The market continues to play havoc with even the most solid and recession resistant investments. Coupled with investors’ at least temporary love affair with the US dollar, that’s kept our favorite Canadian trusts under selling pressure. Read More

As of Thursday evening, five Canadian Edge Portfolio holdings have announced third quarter earnings: ARC Energy Trust (TSX: AET-U, OTC: AETUF), Bell Aliant Regional Communications Fund (TSX: BA-U, OTC: BLIAF), Consumers Waterheater (TSX: CWI-U, OTC: CSUWF), Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (TSX: PIF-U, OTC: PMBIF) and TransForce (TSX: TFI, OTC: TFIFF). All five reported solid results and guided toward solid fourth quarters as well. Read More

Global credit markets appear to be loosening a bit. Now it’s on to the next big worry: how badly the recent liquidity crisis has affected the global economy. Read More

The past week or so has breathed some life back into most Canadian income trusts. Global governments’ coordinated actions to free up lending have been the main catalyst for the rebound. Gains have been held back by worries about the world economy, which continue to soften up energy prices and in turn the energy-sensitive Canadian dollar. Read More

First of all, let me be perfectly clear. I've never seen anything like the current wave of selling in my career. That includes the 1987 crash, the 1990 plunge in the wake of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the utility deregulation scare of 1993-94, the Asian contagion of 1997-98 and the Great Bear Market/utility deregulation crackup of 2001-02. Read More

Dividend sustainability is ultimately what drives Canadian trust prices. That’s hard to keep in mind today, as virtually everything is being sold hard and fast. Read More

Opening down some 300 Dow points, the stock market tried valiantly to rally for most of Monday before succumbing to an end-of-the-day rout. That the market was headed lower was no great surprise to anyone who followed the tumultuous events of this past weekend. And for anyone who was watching football instead, there was yesterday’s headline in The Wall Street Journal: “Crisis on Wall Street as Lehman Totters, Merrill Is Sold, AIG Seeks to Raise Cash.” Read More

Shares of Boralex Power Income Fund took a hard hit last week. The reason: A decision to “temporarily” halt electricity production at its wood residue thermal power stations at Seneterre and Dolbeau. Read More

ARC Energy Trust is rolling back the second part of a “top-up” dividend increase, effective with the Oct. 15, 2008, payment. The new monthly rate will be 24 cents Canadian a month, consisting of a 20 cents “base distribution” and an additional 4 cents “top-up” payout. Read More

The market always looks ahead, never behind. There’s no better clue to forecasting how things will go, however, than examining business performance. And in this volatile market, there’s no better gauge of how underlying operations are standing up to ongoing stress tests than earnings numbers. Read More