For business owners, choosing the right mix of salary and dividends is all about flexibility - The Globe and Mail

Halloween is fast approaching and the wee ghosts and goblins are dreaming of scouring their neighbourhoods for treats. But their parents seek goodies from the markets in the form of dividends and capital gains. For the latter, the season brings with it the return of the Dividend Monster portfolio. It favours Canadian dividend stocks, with generous yields, on the upswing. In a fun twist, the original portfolio will be chopped in half this week to unleash two new monsters on the market. The original Dividend Monster portfolio generated average annual returns of 16.2 per cent over the 27 years through to the end of September. In comparison, the Canadian stock market climbed by an average of 9 per cent annually over the same period as tracked by the S&P/TSX Composite Index.(The returns herein are based on backtests using monthly data from Bloomberg. They include dividend reinvestment but not fund fees, taxes, commissions or other trading costs. The portfolios are equally weighted and rebalanced monthly, unless stated otherwise.)The Dividend Monster starts its search for stocks with the largest 300 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Inside the Market’s roundup of some of today’s key analyst actionsNational Bank Financial analyst Gabriel Dechaine is preparing for “mixed” third-quarter results from Canada’s life insurance providers, expecting “a modest growth deceleration” to be evident” due to flatter equity markets and rising bond yields. Modelling 5-per-cent year-over-year growth, down from 8 per cent during the first half of 2026, he expects the recent turbulence in the bond markets to be a focus of discussion on earnings calls. “As discussed in [a] September 20th report, the short-term implications of higher rates can be more negative, while the longer-term ones are more positive,” he said. “Our two top picks in the sector are MFC and SLF. However, we do not expect Q3/26 results to be a positive catalyst for either stock. MFC’s earnings continue to be clouded by higher claims costs in its Canadian Group business, along with volatile mortality experience in its legacy U. S. Individual Insurance business. Longer term, we like the stock’s positive leverage to rising rates, re-rating upside potential from de-risking and growth potential of its Asia segment. SLF faces a challenging quarter for its U. S.

Roaring exports lifted China’s economic growth in the third quarter of this year, with factory output growing much faster than consumer spending. China’s GDP grew by 4.5% year-on-year between July and September, the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported on Monday. The figures were better than economists had expected and up from the second quarter’s growth rate of 4.3%. China’s economy has now grown by 4.6% in the first nine months of the year, putting it on track to hit the government’s 2026 target of 4.5%-5% growth without extra stimulus measures. Industrial production rose 5.5% in September, up from 5.2% in August, while retail sales only increased 1.1%, up from 0.4%. Duncan Wrigley, the chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said Beijing’s policymakers were likely to conclude that their efforts to stabilise headline growth in the third quarter were successful. “Headline industrial production rose in September partly as coalmines resumed operations after safety inspections prompted by a major accident.