Investment capsule - equities, mutual funds, closed-end funds, fixed income, mortgage rates, Canada and the world economic indicators

Money Digest, August, 1997

EQUITIES

QUALITY STOCKS THAT PAY HIGH DIVIDENDS

The common stocks mentioned here trade on Canadian stock exchanges and pay dividends that are above 4.5%. If the stock is of a qualifying Canadian corporation, the dividend is equal to an interest yield of 5.63% or above.

STOCK                SYMBOL  PRICE  DIVIDEND  YIELD
                                 $         $      %


Centrefund Rlty         CFE  16.50      0.80    4.8
Chrysler                  C  47.50      1.60    4.6
Fortis                  FTS  34.25      1.76    5.1
Maritime T&T            MTT  28.20      1.28    4.5
NewTel Ent.             NEL  28.05      1.36    4.8
Nova Scotia Power       NSI  14.95      0.81    5.4
Quebec Telephone         QT  26.00      1.32    5.1
Transalta Utilities      TA  16.75      0.98    5.9
Westcoast Energy          W  27.20      1.24    4.6

STOCKS WITH DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT PLANS (DRIPs)

Stocks with dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs for short) will allow you to reinvest your dividends automatically into the company's shares. This will save you commission. Some companies will even offer a discount if you use DRIPs. The companies listed here have an additional feature--they will also let you buy additional shares in the company with no commission. This feature is called the Share Purchase Plan (SPP).

The stocks listed in the right panel have both DRIPs as well as SPPs.

STOCK                         SYMBOL  RECENT PRICE $  DIVIDEND $  YIELD %


Alberta Energy                   AEC           33.00        0.40      1.2
Alcan (1)                         AL           47.70        0.60      1.7
BC Gas                           BCG           25.90        1.00      3.9
BC Telecom                       BCT           34.55        1.36      3.9
BCE Inc.                           B           42.25        1.36      3.2
Bank of Montreal                 BMO           57.00        1.60      2.8
Bank of Nova Scotia              BNS           64.60        1.48      2.3
Bruncor                          BRR           33.20        1.28      3.9
Cdn. Imperial Bank (CIBC)         CM           38.25        1.00      2.6
Canadian Pacific                  CP           39.25        0.48      1.2
Chrysler                           C           47.50        1.60      4.6
Dofasco                          DFS           30.80        1.00      3.2
Echo Bay Mines                   ECO            7.15        0.08      1.5
Fortis                           FTS           34.25        1.76      5.1
IPL Energy                       IPL           50.80        2.06      4.1
Imasco                           IMS           42.75        1.20      2.8
Imperial Oil                     IMO           68.90        2.20      3.2
Inco (1)                           N           40.50        0.40      1.4
Island Tel                        IT           29.10        1.28      4.4
MDS Health `A' (B)             MHG.A           32.00        0.10      0.3
MacMillan Bloedel                 MB           19.30        0.40      2.1
Maritime T&T                     MTT           28.20        1.28      4.5
Molson                         MOL.A           25.50        0.72      2.8
Moore (1)                        MCL           28.15        0.94      4.6
National Bank                     NA           18.00        0.60      3.3
National Trustco                  NT           34.05        0.88      2.6
New Tel Ent                      NEL           28.05        1.36      4.8
NorTel (1)                       NTL          141.50        0.60      0.6
Nova                             NVA           12.05        0.40      3.3
Nova Scotia Power                NSI           14.95        0.81      5.4
Telus                              T           26.10        0.92      3.5
TransAlta Utilities               TA           16.75        0.98      5.9
TransCanada Pipelines (TCPL)     TRP           28.05        1.16      4.1
Westcoast Energy                   W           27.20        1.24      4.6

(1) Stocks whose dividends are paid in U.S. dollars.

MUTUAL FUNDS

BEST 12-MONTH PERFORMANCE

Funds listed in this section are open-end mutual funds. They have been selected on the basis of their previous 12-month performance. Mutual funds should be judged on their long-term, and consistent performance. The listing here is mainly intended to point out the current trends. You may want to compare your fund's performance with the top-performing funds. But do not switch in a hurry.

Equity Funds include funds whose objectives are long-term capital appreciation or a combination of capital appreciation and income. Lists of both RRSP and non-RRSP-eligible funds are given here.

Real Estate Funds invest primarily in commercial real estate.

Bond and Mortgage Funds invest in bonds, mortgages, or both. Many of these funds are RRSP-eligible.

FUND                            COMMISSION (1)  1 YR.  3YR.  5 YR.  10 YR.
                                             %      %     %      %       %


CANADIAN EQUITY
FUNDS--RRSP ELIGIBLE
AIC Advantage Fund                         F/B   82.9  46.9   35.4    19.0
AIC Diversified Canada F                   F/B   64.6     -      -       -
Scudder Canadian Fquity                     NL   47.3     -      -       -
Optima Strat Cdn. Equity                   F/B   47.2  25.7      -       -
Quebec Growth Fund                           B   46.8  21.2   19.2     5.0
Leith Wheeler Cdn. Equity                   NL   46.2  20.2      -       -
Average (2)                                      24.7  16.9   15.6     8.1

SPECIALTY AND OTHER
RESOURCE EQUITY FUNDS
Green Line Energy                           NL   45.2     -      -       -
Royal Energy                                NL   37.6  10.2   21.6    10.0
Dominion Equity                             NL   28.3   4.7   20.0     0.5
GFM Emerg. Markets Century                  NL   19.6     -      -       -
GT Global Health Care                      F/B   19.3     -      -       -
Average (2)                                      -0.7   6.1   15.5     3.9

U.S. EQUITY
FUNDS--NON-RRSP ELIGIBLE
AIC Value                                  F/B   57.1  35.0   27.8       -
Glo. Mgr. U.S. Geared Fund                   F   56.6     -      -       -
McLean Budden Amer. Equ-Pld.                NL   41.1  29.2   21.1    14.2
Optima Strat. U.S. Equity                  F/B   40.0  27.7      -       -
Average (2)                                      23.9  20.3   16.7    10.0

INTERNATIONAL EQUITY
FUNDS--NON-RRSP ELIGIBLE
Glo. Mgr. German Geared                      F   70.2     -      -       -
20/20 Latin America                        F/B   67.3  23.8      -       -
Glo. Mgr H.K. Geared Fund                    F   64.2     -      -       -
Glo. Mgr U.K. Geared Fund                    F   59.6     -      -       -
Navigator Asia-Pacific                     F/B   57.5     -      -       -
Average (2)                                      16.2   9.1   13.5     7.3

REAL ESTATE FUNDS
Dynamic Real Estate Equity                 F/B   40.4     -      -       -
Investors Real Property                    F/B    4.4   3.7    1.7     4.4
Royal Lepage Comm. Real Est.                NL    1.8   3.5    1.4       -
Average (2)                                      15.5   3.6    1.6     4.4

BOND & MORTGAGE FUNDS
Fidelity Emerg. Mkts. Bond                  NL   36.3  22.6      -       -
Glo. Mgr. UK Gilt Index                      F   19.0     -      -       -
Altamira Spec. High Yield Bond              NL   18.3     -      -       -
C.I. Global High Yield                     F/B   18.2  13.6      -       -
Optima Strat. Cdn. Fix. Inc.               F/B   17.3  14.0      -       -
Industrial Bond                            F/B   16.9  13.8    9.5       -
Atlas Cdn. High Yield Bond                  NL   16.5     -      -       -
Average (2)                                       9.6  10.2    8.3     9.3

(1) Commissions NL - No load, F - Front-end load, B - Back-end load; F/B -
Option of Front or Back-end load

(2) Averages are based on all funds within each group