The Promise of Low Volatility
The relationship between risk and reward is one of the most fundamental in finance: to get higher returns, say the traditional models, you must accept more risk. There’s just one problem with that ide [...]
Vanguard ETFs Get New Indexes
Vanguard has announced it is changing the benchmark indexes on four of its Canadian and 22 of its US ETFs, including some of its most popular funds. Over the next several months, Vanguard will be step [...]
Vanguard Announces Five New ETFs
When I spoke with Vanguard’s managing director Atul Tiwari back in June, he said the company would be announcing a new suite of ETFs in the coming months. That announcement arrived late yesterday afte [...]
BMO Takes on the Big Boys
BMO has announced some interesting new changes to some of the ETFs—and one of them may lead to the first genuine price war in the Canadian marketplace. The company recently announced that the BMO Dow [...]
Under the Hood: First Asset Morningstar US Dividend Target 50 (UXM)
This post is part of a series called Under the Hood, where l take a detailed look at specific Canadian ETFs or index funds. The fund: First Asset Morningstar US Dividend Target 50 Index ETF (UXM) The [...]
Tim Pickering on Managed Futures, Part 2
Here's part two of my interview with Tim Pickering, president of Auspice Capital Advisors, who manages both the Horizons Auspice Managed Futures Index ETF (HMF) and the iShares Broad Commodity Index F [...]
Tim Pickering on Managed Futures, Part 1
On Monday I wrote about managed futures, a strategy that can add a layer of diversification to a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds. Tim Pickering, president of Auspice Capital Advisors, manage [...]
What Are Managed Futures?
One of the most difficult tasks in building a portfolio is finding asset classes that do not move in lockstep with stocks or bonds. Non-correlation—the tendency of an asset class to move independently [...]
The Long and Short of Barbell Bond ETFs
Chalk up another one for ETF innovation in Canada. This week, First Asset launched three new bond ETFs that are the first of their kind in North America. And unlike some innovations in the ETF world, [...]
Vanguard Canada Gets a Six-Month Checkup
It's now been a year since Vanguard set up shop in Canada, and just over six months since their ETFs began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This week I had an opportunity to chat with Atul Tiwar [...]
