Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Postings

Don't Try This at Home

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 4, 2008

Few of our clients own PPNs (principal-protected notes), so the recent posting on the topic may not be of much interest, but my rant has lessons that apply more generally.  Here are the takeaways.  The investment bankers and marketing executives ...

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The Street Should do the Right Thing. Dig a Grave for Those Wretched PPNs

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on November 3, 2008

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published November 1, 2008 I've called them the worst of both worlds - bad for equity investors and inappropriate for those seeking a predictable flow of income. And professional money managers would never ...

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Lower Returns Going Forward...NOT!

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 29, 2008

CAC 40 (France) - down 50.5%. FTSE 100 (UK) - down 51.9%. S&P 500 (U.S.) - down 40.3%. Hang Seng (HK) - down 54.0%. MSCI Emerging Markets - down 62.0%. S&P/TSX Composite Index - down 32.8%. These are year-to-date market returns up ...

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More of the Same... But Better

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 24, 2008

There has been a constant theme in this space over the last month or so – hang in there, long-term assets are cheap now, start thinking about the other side of the valley.  A friend and fellow entrepreneur, Thane Stenner, ...

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A Grand Opportunity for the Brave as Darwinism Rules the Market

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 20, 2008

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 18, 2008 This earnings season is going to be more interesting than most. There will be some good news, but the bad will dominate the headlines. If I were a chief ...

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Memory loss

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 17, 2008

I often reference Jeremy Grantham, the chairman of GMO in Boston, on the blog and in my columns.  The following clip is from his interview with Barron’s last week . Do you think we will learn anything from all of ...

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The CNBC Octabox

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 15, 2008

I don't watch the U.S. news networks very often, but being on the road during these interesting times, I've tuned in more than usual.  What amazes me is the 'more is better' approach that they are all taking. When I ...

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Two Decisions to Make

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 9, 2008

A friend and client called me yesterday and floated the idea of selling everything and waiting out the storm. Like everyone, his portfolio is down, although he has been relatively well positioned with a large cash/GIC/money market position. Previously in ...

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Six Questions to Help You Navigate These Choppy Markets

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on October 6, 2008

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published October 4, 2008 “Finding the right answers is easy; it's asking the right questions that's difficult.” Tim Price, the director of investment at PFP Wealth Management in London, started a recent blog ...

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In Anticipation of our Quarterly Report

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 30, 2008

We will publish our quarterly report next week, but in light of the turmoil in the markets, we wanted to provide a brief update on the third quarter today.  As well, we are planning to do a podcast later this ...

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A Week of Buying, Hand-holding, Grumpiness, Fear - and Then Some Hope

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 21, 2008

The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Published September 20, 2008 I love writing this column, except on weeks like this. I don't generally do time-sensitive stuff (this isn't my day job), but when the markets are melting down, writing ...

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An Update on the Funds

Excerpt from Tom Bradley's blog on September 17, 2008

Today was another tough day in the markets.  The declines were broad based, although financial stocks of all stripes pulled down the indexes the most.  The U.S. market was the worst (-4.7%), while Europe and Asia were down 2.5% and ...

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