high quality stocks
The C.I. Signature High Income Fund is a mutual fund that holds mostly high-quality stocks and real estate investment trusts. However, it also holds 39.4% of its portfolio in bonds. In general, we don’t recommend bonds right now. That’s because bonds are unlikely to perform as well in the next few years as they have in the last few, mainly because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise. That means the fund would only earn interest income on its bonds; instead of capital gains, its bond holdings could produce capital losses. The fund only holds corporate bonds. As a general rule, the safest bonds are issued by or guaranteed by the federal government. Next are provincial issues or bonds with provincial guarantees. After that come corporate bonds....
The best way to profit in the stock market in times of volatility is to stick with the high-quality stocks we recommend. These stocks generally bounce back faster when the stock market rebounds. Here are nine key factors that we always take into account when we do the stock research to uncover high-quality investments. Financial factors:
- 5 to 10 year history of profit. Companies that make money regularly are safer than chronic or even occasional moneylosers.
- 5 to 10 years of dividends. Companies can fake earnings, but dividends are cash outlays. Our stock research has proved time and again that if you only buy dividend-paying stocks, you’ll avoid most frauds.
- Manageable debt. When bad times hit, debt-heavy companies go broke first.
Many investors fear that today’s market turmoil indicates that we are headed for a new dip in economic activity — the second part of the widely predicted “double dip” recession. However, while a renewed economic slide is a possibility, I don’t expect to see it happen. My view is that the economy is stagnating because of uncertainty over the outlook for deficits, tax increases, regulatory changes and so on. Once that uncertainty clears up, I expect a new rise in the market. A further setback is always possible, but if it happens, I think it will end by sometime this fall. I strongly doubt that it will turn into anything like the market plunge of 2008-2009....
Today’s market turmoil is making many investors wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. I see some key differences between the two. The 2007-2009 bear market mostly came about because of the collapse of the U.S. housing boom and everything that went with it. The recent downturn is more like an aftershock following the 2007-2009 market earthquake. Governments around the world, but particularly the U.S. government, tried to counteract the 2007-2009 downturn with clumsy, politically tainted spending that did little to help the broad economy. This left the government with a huge budget deficit and vastly higher debt....
When investors see a day like Thursday, with a drop of more than 500 points in the Dow Jones Industrials, they can’t help but wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. However, though today’s situation could turn out badly, that’s not inevitable. It’s much different from a few years ago. The 2007-2009 drop was mostly about the collapse of the housing boom and everything that went with it. Today there is no boom that could deflate and bring down the economy. Today’s problem grows out of government attempts at ‘fixing’ the economy in recent years. These fixes, which were mostly unsuccessful, bloated government spending and created huge debts. Today’s main market worry is how the U.S. federal government will attempt to fix its budget deficit and bring its debt down to a manageable level. To top things off, the Obama administration has also brought in big changes in health care, union and environmental rules and so on. Some of these changes face court challenges and political opposition. But some are sure to survive and go into effect. Others are sure to follow....
When investors see a day like Thursday, with a drop of more than 500 points in the Dow Jones Industrials, they can’t help but wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. However, though today’s situation could turn out badly, that’s not inevitable. It’s much different from a few years ago. The 2007-2009 drop was mostly about the collapse of the housing boom and everything that went with it. Today there is no boom that could deflate and bring down the economy. Today’s problem grows out of government attempts at ‘fixing’ the economy in recent years. These fixes, which were mostly unsuccessful, bloated government spending and created huge debts. Today’s main market worry is how the U.S. federal government will attempt to fix its budget deficit and bring its debt down to a manageable level. To top things off, the Obama administration has also brought in big changes in health care, union and environmental rules and so on. Some of these changes face court challenges and political opposition. But some are sure to survive and go into effect. Others are sure to follow....
When investors see a day like Thursday, with a drop of more than 500 points in the Dow Jones Industrials, they can’t help but wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. However, though today’s situation could turn out badly, that’s not inevitable. It’s much different from a few years ago. The 2007-2009 drop was mostly about the collapse of the housing boom and everything that went with it. Today there is no boom that could deflate and bring down the economy. Today’s problem grows out of government attempts at ‘fixing’ the economy in recent years. These fixes, which were mostly unsuccessful, bloated government spending and created huge debts. Today’s main market worry is how the U.S. federal government will attempt to fix its budget deficit and bring its debt down to a manageable level. To top things off, the Obama administration has also brought in big changes in health care, union and environmental rules and so on. Some of these changes face court challenges and political opposition. But some are sure to survive and go into effect. Others are sure to follow....
As stock markets have pulled back from their recent highs, you may have wondered about using stop-loss orders to protect your profits. However, before you try this approach, you should keep in mind that stop-loss orders have a number of risks that can cost you money. Read on and we’ll take you inside this investing strategy, and point out some of the dangers that stop-loss orders can expose you to. We also give you some simple, easy-to-implement stock trading advice that offers a far better way of protecting—and growing—your profits....
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer very low management fees. As well, the best ETFs offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks. But the quality of ETFs varies widely. All too many ETFs exist to tap into popular, but risky, themes and fads. So you need to be highly selective with your ETF holdings. Here are six foreign ETFs we like:...