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.
Fed makes big gear shift
There's been much fanfare over the official end of the Fed's quantitative easing program, but the news came as little surprised as the central bank had long ago announced its intention to wind down its cash injections by $15-billion a month. The real story, as Kevin Carmichael writes in ROB Insight, is the Fed's comments on the labour market outlook, which effectively signals an about-face on its bias on monetary policy.
Risk and reward in Kurdistan
The returns on investments in oil extraction in Kurdistand are especially tempting, but as one of the more higher-risk regions of the world to operate in right now, is it worth it? Precision Drilling thinks so. The Calgary oil-field services company has two active rigs there now, and is keen on having many more. A similar enthusiasm can be seen over at Talisman Energy, which had considered pulling out in late 2012 only to change its tune a few months later. So will the Kurdistan gambit play out well for investors in the sector? In Streetwise, Carrie Tait surveys the landscape for firms operating in the region.
Will QE end spark meltdown?
Should Canadian investors be running for cover now that the U.S. Fed's QE program is officially over? Recall when the-Fed chief Ben Bernanke announced in 2013 the plan to taper off asset purchases, U.S. bond yields popped, drawing back hot money that had flowed into emerging markets, which in turn caused those markets to slump. What's this got to do with Canada? Well, the fact that the TSX benchmark's fortunes have tracked those of emerging market equities over the past decade should make investors sit up and take notice. But in Inside the Market, Scott Barlow has some reassurance to offer, outlining two reasons why the market rout of 2013 is unlikely to repeat itself.
A steep climb for Energy East
TransCanada Corp. officially set the ball in motion on its plan to build a $12-billion pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick when it filed 68 binders of documents with the National Energy Board this week. There was a time when big infrastructure projects in the energy sector more or less received the rubber stamp, flying below the radar of the general public. But those days are a distant memory, and just as the company's proposed Keystone expansion in the U.S. has been slowed by public and state resistance, getting Energy East approved will be a battle. In ROB Insight, Jeffrey Jones looks at what TransCanada is up against, and the range of environmental groups that will do their best to nix the project.
Goldman bucks the trends
While many U.S. companies aren't prepared to touch the mess that is Europe with a barge pole, Goldman Sachs has a very different take. And while plunging oil prices prompt some to reconsider their Canadian presence, Goldman has reiterated its long-term commitment, having recently boosted its footprint in Calgary. In Streetwise, Boyd Erman looks at why Goldman has decided to go against the flow.
A late-year rally in sight?
We're down to the final two months of 2014, and with a lot of good economic news coming from south of the border, can we look to Santa to deliver one of his always-welcome rallies this year? While plenty of economic indicators are showing strength that give cause for hope, some of the approaching headwinds make it look more likely big market gains before the end of the year will get thrown off course, writes David Berman in Inside the Market.