Geneviève Blouin
President and Founder
CFA, CMT
David Lessard, Pl.Fin, CIM
Partner
Factsheet Altervest Altervest Smart Volatility - Avril 2017
May 3rd, 2017 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for April 2017 = -1.57%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - April 2017
May 3rd, 2017 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for April 2017 = +1.28%
Factsheet Altervest Altervest Smart Volatility - March 2017
April 4th, 2017 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for March 2017 = +1.47%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - March 2017
April 4th, 2017 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for March 2017 = +0.20%
Factsheet Altervest Altervest Smart Volatility - February 2017
March 6th, 2017 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for February 2017 = -2.11%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - February 2017
March 6th, 2017 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for February 2017 = +3.91%
Factsheet Altervest Altervest Smart Volatility - January 2017
February 6th, 2017 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for January 2017 = +1.54%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - January 2017
February 6th, 2017 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for January 2017 = +2.45%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - December 2016
January 2nd, 2017 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for December 2016 = +2.04%
Factsheet Altervest Altervest Smart Volatility - December 2016
January 2nd, 2017 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for December 2016 = -0.47%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - November 2016
December 5th, 2016 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for November 2016 = +4.68%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - November 2016
December 1st, 2016 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for November 2016 = -1.19%
Quarterly Newsletter - Q3 2016
November 1st, 2016 /
Please download the quarterly newsletter for the 3rd quarter 2016.
Factsheet Altervest Smart Volatility - October 2016
November 1st, 2016 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for October 2016 = +0.10%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - October 2016
November 1st, 2016 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for October 2016 = -1,70%
Factsheet Altervest Smart Volatility - September 2016
October 3rd, 2016 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for September 2016 = +3.88%
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - September 2016
October 3rd, 2016 /
Altervest's S&P Enhanced Fund Performance for September 2016 = +1.39%
Article from Stéphane Rolland, Journalist LesAffaires.com
September 8th, 2016 /
Les petits gestionnaires de portefeuille québécois auront leurs indices
Factsheet Altervest Smart Volatility - August 2016
September 2nd, 2016 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for August 2016 = +0.74%.
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - August 2016
September 2nd, 2016 /
Altervest's SP Enhanced Fund Performance for August 2016 = +0.69%
Factsheet Altervest Smart Volatility - July 2016
August 5th, 2016 /
Altervest's Smart Volatility Fund Performance for July 2016 = +2.76%.
Factsheet Altervest S&P Enhanced - July 2016
August 5th, 2016 /
Altervest's SP Enhanced Fund Performance for July 2016 = +5.33%.
Quarterly Newsletter - Q2 2016
July 29th, 2016 /
Please download to read the quarterly newsletter for the 2nd quarter.
Factsheet Altervest Smart Volatility Fund
June 8th, 2016 /
Altervest Smart volatility fund performance May 2016 +3.7%
Factsheet S&P enhanced May 2016
June 8th, 2016 /
S&P Enhanced performance for the month of May 2016 was +3.02% Beating the S&P Total return by 1.22%
Stop losing sleep over the markets...
August 30th, 2015 /
I am writing to you in the midst of a severe correction of the Chinese stock market which has had a collateral effect on other Asian markets. There are a number of issues overhanging the markets today:
- consensus expectation for a global slowdown have negatively impacted commodity prices, U.S. stocks no longer trade at a discount and face a potential increase in interest rates.
- Despite Greece having accepted the European Union terms, the jury is still out regarding Greece’s on going membership in the E.U.
- Since 2009, central banks of developed countries have temporarily supplied increasing amounts of credit to grow the economies. However one has to ask what will happen when these banks begin to “call their loans”. Is hiding in fixed income when interest rates are at their lowest levels in 50 years a good idea?
At the beginning of July, Altervest launched a new product based on volatility: Altervest Absolute Return. This is a product that finally allows investors not to lose sleep over the markets. At the core it has been created to preserve capital, backtesting has shown a maximum loss of 7%. This is a product that has a negative correlation with the S&P 500 and which will tend to provide excellent returns (positive) when the U.S stock market collapses. In 2008, our backtest earned positive returns of 44% versus a loss of 37% for the S&P 500. From 2007 to 2014, the average annual return net of fees is 17.25%. When does the product tend to underperform? When volatility is low. Still in backtesting, the product returned 6.12% (net of fees) in 2014 (low volatility period). We created this product to enhance our private wealth management program. As it has low correlation with other asset classes as well, it tends to provide positive returns in periods of crisis. The product will represent 10% of the asset allocation in Altervest’s private wealth management portfolio. For those who wish to invest exclusively in the Altervest Absolute Return, we offer the product in managed accounts with an initial minimum investment of $100 000 USD. You will find more details on the product under the monthly summary on page 3.
Altervest Private Wealth Management: for those who want to invest with local talent We have revamped our distribution of private banking assets to include 90% of talented local emerging managers. We will give you more information on this initiative in our next newsletter!
http://www.actufinance.fr/actu/genevieve-blouin-altervest-6967759.html
https://www.cfasociety.org/quebec/PublishingImages/FemmesFinance2017_Invitation.pdf
http://www.finance-investissement.com/nouvelles/size-matters/a/64187
http://www.finance-investissement.com/nouvelles/la-dynamo/a/63575
La firme montréalaise Altervest, spécialisée dans les stratégies de placements alternatifs, lance le Fonds Altervest Smart Volatilité.
La firme lance un fonds dont la stratégie d'investissement repose sur la volatilité, « une classe d'actifs inexploitée en placement traditionnel », selon Geneviève Blouin, fondatrice et présidente d'Altervest.
Le fonds Altervest Smart Volatilité, dont le code FundServ est MAJ 500, est offert depuis le 1er janvier 2016 aux investisseurs accrédités. Il n'est toutefois pas encore en vente libre auprès de l'ensemble des courtiers.
Le fonds est conçu de manière à bien performer en période de crise et le rendement annuel moyen espéré est de 15% sur une période de cinq ans, alors que la perte maximale visée est de 7%.
Spécialisée dans le créneau de volatilité, Geneviève Blouin estime que les placements alternatifs peuvent offrir d'excellentes solutions de diversification de portefeuille. L'utilisation du fonds Altervest Smart Volatilité au sein d'une répartition d'actif typique est sensée contribuer à la réduction de la volatilité globale du portefeuille, tout en améliorant son rendement.
- Pour lire l'article au complet: http://www.finance-investissement.com/nouvelles/produits/altervest-lance-un-fonds-dans-le-creneau-de-la-volatilite/a/61976#sthash.p1NqgIwn.dpuf
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife pledged to give away virtually all of their $46 billion in Facebook Inc. shares, setting a new philanthropic benchmark by committing their massive fortune to charitable causes while still in their early 30s.
Facebook’s chief executive officer and his wife, Priscilla Chan, unveiled the plan in anopen letter to their newborn daughter, Max (short for Maxima), in a Facebook post on Tuesday, promising to donate 99 percent of their stock in the social-networking company "during our lives."
The pledge puts Zuckerberg in the same league with other billionaires who are giving away the bulk of their wealth, including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. The key difference is that Zuckerberg is starting at an earlier age, 31. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was created in 2000, the year the Microsoft Corp. co-founder turned 45.
Zuckerberg doesn’t plan to contribute more than $1 billion a year for at least the next three years, Facebook said in a separate filing, meaning the CEO will maintain voting control of the Menlo Park, California-based company for the foreseeable future. The new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be a limited liability company controlled by Mark and Priscilla, not a charitable trust, meaning they will also make philanthropic investments and back political causes.
Full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-01/zuckerberg-to-give-99-of-facebook-stock-away-during-lifetime
A Bloomberg Brief special issue Women in Finance was published on October 12th. Authors Darshini Shah and Laura Colby take a closer look at the trend of fund managers using “metrics based around women” to choose firms for their portfolios.
In the report on women-focused funds, Patricia Lizarraga, managing partner and founder of Hypatia Capital, argues investing in companies managed by female execs with a diverse management team is an ideal strategy that has proven to generate strong returns. Zineb Guessous, managing partner at Almena Partners and special adviser at StoneWater Capital, also discusses how women at the top can help mentor less experienced women in finance.
Making money with women-focused funds
U.S. Trust in Boston is a part of a growing segment of the money-management business that believes when it comes to investing, gender is a big deal. The key argument, which is supported by research, is that firms with a relatively high percentage of women in decision-making capacities tend to perform better than those managed almost solely by men.
The first European women-focused fund Valeurs Feminines, was launched in 2005 by Conseil Plus Gestion, a small money-management firm based in France. The portfolio strategy involves European firms with a high percentage of senior female managers or whose business has “a strong female connotation,” notes Jean-Louis Hostache, the chief exec of CPG.
Holdings as of the end of June for VF included advertiser Publicis Groupe SA, whose chairman and six of 15 directors are female, and insurer Axa SA, where the COO and five of 14 board of directors members are women. That said, the Valeurs Feminines team also holds stakes in firms such as Etam Developpement SA, a lingerie seller that is up almost 25% over the last 12 months.
“We thought it would be a shame not to profit from the increasing economic power of women,” Hostache comments. Shah and Colby highlight that Valeurs Feminines has beaten the Eurostox 50 (its benchmark), by more than 70% since its founding, and it has produced an 8.8% return year to date.
Women-Focused Funds – Ellevate
Another strategy is employed at the three-year-old Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund, which is managed by a joint venture of Pax World Management and Ellevate Asset Management (founded by ex-Bank of America and Citigroup exec Sallie Krawcheck). The Pax Ellevate portfolio is chosen from firms with women directors and top managers who have signed (or will sign) the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles accord. Their portfolio currently includes close to 400 stocks from the MSCI Index, notes Joe Keefe, president and CEO of Pax World.
Pax Ellevate’s top 10 holdings include names such as Key Corp., Pepsico and defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., and all currently have a woman at the top of the ladder. Of note, the fund does not include a Japanese firm, and tech companies like Apple and Facebook with a high percentage of male employees are also not represented. The fund has beaten its benchmark (MSCI Index) so far this year.
The Bloomberg report notes that while female-focused funds are still almost all relatively small (under $100 million in AUM), the sector is expected to enjoy strong growth as the trend toward socially responsible investing picks up steam worldwide.
source: http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/10/women-focused-funds/?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EMAIL_DAILY&utm_content=quick_link
Canadian stocks capped the longest rally in four months as an unexpected rebound in exports boosted optimism in the economy.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index eked out a sixth day of gains for the longest rally since April. While the gauge has added 3.6 per cent during the recent run, the advance follows a seven-day rout of 5 per cent that was the longest since 2011.
Equities climbed as much as 0.9 per cent Wednesday after data showed Canadian exports surged in June at the fastest pace in almost a decade, providing signs the economy may be rebounding from its downturn. Stocks pared gains as energy and materials producers continued a slump that has made them the worst-performing in Canada this year.
“The export numbers caught a lot of people off-guard,” said Greg Taylor, a fund manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto. His firm manages about $6.6 billion. “We will have to look for more of that. It’s hard to look at just one point in time.”
The S&P/TSX added 11.94 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 14,502.99 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has fallen 0.9 per cent in 2015, one of only three developed markets in negative territory for the year among the the 24 tracked by Bloomberg.
Canadian exports surged 6.3 per cent in June, the biggest gain since December 2006, snapping five straight months of declines, according to data from Statistics Canada.
Lenders, which account for about one-third of the index, paced gains as Royal Bank of Canada climbed 0.9 per cent and Bank of Nova Scotia added 0.5 per cent.
Materials producers fell the most, losing 1.4 per cent. Tahoe Resources Inc. tumbled 6.1 per cent after its chief executive officer stepped down for personal reasons. Barrick Gold Corp. sank 3.5 per cent to a 1989 low. Semafo Inc. rose 2.9 per cent after second-quarter earnings topped estimates.
Energy producers slipped 0.8 per cent, erasing earlier gains of as much as 1.9 per cent. The Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 0.3 per cent.
Wall Street a baissé lundi, pâtissant comme beaucoup de marchés mondiaux d'une chute des Bourses chinoises, sans trouver de soutien dans une actualité réduite aux États unis: le Dow Jones a perdu 0,73 % et le NASDAQ 0,96 %.
Selon des résultats définitifs, l'indice vedette Dow Jones Industrial Average a cédé 127,94 points à 17 440,59 points, et le NASDAQ, à dominante technologique, 48,85 points à 5039,78 points.
Le S&P 500, un indice élargi très suivi par les investisseurs, a reculé de 0,58 %, soit 12,01 points, à 2067,64 points.
À Toronto, la Bourse a clôturé lundi en baisse de près de 200 points, après que les marchés d'actions chinois eurent plongé et que le cours du pétrole eut perdu de nouvelles plumes.
L'indice composé S&P/TSX a chuté de 184,84 points pour terminer la séance avec 14 001,37 points.
Entre-temps, le dollar canadien s'est déprécié de 0,06 cent US à 76,66 cents US.
Comme en Europe, où l'Eurostoxx 50 a perdu près de 2,5 %, le moral des investisseurs a avant tout été affecté par une chute de plus de 8 % de la Bourse de Shanghaï, qui alimente les inquiétudes sur la croissance dans le pays et par ricochet chez ses partenaires.
«Désormais, les Bourses chinoises ont perdu 35 % ou 40 %» depuis le début de leur chute fin juin, a souligné Alan Skrainka, de Cornerstone Wealth Management, tout en rappelant que le niveau des valorisations y restait très élevé.
«Le marché chinois est une bulle, et il en paie les conséquences», a-t-il ajouté. «Beaucoup d'investisseurs chinois vont en tirer une leçon douloureuse, comme cela avait été le cas aux États-Unis à la fin des années 1990.»
Néanmoins, comme d'autres analystes, il relativisait les conséquences de cette chute pour les marchés mondiaux, étant donnée la déconnexion entre la Bourse chinoise et l'économie réelle, tout en reconnaissant qu'elle avait contribué à la déprime de lundi à Wall Street.
«En gros, le marché essaie de déterminer si l'on assiste ou non à un ralentissement mondial», a expliqué Art Hogan, de Wunderlich Securities. Aux États-Unis, «on va continuer à digérer des résultats d'entreprises, on attend beaucoup de statistiques cette semaine, mais pour le moment, on se concentre sur l'interprétation à donner du rythme de l'économie mondiale.»
Le reste de la semaine sera en effet chargé aux États-Unis, avec notamment les résultats trimestriels du constructeur Ford, des géants du médicament Merck et Pfizer et des majors pétrolières Chevron et ExxonMobil, ainsi qu'une décision monétaire de la Réserve fédérale (Fed) mercredi.
Pour l'heure, l'actualité macroéconomique américaine n'a fourni au marché qu'un «bon chiffre sur les commandes de biens durables», selon les termes des experts de la maison de courtage Allendale, mais l'annonce d'une forte hausse en juin n'a pas redonné beaucoup de moral aux investisseurs.
GE monte
Parmi les valeurs, le laboratoire Mylan, spécialiste des génériques, a chuté de 14,51 % à 56,37 dollars après que le groupe israélien Teva a renoncé à l'acheter au profit d'une partie des activités d'Allergan, qui a gagné 6,09 % à 326,98 dollars. Sur sa cotation new-yorkaise, Teva a bondi de 16,41 % à 72,00 dollars.
Parmi les bénéficiaires en Bourse de cet événement, le laboratoire Perrigo, spécialiste des médicaments en libre accès (OTC), vers lequel compte désormais se tourner Mylan, a pris 3,81 % à 193,60 dollars.
Le conglomérat industriel General Electric a avancé de 0,78 % à 25,95 dollars, après que le groupe français Alstom a dit accepter de réduire le montant de la cession à l'américain de ses activités dans l'énergie, afin de donner davantage de chances au projet de recevoir le feu vert de Bruxelles.
Le constructeur automobile Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), accusé de manquements dans ses campagnes de rappels de voitures, a reculé de 4,88 % à 14,41 dollars, après avoir accepté de payer une forte amende dans le cadre d'un accord avec l'agence américaine de la sécurité routière, la NHTSA.
La société américaine McGraw Hill Financial, maison mère de l'agence de notation Standard & Poor's, a baissé de 5,67 % à 99,59 dollars, après avoir annoncé qu'elle allait racheter pour 2,23 milliards de dollars SNL Financial, un spécialiste de l'information financière.
Le marché obligataire avançait. Vers 16 h 25, le rendement des bons du Trésor à dix ans reculait à 2,221 %, contre 2,260 % vendredi soir, et celui des bons à 30 ans à 2,936 %, contre 2,961 % auparavant.
Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney said Tuesday that Greece needs debt relief, adding to international voices calling for the stricken nation’s debt load to be reduced.
“There will need to be debt relief, in our view,” Mr. Carney told lawmakers.
Mr. Carney’s remarks chime with the latest assessment of the International Monetary Fund, which on Thursday said that Athens requires debt relief to ease the burden of repaying loans equivalent to some 177% of annual output.
In an agreement struck with eurozone governments early Monday, Greece agreed to implement a range of economic reforms in exchange for EUR85 billion ($96 billion) of new rescue loans. Eurozone leaders agreed to examine the case for some kind of debt restructuring later this year if Athens pushes through economic reforms.
Mr. Carney acknowledged that debt relief alone wouldn’t be sufficient to solve Greece’s problems, saying the proposals for reforms and privatizations agreed by Greece and its eurozone partners were also needed. He described the task facing Athens and others to get Greece back on the road to durable growth as “Herculean.”
Mr. Carney reiterated a view he and other policy makers have long espoused–that the eurozone’s troubles highlight the need for much deeper political integration between the members of the currency union.
“It does underscore again that the institutions of European monetary union are unfinished and need to be reinforced,” he said.
The governor was speaking at a marathon testimony session with lawmakers on parliament’s Treasury Committee, which scrutinizes economic policy. Officials from both the BOE’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee and its Financial Policy Committee, which safeguards financial stability, appeared alongside Mr. Carney to answer questions on subjects ranging from Greece to the outlook for borrowing costs, the housing market and the Chinese financial sector. It was the first meeting of the newly-constituted Treasury Committee since national elections in May.
On the domestic front, Mr. Carney said the time for an interest-rate rise in the U.K. is drawing nearer.
“The point at which interest rates may begin to rise is moving closer, considering the performance of the economy,” he said. That’s despite figures earlier Tuesday showing annual inflation in the U.K. slowed to zero in June, after British retailers kicked off the summer sales season with price cuts for food, clothing and footwear.
The BOE believes annual inflation start to rise back towards its 2% target later this year once the drag from last year’s fall in the oil price fades. Investors expect the BOE to begin slowly ratcheting up rates from mid-2016.