Ex-Bank of England chief says euro a ‘very serious problem’ + MORE Mar 6th

LONDON – A former Bank of England governor says the European single currency is a serious problem for Britain, whether or not the country leaves the European Union.
Mervyn King says that even though Britain does not use the euro, “we are influenced and affected by what goes on in the euro area.” He says the euro has been economically “a, if not disaster, very serious problem.”
Asked if that meant Britain should leave the EU, King said Sunday: “I don’t think you can draw that conclusion.”
Nineteen of the EU’s 28 members use the euro, which has suffered instability since the 2008 financial crisis hammered the currency’s debt-burdened weaker members.
Those who want to leave the EU say the crisis shows Britain would be better off outside the bloc.
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TORONTO – Five things to watch this week in Canadian business:
Mining Meeting: The four-day PDAC Mining and Investment Conference, held annually in Toronto, begins on Monday. This year’s event is expected to feature more than 1,000 exhibitors and 23,000 attendees from upwards of 100 countries.
Women’s Day: Victor Dodig, CEO of CIBC, participates in a discussion Tuesday in Toronto about women in business at the Rotman School of Management’s International Women’s Day event.
Bank of Canada Interest Rate Announcement: The central bank is scheduled to make its next interest rate announcement Wednesday. “Instead of a rate cut, look for an all-talk, no action dovish tilt from the Bank of Canada in its message,” says Avery Shenfeld, chief economist for CIBC World Markets. The rate is at 0.5 per cent.
Mr. Trudeau Goes To Washington: Canada’s prime minister is in Washington, D.C., this week to meet with President Barack Obama for an official state visit, including a glitzy state dinner at the White House on Thursday night…

Learn, save, invest and prosper with My Own Advisor.

Welcome to my latest dividend income update for 2016.  For those of you new to these posts on my site, every month I discuss my approach to investing using Canadian dividend paying stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and how reinvesting the dividends and distributions paid from these Canadian holdings are helping us reach financial freedom.
Last month I wrote about looking back, reflecting upon the progress we’ve made.  While the overall journey has been rather good the road to (future) financial prosperity has been filled with bumps.
Looking at the glass half-empty…
With this investing approach there is caution, meaning risk I need to remind you about.  Over the last few months, the following Canadian stocks have been hit rather hard in my portfolio:

Crescent Point Energy (CPG) – major dividend cut (maybe a dividend elimination to come).
Dream REIT (D.UN) – major dividend cut.
Husky (HSE) – dividend suspended indefinitely…

CALGARY – They are the early warning signs that a company may struggle to repay its debts: watch lists.
In releasing their latest quarterly earnings, Royal Bank, CIBC and Scotiabank each added nine oil and gas firms to their loan watch lists, the latest sign of trouble in the oilpatch. The names of those companies are kept confidential.
Gordon Sick, a finance professor at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, said many energy companies are struggling and likely behind in their loans.
“There’s a lot of them who are potentially in default,” said Sick. “The banks in Canada are potentially looking at some hits.”
Royal Bank’s watch list grew after it did a name-by-name stress test on its oil and gas portfolio, said chief risk officer Mark Hughes.
“Following this stress test, we’ve seen a small increase to our oil & gas watch list for closer monitoring,” Hughes said in an email.
The watch list has the banks keeping a close eye on the companies, and is one step before impaired status when a bank considers the loan at risk of default…