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. Inside the Market delivers up-to-the-minute insights on market news as it develops.
Here are our editors' picks of some of the best reads available to Globe Unlimited subscribers this week.
The battle for the fans
While conventional television broadcasting has steadily lost market share to cable providers, now it's cable's turn to look over its shoulder – to the growing threat of online streaming. Services such as Netflix, that offer a library of on-demand, commercial-free viewing, have grown by leaps and bounds, but the one segment they've made few inroads into is the huge and lucrative market for major league sports. With sports being one of the few trump cards left in the hands of cable and network broadcasting, the sports industry is maximizing its value with huge hikes in the fees it charges them. Someone has to pay for them, and that someone is the cable subscriber. In ROB Insight, Ian McGugan explains the dilemma cable faces, and how online streaming services, which have been eating cable's lunch, may soon start in on their dinners, too.
Correction? It's only just begun
After a a bruising week on the TSX, it'd be nice to get a little reassurance. But don't look to David Rosenberg for it. Gluskin Sheff's chief economist believes stocks are only a quarter to a third of the way through a correction. In Inside the Market, Darcy Keith takes a detailed look at the reasons Mr. Rosenberg expects to see a lot more blood on the floor by the time the pullback is finished.
A tiger for papers
There's been a lot of turmoil in the fast-changing newspaper business, but that doesn't seem to have fazed GoldenTree Asset Management. The U.S. hedge fund, the majority owner of Canada's Postmedia Network, is the money behind Postmedia's deal to acquire 175 titles from Quebecor. So why is GoldenTree upping its ante when the industry is facing such strong headwinds? In Streetwise, Boyd Erman examines the deal and the numbers to discover why the hedge fund believes it holds a winning hand.
Another split in jobs market
One of the most talked-about trends in Canada's labour market in recent years is the hollowing out of the middle class due to the decline in good-paying jobs. While it's good news that people on higher incomes have been making gains, the growth in the proportion of people on lower incomes is cause for concern. But in addition to this income gap, another trend has emerged: a considerable and growing gap in wage gains between men and women. In ROB Insight, David Parkinson sifts through the data and examines what's driving this trend.
ETF investors spoiled by choice
So you've been thinking about which investments are right for you, and decided that you want to get into ETFs. Simple, right? Well, take a look at the menu of funds on offer. Just recently, the TSX welcomed its 400th exchange-traded fund, making it an even more time-consuming task to figure out which to pick. Luckily, in Inside the Market, Rob Carrick has done a lot of the grunt work for you, and offers six key metrics that will help identify the strongest contenders.
Trailer fees in the spotlight
One of the biggest knocks against Canadian mutual funds is trailer fees – a big part of the management expenses that fund investors pay every year. Critics also say trailer fees carry an inherent conflict of interest for advisers that sell mutual funds. New disclosure rules around fees will come into effect in 2016, but some argue that won't go far enough and that the fees should be abolished altogether. In Streetwise, Niall McGee looks at how an outright ban on trailer fees would shake up the industry and who the winners and losers would be.