IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $95 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative and Income Growth Portfolios, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 509.0 million; Market cap: $48.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) gets over 90% of its production from oil sands operations in Alberta. Its other operations include three refineries (one in Alberta, two in Ontario) and a petrochemical plant in Sarnia, Ontario. U.S.-based ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial.

Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or sub-index and will allow the fund to “track” its performance.

The MER (Management Expense Ratio) is generally much lower on traditional ETFs than on conventional mutual funds. That’s because most traditional ETFs take a much simpler approach to investing. Instead of actively managing clients’ investments, ETF providers invest so as to mirror the holdings and performance of a particular stock-market index.

Exchange-traded funds offering regular income have grown in popularity over the past few years, prompting ETF managers to become ever more creative in their efforts to ensure appealing income streams.
Here we consider the risks and rewards of some of the main strategies employed by ETF managers to generate income for their funds.

Exchange-traded funds offer numerous advantages for investors who prefer not to spend time analyzing individual companies or investing in relatively expensive mutual funds. Here is our checklist for picking quality ETFs.

Stock markets continued to move upward in July, adding to the solid gains of the first half of the year. Good company results, especially from the large U.S. technology companies, signs of progress on the a range of U.S. trade negotiations and prospects of U.S. interest rate cuts helped market performance.
For the month of July, there were advances from the top global technology companies (as illustrated by Toronto symbol TEC), uranium producers (Toronto symbol HURA), U.S. utilities (New York symbol VPU), and U.S. biotech companies (New York symbol IBB).

This month, we highlight a “dual-directional” ETF from Innovators ETFs that aims to make money in both up and down markets. We also look at a new ETF from BMO that picks stocks based on their successful management of human capital.

The assets of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund are about $1.9 trillion. That makes it the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, ahead of other large government-sponsored funds such as those from China, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi/UAE. The assets equate to $345,000 per Norwegian citizen.
The fund is managed by Norges Bank on behalf of the Norwegian government. Its mission is to build financial wealth for the Norwegian people.

An abundance of oil and natural gas resources has made Norway one of the wealthiest countries in the world. However, efforts are underway to diversify its economy beyond natural resources, and there are early signs of success.
Time will tell how complete or successful that transition is. Meanwhile the country’s economy and stock market will likely remain heavily influenced by energy prices.

Here is an ETF that provides exposure to many of Norway’s top companies..

The dividends paid by public corporations are normally a portion of net income or cash flow. This formula is generally also followed by dividend-paying exchange-traded funds, but these funds also distribute capital gains and sometimes return investors’ capital as part of the payments.

As an example, ETFs that invest in dividend-paying companies will receive the dividend income from their portfolio companies on a regular (usually quarterly) basis. They may also have other sources of income, such as interest earned on cash holdings and fee income from stock lending. Profits and losses that are generated from trading in the underlying portfolio are also considered income.