Investment capsule: equities, mutual funds, closed-end funds, fixed income, mortgage rates, world economy

Closed-end funds are companies whose main business is to invest. They do not accept money from investors on a continuous basis. If you are interested in buying them you have to buy from other investors. They are traded on stock exchanges like other stocks. All closed-end funds mentioned here have a discount of over 17%.

CLOSED-END FUNDS THAT TRADE AT A DISCOUNT

STOCK                        SYMBOL  NAV (1)   PRICE  DISC.
                                           $       $      %


United Corporations             UNC    56.66   38.50   32.1
Economic Investment T           EVT   114.23  783.50   31.3
Dynamic Israel Growth             -     7.57    5.40   28.7
Canada World Fund               CWF     5.96    4.25   28.7
Old Canada Investments          OCI     6.49    5.00   22.9
BGR Precious Metals           BPT.A    20.91   16.70   20.1
Canadian General Inv.           CGI    16.78   13.45   19.8
Templeton Emerg. Mkts. App.       -    16.47   13.60   17.4
Third Canadian General Inv.     THD    18.24   15.00   17.8

(1) NAV stands for net asset value per share. Since the above mentioned
shares trade at a discount, their net asset values are higher than their
market price.

The minimum amounts required to get the interest rates indicated in this table are $5,000 for term deposits and $1,000 for Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs)

HIGHER INTEREST RATES ON DEPOSITS

TERM                            INTEREST %             WHO PAYS


TERM DEPOSITS (MINIMUM $5,000)

30 days                               3.15          Peoples Tr.

60 days                               3.00  Home Savings & Loan

90 days                               3.25  Home Savings & Loan

120 days                              3.25  Home Savings & Loan

GICS (MINIMUM $1,000)

1 year                                4.50         Citizens Tr.

3 years                               5.50         Citizens Tr.

5 years                               6.13         Citizens Tr.

Prepayable refers to open mortgages; non-prepayable to closed mortgages

MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES (MBS)

PREPAYABLE          YIELD (%)  NON-PREPAYABLE     YIELD (%)


CIBC '07                 7.39  Peoples Trust '03       6.75

SunLife '02              6.50  ScotiaBank '02          6.51

Hong Kong Bk. '01        6.52  TD Bank '01             6.47

MRS Trust '01            6.25  Firstline '01           6.30

First Heritage '01       6.28  Desjardins '99          5.47

Mortgage rates change frequently. Please check the rates

BEST MORTGAGE RATES

TYPE              %  WHERE


Variable Rate  4.75  Several financial institutions
1-year closed  5.20  BCI Bank, SunLife Tr., Trimark Tr.
2-year closed  6.00  BCI Bank, SunLife Tr.
3-year closed  6.45  Trimark Tr.
5-year closed  6.90  Trimark Tr.