New Markets & Research Portal WebBroker ... - TD Waterhouse

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4 F O C U S O N R E S E A R C H Exciting New Version of WebBroker is being Launched! A new version of WebBroker* offers you a faster log-in process, plus streamlined, intuitive navigation that helps you access the market research you need to make informed investment decisions, and place your trade orders quickly and easily. Whether you’re just thinking about web-based trading, or have been trading online for years — check-out these exciting, user-friendly features available now through WebBroker — Canada’s premiere Internet-based brokerage service, exclusively from TD Waterhouse — www.tdwaterhouse.ca Faster access to tools & research • Markets & Research – The unparalleled selection of online market information and research tools from TD Waterhouse is now even better and it’s FREE to all clients via WebBroker! Access a wide range of TD-proprietary research, and Canada’s most extensive range of thirdparty investment research. (For more information, see the “Markets & Research” article on page 2.) • Portfolio Tracker – With the enhanced Portfolio Tracker, you can retrieve summary and detail quotes on your existing model portfolios. • Quick Quote – Retrieve multiple realtime quotes in any combination of equities, options, mutual funds and indices. • Favourite Websites – Create and save up to five links to your favourite websites, and visit them while navigating within WebBroker. • Option Symbol Lookup – The strike prices for most puts and calls offered through TD Waterhouse are now displayed. • Fixed Income Centre – WebBroker clients can now log on and use this valuable resource to find prices, yields and credit ratings on more than 1,000 bonds and money market securities, and place orders online. • Market Tracker – Click on this WebBroker link to see our Market Summary page with Canadian, U.S. and international market indices. Faster Trading • Efficient & Intuitive Navigation – A quicker log-on process allows for faster access to your account, trading and research tools. • Portfolio Tracker transactions – You can now place buy and sell orders directly from your portfolio(s) in Portfolio Tracker. Create and track information on up to five model portfolios in real time. • Enhanced Mutual Fund Transactions – Switch investments from one fund to another (within the same fund family), and review mutual fund orders, in detail, using the ‘List Orders’ feature. • New Order Entry – From the ‘Order Confirmation’ screen, you can now go directly to ‘Place Order’ or ‘Review Orders’ for faster, easier navigation and transactions. • Option Order Entry – Now you can enter option symbols as strings (with spaces) when placing option orders. For example, to buy a call option on Microsoft for the month of November at a strike price of $35, you would enter MSQ C NOV 35. • Funds Transfer – Transfer funds seamlessly between your TD Canada Trust account and your TD Waterhouse brokerage account using EasyWeb*. • Account Activity – Now view both the trade date and settlement date for every order placed within your account. Customize WebBroker to your needs • Customized Home Page – Now you can customize your WebBroker home page with the features you want to see and use. Whether it’s your account information, up-to-the minute market activity, intra-day charts, or your own real-time watch list – it’s your choice. • Set Favourite Account – Choose and establish an account that will be displayed first for all of your transactions. • Stored Trading Password – If you wish, WebBroker can now remember your trading password, so you don’t have to enter it each time you place an order. • Experience eServices* – Access your account statements and trade confirmations online through WebBroker. Self-directed investing has never been more accessible, flexible and convenient. If you are currently using WebBroker, please note that on September 24th the old version of WebBroker will be replaced by this enhanced version. TD Waterhouse is a world leader in electronic brokerage and market information services — as exemplified by the great features now available in WebBroker. Our objective is to harness technology and turn it into user-friendly products and services that are secure and easy to use. To learn more about WebBroker, as well as our other electronic services, visit www.tdwaterhouse.ca. As a TD Waterhouse client, you also have access – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – to the largest team of knowledgeable, service-focused Investment Representatives in the Canadian self-directed brokerage industry. So whether it’s online or by phone, put our premiere brokerage services to work for you, and become the best investor you can be.
Focus ARGENTINA’S WOES Argentina stepped back from the edge of the precipice in mid-July, as a tentative agreement between the central government and the provinces to curtail government spending alleviated fears of an imminent debt default and/or a currency devaluation. However, concerns over Argentina’s deep economic and financial problems have not been laid to rest. Accordingly, Argentina will remain in the spotlight in the coming months, increasing the risk aversion of global investors and representing an obstacle to emerging markets, but the contagion effects are not expected to lead to a global financial crisis akin to that experienced in 1997/98. Argentina’s struggle to service its debt... Concern has been mounting about Argentina since last November, when a dispute between the central government and the provinces over the terms of the 2001 budget raised the spectre that the government would be unable to service its US$130 billion debt. The IMF rode to the rescue with a US$40 billion aid package, but the effects were short-lived. By June, Argentina was forced to enter into a US$29.5 billion debt swap, in an effort to ease short-term financing pressures. The government exchanged bonds due in the next five years for longer-dated paper, deferring some US$8 billion in debt service costs. The nearly US$30 billion swapped was about 50 per cent more than financial markets had expected, revealing that global investors responded favourably to the transaction. However, the relative calm that followed proved to be only a temporary lull. …raises fears of devaluation on the economy The catalyst for the latest wave of anxiety was the introduction of a new currency regime for the tradeable goods sector, which replaces the peso’s longstanding one-to-one peg to the U.S. dollar with a 50-50 peg to the dollar and 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 ARGENTINA'S GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) Per cent change in real GDP 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01f Source: International Monetary Fund, TD Economics the euro. The new regime effectively achieved a one-time devaluation of the peso for the international merchandise trade sector, such that exporters now receive 1.07-1.08 pesos for each dollar of goods they ship, while importers have to pay this slightly higher exchange rate. The adoption of the dual exchange rate regime was intended to help stimulate the domestic economy by boosting exports and dampening imports. However, any optimism it fostered was quickly outweighed by a negative reaction in financial markets. Despite assurances by the Argentine government that the mixed FX regime will not apply to the economy as a whole until the dollar and the euro are trading at parity, financial markets increasingly fretted about the possibility of a broader devaluation. The negative international sentiment led to a difficult Treasury bill auction on July 10, which saw the government forced to auction 91day paper at a yield of 14 per cent – almost 5 percentage points higher than the yield they had to pay in June. This led to increased attention to Argentina’s woes, which pushed interest rates even higher and equity markets lower. Mounting uneasiness also sparked outflows from the banking sector, with private sector deposits dropping almost 10 per cent since March. To cap things off, all the major international rating agencies cut Argentina’s credit rating in quick succession. Carnage in markets elicits drastic response from government To alleviate international fears, the Argentine government put forward a proposal to cut the budget deficit to zero this year. Although the package met with some political resistance, a deal was reached to proceed with the fiscal retrenchment. It remains to be seen whether this latest austerity package – the fifth in less than two years – will usher in a new era of federal-provincial By: Gillian Manning, Economist and Craig Alexander, Senior Economist TD Economics TD Bank Financial Group cooperation on deficit reduction, or whether it has merely papered over deep faultlines in the political landscape that will open up again. Regardless, the government’s quick response has reduced the financial stresses that were building in early July. Cure worse than the disease? But, in the end, the biggest problem for Argentina is likely to be the negative economic fallout from the fiscal retrenchment in an economy already well into its third successive year of recession. If the zero-deficit policy breeds more years of sub-zero growth, interest rates will likely remain high, as financial markets will likely continue to price in pessimism about the government’s ability to meet its debt servicing requirements. High interest rates combined with low economic growth and a still-heavy government debt burden represents a vicious circle, in which Argentina is trapped between fickle international investor confidence and falling domestic demand. The effects of this are already visible. Social unrest has been mounting steadily in Argentina for several years now, as the punishing effects of the currency board regime – which keeps the peso pegged to the U.S. dollar, the world’s strongest currency – eat away at the country’s external competitiveness. With monetary and exchange rate policy driven by the U.S. Federal Reserve, courtesy of the dollar peg – and with fiscal policy dictated by an IMF-sponsored program of fiscal austerity – the domestic economy in Argentina has borne the full brunt of the loss in competitiveness. And, the latest austerity package, with its tax hikes and deep salary cuts, promises only a further deterioration in already-weak income and employment conditions. continued on page 8 5
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