If you want to quickly analyse the broad spectrum of the Canadian economy, take a look at the S&P/TSX 60. While not the full representation of Canadian companies that make up the S&P/TSX Composite Index (although these companies are also represented in the Composite Index), it is nevertheless easier to manage and still provides a sense of the health of the Canadian markets.
Quick Facts About the S&P/TSX 60 Index
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The S&P/TSX 60 is a basket of the 60 largest Canadian companies by market capitalization (the number of shares outstanding times the market value of those shares). The index is thus a listing of some of the most-traded and most liquid companies in Canada, similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which is a listing of the 30 largest publicly-traded companies in the United States.
- managed by 4 reps from Standard & Poors, 3 from the TSX
- represents 73% of Canadian equity market cap
- covers 10 industry sectors in line with weights in the Composite
- designed for investment managers for ease of portfolio construction
- criteria available at www.indices.standardandpoors.com
- only Canadian incorporated companies are eligible
- committee attempts to minimize turnover
Trading the S&P/TSX 60 in ETFs, Futures and Options
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If you don’t want to hold individual stocks, you can play the S&P/TSX 60 through a number of ETFs as well as futures and options. Standard & Poors does not sponsor or endorse any of the following products, however.
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
iShares CDN LargeCap 60 Index Fund
Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 Bull Plus
Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 Bear Plus
Horizons AlphaPro Managed S&P/TSX 60
Futures
S&P/TSX 60
Options
iShares CDN LargeCap 60 Index Fund
S&P/ TSX 60
60 Largest, Most-Traded Canadian Companies
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So here’s the index as of November 2, 2009. Remember, it doesn’t change very frequently at all – only if one company loses enough market cap to another, or if it ceases to be Canadian (eg., is bought by another, or merges), or similar reasons.
If you like buying individual stocks, this list provides an excellent starting point for your research. With the right data, you could even make your own “Canadian ETF” without needing to purchase all 60 of these companies (for example, if you know there are a few you definitely don’t want to invest in for whatever reason). You get the benefit of the broad-based index without the companies your research tells you aren’t good bets for what you’re after.
Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) – Materials
Agnico-Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM) – Materials
Groupe Aeroplan (TSX: AER) – Consumer Discretionary
Arc Energy Trust (TSX: AET.UN) – Energy
Agrium (TSX: AGU) – Materials
Brookfield Asset Management (TSX: BAM.A) – Financials
Bombardier (TSX: BBD.B) – Industrials
BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) – Telecommunications
Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO) – Financials
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX: BNS) – Financials
Biovail (TSX: BVF) – Health Care
Cameco (TSX: CCO) – Energy
CIBC (TSX: CM) – Financials
Canadian Natural Resource (TSX: CNQ) – Energy
Canadian National Railway (TSX: CNR) – Industrials
Canadian Oil Sands (TSX: COS.UN) – Energy
Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX: CP) – Industrials
Canadian Tire (TSX: CCT.A) – Consumer Discretionary
EnCana (TSX: ECA) – Energy
Eldorado (TSX: ELD) – Materials
Enbridge (TSX: ENB) – Energy
Enerplus Resources (TSX: ERF.UN) – Energy
First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) – Materials
Fortis (TSX: FTS) – Utilities
Goldcorp (TSX: G) – Materials
Gildan Activewear (TSX: GIL) – Consumer Discretionary
Husky Energy (TSX: HSE) – Energy
Iamgold (TSX: IMG) – Materials
Inmet Mining (TSX: IMN) – Materials
Imperial Oil (TSX: IMO) – Energy
Kinross Gold (TSX: K) – Materials
Loblaw Companies (TSX: L) – Consumer Staples
Manulife (TSX: MFC) – Financials
Magna Int’l (TSX: MG.A) – Consumer Discretionary
Metro (TSX: MRU.A) – Consumer Staples
National Bank (TSX: NA) – Financials
Nexen Inc. (TSX: NXY) – Energy
Potash Corp. (TSX: POT) – Materials
Power Corp. of Canada (TSX: POW) – Financials
Penn West Energy Trust (TSX: PWT.UN) – Energy
Rogers Comm. (TSX: RCI.B) – Telecommunications
Research In Motion (TSX: RIM) – Information Technology
Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: RBC) – Financials
Saputo (TSX: SAP) – Consumer Staples
Shoppers Drug Mart (TSX: SC) – Consumer Staples
Shaw Communications (TSX: SJR.B) – Telecommunications
Sunlife Financial (TSX: SLF) – Financials
SNC Lavalin (TSX: SNC) – Industrials
Suncor (TSX: SU) – Energy
Telus (TSX: T) – Telecommunications
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{ 5 comments }
Ahh, lots of energy and basic material names. Nice.
I remember hearing so many stories about Canadian pump and dump mining (diamonds??) companies, it was quite interesting. Perhaps like the internet days of the US in 1999-2000!
Yep, Canada’s economy is all about resources. The hard assets! But check out the oddball clothing, IT, and consumer discretionaries in there, too. There’s more like that in the Composite Index, too.
The TSX 60 is almost 1/3 financials and 1/3 energy — it’s a dividend investor’s dream. If you “cherry pick” the over 3% dividend yielders from the list you can have a high growth, high yield portfolio. Double whammy in this economy.
Yes; they say Canada’s GDP is only 2% of world economy, but guess what – we have more than 2% of the goods the world needs, so there’s really much more value than 2% in the TSX. eg., oil and potash – we have about 80% of the world’s potash, etc.
Update: a few of the tickers here have changed post-2011:
Arc Energy is now ARX;
Enerplus is now ERF;
Penn West is now PWT;
Canadian Oil Sands is now COS.
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