to 1.25 per cent. For the Fed, […]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average started the week by dropping about 1,000 points on Monday. Then on Tuesday, it did it again. For institutional investors grappling with such fully valued equity markets, a dip like this could represent a buying opportunity. But should they go for it? The coronavirus — worries over its further spread, […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System posted an 11.9 per cent return for 2019. The net return added $11.5 billion in value to the pension fund, pushing its funded status on a smoothed basis to 97 per cent. The double-digit returns neatly beat the OMERS overall benchmark of 7.5 per cent. “The story in 2019 is that there was […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is boosting its current investment in the Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. The investment, which will see the Caisse buy shares currently owned by the company’s founder Guy Laliberté, bring its holdings to nearly 20 per cent. Laliberté will remain creatively involved in the company and will retain certain economic […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board generated a net income of $14.5 billion for its third fiscal quarter, rounding out a 7.1 per cent return for the nine months of its fiscal year so far. With $3.6 billion in net Canada Pension Plan outflows for the quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2019, the fund saw a total […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a wrongfully dismissed employee could take advantage of the stock options and restricted share units that vested during the reasonable notice period, despite language in the governing plans that cancelled unvested units on termination. The case, between IMAX Corp. and a former executive named Larry O’Reilly, represented at least […]
Institutional investors have been going back and forth about whether monetary policy will provide the tailwinds to markets it did last year or whether central banks are running out of steam. Monetary policy decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other developed market players did plenty to bolster markets in early 2019, […]
Financial well-being benefits are on the rise in North America, according to a new survey by WorldatWork. Among the companies surveyed, 70 per cent said they currently offer financial well-being benefits, more than half said they intend to expand these benefits and 35 per cent said they’ve increased spending in this area. “Financial benefits play a critical […]