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.
Goodnight, OPEC
There was a time when the world's major economies would have all eyes focused on decisions coming out of Vienna. OPEC's gatherings to discuss quotas effectively determined world oil prices, and were a major force in shaping economic growth. But those days are long gone, and now it's time for OPEC to fold up its tent, writes Carl Mortished in ROB Insight, where he surveys the forces that have undermined the cartel's leverage.
Four flags on fixed income
Investors have had to get a little more creative in their searches for fixed-income assets that deliver a half-decent yield – and they have. But getting that extra yield comes at a cost that isn't always obvious. In Inside the Market, Rob Carrick looks at four kinds of alternative fixed-income securities that may look tempting, but should come with asterisks attached.
Battered REITs bounce back
After several banner years it had to come to an end for REITs, and last year it certainly did, as jumpy bond markets delivered a thrashing to the sector. While the TSX composite enjoyed a big runup with its 13-per-cent gain, REITs effectively lost 5 per cent, sending many investors heading for the hills. But those who held their ground are pretty glad they did, as valuations have rebounded in a dramatic fashion. In Streetwise, Tim Kiladze takes a look at what's happening in the sector and the resurgence of financings.
Taking stock of GDP
GDP is one of the most closely watched economic indicators, widely viewed as a bellwether of the economy. And with Canada posting its strongest growth numbers in three years during the second quarter, followed by a consensus-beating expansion in the U.S. for the same period, it should be pretty safe to say things are better than they've been for a long time. But they aren't – so what's going on? In ROB Insight, David Parkinson examines how gross domestic product came to be considered a yardstick for economic health, and why we may be putting far too much stock in it.
A rethink for oil sector earnings
Canadian energy investors may not have such a happy new year. A look at the consensus earnings forecast for the sector shows analysts have been downgrading its prospects, but to nowhere near the same extent that crude prices have dropped. And with little prospect of an imminent bounceback for oil, the decoupling may produce one nasty hangover in 2015. In Inside the Market, Scott Barlow looks at the factors in play and what to expect in next month's energy earnings outlooks.
There's gold in them thar Kyrgyzstani hills
It's not often that goings-on in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan are raked over by Canadian courts, but the Kumtor gold mine, owned by Toronto's Centerra Gold, is at the heart of a case now being heard, writes Jeff Gray in Streetwise. At stake is millions of dollars of Centerra shares held by the Kyrgyzstan government which another Toronto-based resources company, Stans Energy, is laying claim to. The case has already wound its way through arbitration in Moscow, and if courts side with Stans, an already complicated restructuring deal with Kyrgyzstan could unravel and threaten the fate of one of the world's largest gold mines.