ISHARES CDN LARGECAP 60 INDEX FUND $15.54 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker) (units split 4-for-1 in August 2008) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses on the units are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, the index holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Biovail Corp. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank of Canada, 7.2%; EnCana Corporation, 5.2%; Research in Motion, 5.2%; TD Bank, 4.9%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.2%; Manulife Financial, 4.0%; Potash Corporation, 3.9%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.7%; Suncor Energy, 3.7%; Barrick Gold, 3.7%; Goldcorp, 2.9%; Canadian National Railway, 2.8%; Bank of Montreal, 2.6%; and CIBC, 2.5%....

GEORGE WESTON LTD. $63.25 (Toronto symbol WN; Shares outstanding: 129.1 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) operates in two distinct divisions: Weston Foods, which includes 31 fresh and frozen bakery plants in Canada, and seven plants in the U.S. producing frozen-baked goods, as well as biscuits, cookies, ice-cream cones and wafers; and a 62% interest in Loblaw Companies, Canada’s largest grocery-store operator and a leading seller of general merchandise, drugs and financial services. Late last year, Weston sold its Neilson Dairy subsidiary to Saputo Inc. for $467 million. Earlier this year, the company sold its U.S. fresh bread and baked goods business for $2.5 billion U.S. In the three months ended December 31, 2008, Weston’s revenue rose 11.4%, to $8.1 billion from $7.2 billion a year earlier. Driven by a $281-million gain on the Neilson sale, earnings more than tripled, to $356 million, or $2.68 a share, from $110 million, or $0.75 a share. However, if you exclude all one-time items, earnings per share still rose 45.2%, to $0.61 from $0.42. Loblaw has undergone a significant restructuring in recent years, and it is now helping Weston’s results....

When the economy is volatile, there seems to be more advertisements for forex (foreign exchange) investment products, or strategies for making forex investments. Dealing in forex investments through foreign currency futures or options can make sense for a business that has been forced to take on unacceptable currency risk. Futures and options let the business pass that risk on to speculators who wish to accept it. That’s the textbook explanation for the existence of futures and options. Textbooks often fail to emphasize that most speculators who succumb to the lure offutures or potions wind up losing money. It doesn’t matter if they trade foreign currency or a traditional commodity, such as wheat. In the end, they almost always wind up losing....

Capital gains tax must be paid on the profit that comes from the sale of an asset. An asset can be a security, such as a stock or a bond, or a fixed asset, such as land, buildings, equipment or other possessions. Let’s look at an example. Say you purchased 1,000 shares of TD Bank at $20 per share many years ago, and when it reaches about $40 per share, you decide to sell. Your proceeds from the sale are $40,000 ($40 per share multiplied by 1,000 shares) and your cost (the cost of purchase) is $20,000 ($20 per share multiplied by 1,000 shares). This means that your profit on the sale, also known as your capital gain, is $20,000. [ofie_ad]...

Many aggressive investors find stock option investing hard to resist. However, the vast majority of investors lose money with options. An option is a contract between a buyer and a seller that is based on an underlying security, usually a stock. The buyer pays the seller a fee, or premium, for certain rights to the stock. In exchange for the premium, the seller assumes certain obligations. Options trade through stock exchanges, and each options contract is for 100 shares of a particular company. So one contract quoted at $5 will cost you $500 (before commissions). Each contract has an expiration date, which gives it a limited life span (usually less than nine months). The strike price (or exercise price), is the price at which the buyer can exercise their rights under the contract. There are two types of options:...

Short selling involves selling securities an investor doesn’t already own. A short sale is performed in the belief that the price of the security being sold will go down. The seller can then cover the sale by purchasing the security at a lower price, making a profit based on how far the price has fallen. Short sellers face specific regulations in the markets. Hedge funds buy good stocks and sell bad stocks “short” in hopes of making money regardless of the market’s direction. If the market goes up, the good stocks should rise more than the weak ones, so the gains on the good stocks should exceed losses on the short sales. If the market falls, the bad stocks should fall more than the good, so gains on the short sales should exceed losses. But profitable short selling requires superhuman timing, and the inevitable mistakes can be super expensive. In 1999 and 2000, a number of hedge funds collapsed because they shorted Internet stocks that went on to soar. The fund managers were “early rather than wrong,” as the saying goes, but they still lost huge sums. After all, short selling turns the traditional market odds upside down. When you buy, your profit potential is unlimited and the most you can lose is 100%. When you sell short, the most you can make is 100%, but your potential for loss is unlimited....

SINGAPORE FUND $7.10 (New York symbol SGF; Shares outstanding: 9.5 million; Market cap: $67.3 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) is fully invested in Singapore-based stocks. The Development Bank of Singapore manages the fund. Singapore relies on exports for much of its growth. Major markets, like the U.S., China and Japan, are important to its economy. When these markets recover, Singapore’s prospects should improve. Singapore Fund’s top holdings are: Singapore Telecom, 14.7%; United Overseas Bank, 13.2%; Overseas-Chinese Banking, 8.9%; Singapore Airlines, 5.3%; Singapore Technologies Engineering (aircraft support services), 4.7%; Jardine Matheson (various industries), 4.7%; Keppel (various industries), 4.2%; Singapore Press Holdings (newspapers), 3.7%; Wilmar International (agribusiness), 3.5%; and SMRT (Singapore public transit), 3.3%....

INDIA FUND $17.40 (New York symbol IFN; Shares outstanding: 38.6 million; Market cap: $672.3 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) mainly invests in large-cap Indian stocks. Blackstone Group manages the fund. India’s economy has grown by more than 9% annually over the last few years. The global recession will hurt the country’s growth, but it could still expand by as much as 7% this year. The $671.1-million India Fund’s top holdings are: Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 12.3%; Infosys Technologies (software), 9.6%; Bharti AirTel (telecom), 7.4%; Hindustan Unilever (consumer products), 5.5%; ITC, Ltd. (various industries), 4.5%; Housing Development Finance, 4.0%; Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, 3.7%; Bharat Heavy Electricals (engineering and manufacturing), 3.6%; State Bank of India, 3.3%; HDFC Bank, 3.2%; and Power Finance Corp., 2%....

NEW IRELAND FUND $4.26 (New York symbol IRL; Shares outstanding: 5.1 million; Market cap: $21.8 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) invests in Irish companies. The Bank of Ireland manages the $50.9-million New Ireland Fund. The bank dates back to 1783. Lower housing prices and a struggling banking sector have hurt the Irish economy. However, the country is open to foreign investment, and has invested heavily in education and training. It is also part of the euro currency zone. These factors should benefit the Irish economy over the long term. The New Ireland Fund’s top holdings are: CRH plc (building materials), 25.0%; Ryanair Holdings (airline), 15.0%; DCC plc (business services), 7.3%; Kerry Group (food products), 5.0%; Elan Corp. (health-care services), 5.0%, Aryzta AG (agriculture and food), 4.3%; United Drug plc (health-care services), 3.3%; Allied Irish Banks, 3.2%; and FBD Holdings (financial services), 2.4%....

BCE INC. $26.01 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 791.6 million; Market cap: $20.6 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) has over 7.5 million telephone and Internet customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 6.5 million wireless subscribers across Canada. In the three months ended December 31, 2008, BCE’s revenue fell 0.7%, to $4.49 billion from $4.52 billion. However, earnings per share before one-time items rose 19.6%, to $0.55 from $0.46. BCE’s cellphone revenue rose 7.6% in 2008, and subscribers grew by 4.5%. Wireless accounts for 25% of BCE’s revenue and 43% of its profit. Since mid-2008, BCE has laid off over 7% of its staff. It has also cut spending on consulting, eliminated 7,000 corporate credit cards and lowered the number of ad agencies it uses to 11 from 47. These moves should lower the company’s annual expenses by $400 million. BCE earned $1.8 billion in 2008....