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To: Rocket Red who wrote (56552)	2/15/2008 10:37:04 PM
From: Rocket Red	Respond to of 78421

'Fear factor' sees investors fleeing equity funds RICHARD BLACKWELL Friday, February 15, 2008 Jittery investors, worried about plunging stock prices, yanked their money out of equity mutual funds in January. New numbers from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada showed net redemptions of $3.1-billion of equity funds in the month, a sharp contrast from the previous January when $1.1-billion went into that category of funds. Those willing to put money into mutual funds loaded up on lower-risk money market products, which saw a surge in sales to $4.8-billion in January. Over all, however, the value of funds managed by the industry fell a dramatic 3.7 per cent between December and January, knocking almost $26-billion off total assets. In mid-January the S&P/TSX composite index took a steep plunge, falling about 1,500 points in the space of a week. That, combined with increasingly bleak economic news out of the United States, spooked retail investors into pulling their money out of equity funds and parking it in relatively safe money market instruments, economists and advisers said. “The fear factor is pretty substantial” said Frank Hracs, chief economist at Credo Consulting Inc. in Toronto. He noted that the drop in assets occurred in what is usually a very busy time for fund buying – RRSP season. The bad markets “overshadowed people's inclination to save taxes,” he said. It will take some time for investors to get confident enough to plunge back into equity funds, Mr. Hracs said, even though there has already been a substantial rebound in the overall stock markets. “It looks like February is going to be a pretty meagre month as well.” Danielle Park, president and portfolio manager at Venable Park Investment Counsel Inc. in Barrie, Ont., said it is unfortunate that retail investors only recently realized how delicate the markets were, and pulled money out of equity funds after stocks had plunged. The shadow of the high tech bubble in the early part of this decade is haunting the markets, she said. “What I think is happening is that [this] is bringing back bad memories,” Ms. Park said. “Because people were so harmed in 2000 … as soon as they started to see this erosion of their capital again they thought ‘I don't want this to happen again.' ” Ms. Park said she thinks we are not yet at the bottom of the economic cycle, so the markets could drop further. She explains the surge in money market funds as the result of investors trying to find a way to move out of equity funds without paying back-end loads. The only way to save those charges is by shifting to money market funds run by the same fund firm. Many people will also be parking their new RRSP contributions in money market funds while they wait for the markets to settle down, Ms. Park said. Adrian Mastracci, a portfolio Manager at KCM Wealth Management Inc. in Vancouver, said he would not recommend going back into equity funds any time soon. Comments made this week by U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson predicting sluggish growth, but no recession, didn't boost his confidence, Mr. Mastracci said. “I'm not convinced we're at the ‘buy' stage yet,” he said. “I'm more than willing to give up the first 10 per cent so that I can see a trend before I jump in.”

To: Rocket Red who wrote (56552)	2/18/2008 2:24:24 PM
From: marcos	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78421

cpq.v - you sold Canplats? - gee i wouldn't have there, think it's likely to follow through some, maybe a fair bit ... had a few on offer just above gap-fill, for playing retrace from the half-way mark, pulled them just in time, glad now ... one per cent p&f has been saying 3.79 p.o. for some time, think that's conservative given the situation - stockcharts.com[PA][D][F1!3!1.0!!4!20]&pref=G It's possible we've seen bottom, the Venture was edging up all last week, no point in jinxing it with a firm prediction but i was seeing the start of green on what i watch, can't imagine them getting much cheaper, and don't think it's too long before they turn up lgo.v - you might take a look at Largo, Red ... no hurry at all because it's got 15m 13-cent warrants hanging over it, expiry 28 march, but once they're exercised i think they'll move it up good, they've got two viable projects, likely will promote Maracas first, vanadium/PGMs play in Brasil ... a Bharti/McCarvill effort, proven promo power, there's an open gap from .62 for those who only want to take fifty per cent or so out of it Goldquest is another bounce play, may [or may not] have some waiting involved, hard to say how much without knowing how they plan to report from the JV, stock is extremely cheap here ... but i think you're on to something with Kodiak for sure, they're doing lots of step-out so it's luck of the draw short-term, eventually they'll hit in newsworthy fashion again, and will have done all they can to do so for PDAC Going on two months behind seasonality, discouraging eh, still we're going to get that rally and with basing like this it should be powerful ... not today however, no trading, can't say it breaks my heart either, glorious weather out there, cannot stay indoors ... cheers all