Every day ROB Insight delivers exclusive analysis on breaking business news and market-moving events. Streetwise offers news and analysis on Bay Street and the world of finance. Insight the Market delivers up-to-the-minute insights on developing market news.
Here are our editors' picks of some of the best reads available to Globe Unlimited subscribers this week.
Market rally turning bulls bearish
In a week where the S&P 500 set a new record and global stocks rose to a six-year high, the enthusiasm of bullish strategists is starting to flag, writes David Berman in Inside the Market. What gives? The rally is widely believed to have been fuelled by central banks keeping stimulus taps open, but even the most optimistic market cheerleaders are starting to concede the gains may have been overdone.
Sears' disappearing act
Where is Eddie Lampert taking Sears? The turnaround plan appears to have foundered and the Sears Canada CEO tasked with executing it is gone. Now chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder Mr. Lampert is accelerating asset sales, which include the Toronto Eaton Centre location, its crown jewel. With the chain in retreat and competition heating up from U.S. retailers launching in Canada, the best bet may shifting to a Web-only strategy, David Parkinson writes in ROB Insight.
Brookfield becomes major infrastructure player
Infrastructure never sounds like the sexiest of investments, but investors sure find it attractive. After aiming to raise $5-billion, Brookfield Asset Management has surpassed its goal and closed a $7-billion fund which will invest in the sector, bringing in sovereign wealth funds, insurers, and pensions funds. It will also generate a nice income stream from its 1.5-per-cent management fee, writes Boyd Erman in Streetwise.
Redford's Keystone climbs gets steeper
Alberta's Premier will soon embark on her fifth official trip to Washington to bang the drum for her province generally, and for Keystone in particular. Her task isn't getting any easier, writes Jeffrey Jones in ROB Insight. A judge recently chided Alberta Environment officials over an oil sands hearing he called "tainted," and a new analysis from Ottawa predicts greenhouse gas emissions from the sector are set to rise over the next six years after overall reductions in the previous six.
A stock prescription in ailing economy
Despite signs of a global economic slowdown, U.S. health care stocks posted healthy profits this past quarter and are set to benefit from a demographic bulge entering its golden years of medical needs. Writing in Inside the Market, Scott Barlow sifts through the sector to find attractively valued companies that have a rosy glow to their outlooks.
Junior miners face hole in the ground
Financing for mining juniors is "near crisis," in the words of Scotiabank's latest commodity price index report. On an annualized basis, the sector has raised just a third of what it did in 2011, writes Rachelle Younglai in Streetwise, as major miners concentrate on cost cuts rather than investing in new projects.