Yields on Treasury bonds remain well below year ago levels, and some points of the yield curve are near all-time lows. In this environment, municipal bonds are attracting renewed interest. Read More

Sin stocks may be consumer staples. Read More

Governments around the world continue roll out fiscal and monetary packages designed to save the financial system and stimulate an economic recovery. The grand total for fiscal stimuli now amounts to about USD2.25 trillion, approximately 2.8 percent of global GDP. Read More

Canadian income trusts have been cutting distributions dramatically over the past few months. Read More

My strategy for dealing with all this uncertainty is to own a diversified mix of defensive stocks and beaten-down, early-cycle plays that stand to benefit most from an eventual economic recovery. Health care remains my favorite defensive group; strong fourth quarter earnings results underline the sector’s recession-resistant growth characteristics. Read More

Given the complexity of the problems afflicting the financial sector, a quick fix was never in the offing. We look at the Treasury Dept’s revamped plan to nurse the system back to health. Read More

China Mobile (Hong Kong: 941, NYSE: CHL), one of the largest mobile service providers in the world, is among the most recent additions to the Growth Portfolio. Read More

Master limited partnerships are among the market’s best-performing groups so far this year. Read More

Wind is rapidly emerging as an important piece in the global energy puzzle, and China has been at the forefront of this transformation. Read More

The three major US stock indexes rallied from earlier lows but still finished the day in the red. Further details about the Treasury Dept’s Capital Assistance Program (CAP) sparked a rally among bank shares, though ample uncertainty remains about the fates of the largest financial institutions. Read More