enbridge

A: The PIMCO Global Short Maturity Fund (Canada) ETF, $20.12, symbol PMNT on Toronto (Units outstanding: 3.2 million; Market cap: $64.32 million; www.pimco.ca) was recently launched by PIMCO.

Based in Newport, California, PIMCO is one of the world’s biggest fixed-income investment managers....

ENBRIDGE INC. $49 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $98.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 6.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) operates pipelines that pump oil and natural gas from Western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S....

A: Preferred shares behave more like long-term fixed-income instruments rather than short-term instruments. So while short-term interest rates are still relatively low, the outlook for long-term interest rates is less certain.

The underlying credit quality of preferred share issuers can be a negative factor in some cases; for example, when the issuer’s share price is falling.

So unlike GICs, which don’t fall in value, the prices of preferreds can decline along with stock markets.

If you want to own a preferred share as part of the fixed-income segment of your portfolio, and you can accept some risk, then preferreds are okay to hold....

Governments around the world know the benefits that flow from the development of better infrastructure. However, their stretched budgets and a reluctance to increase taxes constrain their ability to initiate these projects. This provides opportunities for private companies to develop and manage these assets.


Here are three ETFs that invest in publicly listed companies that own and operate infrastructure assets (see the supplement on page 20 for more information).


FLEXSHARES STOXX GLOBAL BROAD INFRASTRUCTURE ETF $45.49 (New York symbol NFRA; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $791.0 million) tracks the Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure Index....

ALGONQUIN POWER & UTILITIES $13.53 (Toronto symbol AQN; Shares outstanding: 470.6 million; Market cap: $6.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.9%; www.algonquinpower.com) has bought the natural gas distribution operations of Enbridge Inc....

ENBRIDGE INC. $42.86 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $85.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 6.3%; www.enbridge.com) continues to sell some of its less-important assets to help pay down the debt it took on to buy Spectra Energy in February 2017....

The six ETFs we update below mainly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund tracks the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as cryptocurrencies or biotechnology.


Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these investments....

The Bank of Canada increased its benchmark interest rate in October 2018 from 1.50% to 1.75%. That rate could rise further in 2019 depending on economic growth and the level of unemployment.


We continue to caution against investing in bonds. Today’s still-low interest rates make them unattractive, and rising interest rates will push down their future value....

ENBRIDGE INC. $42 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $75.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 7.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) continues to sell some of its less-important assets to help pay down the debt it took on to buy Spectra Energy in February 2017....

In response to weaker oil and natural gas prices, Encana has decided to aggressively expand in the U.S., while Cenovus is cutting its output.


We’re confident that both approaches will pay off. However, Encana’s big, newly announced acquisition increases its risk, which is why the stock dropped sharply on the news....