SDB Club Benchmark Real Estate

Investors in Canadian financial stocks are favoring banks over insurers more than at any other time in 22 years, rewarding lenders for avoiding the worst of the credit crisis and punishing insurers for their U.S. losses. The S&P/TSX Bank Index of eight bank stocks and one trust company has risen to 1,949.57, more than double [...]

European and Asian stocks tumbled and U.S. index futures dropped as signs of weakness in the Spanish banking system increased concern that Europe’s debt crisis is spreading and tensions grew in the Korean peninsular. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Total SA led commodity producers lower as base metals retreated and crude oil fell below $68 a [...]

The “flight to quality” continued yesterday (Wednesday) as investors pushed up the price of Treasuries on fears the U.S. Federal Reserve’s drastic rate cut means the economy’s woes are far from over. But while Treasury prices hit record highs, concerns surfaced among analysts about how much farther the rally can go considering the implied message [...]

Mexico’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a ninth straight meeting, saying inflation will remain within its forecasts and the European debt crisis presents new risks. Banco de Mexico’s five-member board, led by Governor Agustin Carstens, maintained the overnight rate at 4.5 percent, matching the forecasts of all 23 economists surveyed by [...]

It is a peculiar irony. A year ago, the the UK’s Inland Revenue began a crackdown on offshore savings. Banks operating out of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man had to hand over details of British customers, and depositors who confessed were rewarded with an amnesty. Thousands did and many must have given [...]

Residential property prices in China rose by a record 12.8% in April from a year earlier, defying government measures to stem gains and cool speculation in the real estate market. The latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed the increase topped an 11.7% jump in March that was the highest since the survey [...]

“Lower than prime” you heard someone say. Like most Canadians, you were probably first skeptical and then confused. We tend to think of the prime lending rate as the invisible “floor” of lending rates. The very best customers can get very close to that floor. It is theoretically possible, we reason, to actually be ON [...]