By Atul Bhatia, CFA

It’s easy to let preconceived notions slip into portfolio construction and investment analysis. Background ideas on policymaking and the relative importance of different indicators can become baked into thinking, without being directly reviewed.

This is generally a no-harm, no-foul situation: these conditions cha...

By Mike Reid, Carrie Freestone and Imri Haggin

Bottom line

The March employment report surprised to the upside as payrolls added +178k and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%. But in the shadow of a weak February (revised down to -133k), the March gain should not be taken at face value. Still, we view the unemployment rate ...

When external events hit the stock market and stoke uncertainty or fear, such as the current Middle East crisis, volatility usually works in both directions – downward and upward.

The S&P 500 declined 7.8 percent from when the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28 through March 30. Stocks representing the rest of the world, measured by the MS...

Key points The conflict in Iran has shut down the shipment of a large fraction of the world’s oil, liquefied natural gas and fertiliser on which Europe and much of Asia depend. Resultant higher inflation is punishing consumers, raising input costs for many industries, and forcing central banks to rethink/postpone expected rate cuts. The U.S., Canada and Chin...

By Tasneem Azim-Khan, Vice President and Chief Investment Strategist and Noha Fazili, Research Analyst

The following commentary is for the purposes of providing context and perspective around the recent flare up in hostil...