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[ad_1] Singapore shrinks as COVID takes shine off expatriate life [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Home loan interest rate is at rock bottom levels after several years. The rate of interest on home loans are at multi-year low levels and borrowers may find the current rates to be lucrative enough to fund their home buying. What is also interesting is that some banks are offering home loans at rates which are even lower than the current yield on 10-year Government Securities (G-Secs). This means you as a borrower are able to secure funds at a lower cost compared to the government cost of borrowing money from the market. Of late, the benchmark yield has jumped to the highest in two years and is around 6.74 per cent while home loans being offered by some banks are available even at around 6.40 per cent. Banks such as SBI, Punjab & Sind Bank, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and UCO Bank are among those banks offering interest on home loans which is around 6.5 per cent. Bank of Maharashtra’s home loan interest rate starts from 6.40 per cent. But, before you take a decision looking at the current scenario, it’s better to take a close look two key things: Who can avail lowest rates: The lowest rates are generally applicable for specific borrowers and not to all borrowers. Typically, lowest rates are offered to those borrowers who have high Credit Score. Also, these attractive rates of interest are mostly to salaried and on loans below a certain amount of say Rs 30-Rs 40 lakh. How fast will EMI change: Presently, home loans from banks are compulsorily offered at a rate linked to an external benchmark. For most banks, it is the RBI’s repo rate and therefore, it is referred to as RLLR – repo rate linked lending rate. Any change in the repo rate will impact the RLLR and hence the home loan EMI. Effectively, in a floating home loan rate, the EMI changes in quick time as and when the repo rate changes. So, comparing home loan interest rate to g-sec yield is merely an indicator to look at the current situation. Over time, as and when the repo rate changes, your RLLR home loan will also see a change in EMI. If you have already zeroed-in your home, as an end-user, it’s always the best time to buy by putting in the maximum as down payment and balance through home loan. Also, keep a prepayment plan handy to finish the loan as early as possible to save on interest cost. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] Dow Earnings, Revenue Beat in Q4 [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC) on Thursday announced its partnership with Muthoot Homefin (India) Limited (MHIL) to offer mortgage guarantee backed home loan products to customers in the affordable housing segment. A mortgage guarantee will enable MHIL to sanction higher loan amount (LTV ratio) to the customers at lower rates of interest, a joint statement said. The housing finance company is currently offering loans from 6.5 per cent to economically weaker sections under its Azad-i75 programme for affordable houses. Speaking on the partnership, IMGC CEO Mahesh Misra said, “The product has been developed using a calibrated approach, and we are confident of a steady scale-up. Muthoot has ambitious plans for the next financial year, and we are delighted to collaborate with them in this journey”. IMGC endeavours to work with lenders to provide mortgage guarantee cover and promote early homeownership, the statement said. With the increased demand for affordable and mid-income housing, Muthoot Homefin aims to leverage mortgage guarantee as a risk mitigation tool, it added. The tie-up with IMGC will help Muthoot Homefin deepen its penetration in existing markets across its 108 branches /locations, thereby enabling homeownership in the affordable housing segment, MHIL CEO Rajeev Khond said. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Overview Top 100 Dividend Stocks Past Performance Methodology Looking at the returns some investors seem to be enjoying lately, you can be forgiven if you’ve been questioning the value of your dividend portfolio. Cryptocurrencies have been wild. Tech stocks have been on fire. And companies like GameStop and AMC, the darlings of Reddit trade, have been stratospheric—touching highs of 1,000% at times.  Canada’s best dividend stocks 2022 It may feel like everyone is holding a winning lottery ticket except you, but take a closer look. Many of the high-flying growth stocks peaked in the first few months of 2021 and have since given back large chunks of their gains. There will always be hot sectors to make investors feel invincible. But all too often, they end in an unpredictable and chaotic fashion.  Dividend stocks may look downright dull next to those examples, but they seldom take investors on the same vomit-inducing rides. Of course, 2020 was an obvious exception. Dividend stocks didn’t provide much protection in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. Unlike a typical recession where economies gradually slow down, companies experienced a dramatic shift in their business.  Two years later, things still feel unsettled with new challenges looming. Surveying the landscape ahead, adding a little more boring to your portfolio might not be such a bad thing. Inflation is soaring. Interest rates in Canada and abroad seem poised to begin a relentless march higher. And while vaccines have blunted the devastating impact of COVID-19, new variants like Omicron add an unwelcome air of uncertainty, leading to higher volatility and clouding the earnings outlook for many companies.   The case for dividend stocks  With inflation surging, investors are under intense pressure to try and protect their purchasing power. Investors may not have the luxury to sit on the sidelines to wait out the storm. Anyone sitting on cash is taking a risk that inflation will erode their money. Even if inflation is transitory—meaning the high inflation is only temporary—the short-term effects could have lasting implications.  When inflation was under 2% in February 2021, you could protect your purchasing power with something as simple as a GIC yielding 2.5%. More recently, inflation is close to 5%. And it’s been stickier than expected, explains Don Newman, a portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments Canada who oversees $.5 billion across several mandates, including the Fidelity  Dividend and Fidelity Dividend Plus Funds. A pinched supply chain, labour shortages and strong consumer demand are putting additional pressures on prices. There are also signs of wage inflation, which add a new long-term dynamic to the inflation picture. Over time inflation will cool, but it could lower your purchasing power by as much as 10% by the time it does.  Investors need something to offset that. “Having a portion of your portfolio in a dividend fund or dividend-paying stocks is a good hedge against inflation,” says Newman. “The alternatives are not as good as they were a few years ago.”  While central banks have been reluctant to make any decision that could derail the recovery, rate increases in 2022 appear to be a foregone conclusion. Markets are pricing in as many as five rate hikes by the Bank of Canada over the next 12 months. The question is whether markets will respond to the rate increases as they have in the past.  Typically, rising rates benefit financials because they’re able to charge more and it helps to boosts their net interest margins, which is better for the bottom line, explains Michael Giordano, vice president investments at Stone Asset Management Ltd. Cyclicals like the industrial and energy sectors also tend to benefit in this type of environment. On the other hand, debt-laden sectors like real estate, utilities and telecoms may face headwinds as rising rates will drive up their borrowing costs.   “Those are sort of the hard and fast ways to play,” says Giordano, who oversees the Stone Dividend Growth Class, which Refinitiv Lipper recently recognized as the best fund over the past five years in the dividend and equity category. He notes that higher rates could also hinder money flow into the high-growth technology names, adding that many tech companies have already experienced a correction. A year ago, you could have bought anything down 40%. Even if the business wasn’t fantastic, it was unlikely it would continue to trade at such a huge discount, explains Newman. “Now you want to focus on companies growing earnings,” he says.  Dividend-paying stocks are a good place to be right now if you’re looking for yield, says Newman. They’re not overly expensive and have a reasonable outlook, but you have to look at them on a company-by-company basis.  Giordano shares a similar sentiment. “You’ve got to stay disciplined and you got to focus on quality companies,” he says. Larger companies that have the ability to pass on cost increases to consumers will be best positioned to survive in this environment.  For those of you who have been following our dividends coverage over the years, you’ll find the 2022 best class is a little deeper, with 14 companies atop the list, eight more than last year. The average yield of the top stocks is another notable change, sitting at 5.07% this year 2022, although that figure is somewhat inflated by the 23% yield on Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Co. The average yield dips to a respectable 3.66% when you take out that outlier. Sure, it’s a far cry from the 5.2% average in 2021, but it reflects the recovery. For those still learning the basics, the dividend yield is the annual dividend payout divided by the share price. So, as prices rise faster than the payout, yields will fall. While you may not find any yields above 5% in the A-grade stocks, half of this group still have yields north of 4%. The fact that the yields are still that high is remarkable, considering how much these share prices jumped last year. And despite the uncertainty of the past few

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[ad_1] Nomura forecasts 50 bp Fed hike in March [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Overview Top 100 Dividend Stocks Past Performance Methodology The Dividend All-Stars have had some impressive years, but few compare to the class of 2021. The six A-grade stocks had a combined total return of 48.1%. You can chalk up some of those gains to the recovery, but the Dividend All-Stars used that tailwind to surge even more. The All-Stars handily beat the iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index (XIC) ETF and the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed 33.9% and 34%, respectively.  Historically, the All-Stars regularly outperform the major dividend-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the broader index. It’s worth noting that dividends accounted for more than 6.2 percentage points of that return. By comparison, XIC’s dividends added only 3.5 percentage points to that return.  The strong performance erases the down year in 2020 and expands the list’s history of outperformance. Since its inception, the Dividend All-Stars A-Team has now returned 391.6% versus 154.5% for XIC. Although the high concentration in insurance stocks atop last year’s list were less than ideal for investors looking for a diversified portfolio, they could have achieved that by sprinkling in B-listers, which include financials, media, energy, mining, utilities and industrials. The MoneySense A and B Team stocks combined have also outperformed, with a total return of 47.1% this year and up 263.3% since 2007.  Power Corp. was the top-performing A-graded stock, with a total return of 67.9%. That follows an 18.8% return last year. The company’s long history as a solid dividend payer has it atop our list once again.  Here is a look at how the top stocks did last year: Total 1-year return (period ending Oct. 22, 2021) Manulife Financial Corp. 39.32% Sagen MI Canada Inc. 28.14% iA Financial Corp Inc. 61.24% Power Corp of Canada 67.86% Great-West Lifeco Inc. 38.19% Capital Power Corp. 53.63% Notes: • Sagen MI Canada Inc. was acquired on April 6, 2021. • The data for this year’s Dividend All-Stars was adjusted to Nov. 15, 2021. To ensure we captured the true one-year performance, the total returns above are from Oct. 22, 2021.   The post Dividend All-Stars: Past performance appeared first on MoneySense. [ad_2] Source link

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