ISA season best in nine years

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, Insider Sales of Stock Hit 2 Year High as Retail Sheep are Fooled Once Again

TORONTO — When investors poured tens of millions into Ontario investment company New Solutions Inc., they were assured their money would be safe, and would provide “above market returns” through investments backed by receivables from companies with solid “A” credit ratings or better.

According to SpendingPulse -- Mastercard's (MA) research arm -- December retail spending inched up only 0.7% from 2011. If SpendingPulse is right, this season is the weakest since 2008. This is hardly an encouraging sign for retail investors, who will need to be more selective.

Paragon, the buy-to-let specialist lender, has estimated just over 29,000 landlords entered the buy-to-let market for the first time last year, 19 per cent more than in 2011 and 80 per cent more than in 2010. The figures are based on a survey of brokers and data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the trade body. Landlords account for more than one in 10 new mortgages.

July figures from the Investment Management Association (IMA) make uncomfortable reading, with net retail fund sales falling to their lowest level since October 2008. UK domiciled funds recorded sales of £936 million, compared with a previous 12 month average of £2.3 billion, and net ISA sales were at their lowest since February 2009, with a [...]