TORONTO, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Bombardier Inc <BBDb.TO> said on Friday it delivered more aircraft than expected in its last quarter, signaling a boost in profits, but it warned the weak economy would hold back orders and deliveries this year.

For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, Montreal-based Bombardier said deliveries dropped to 302 aircraft from 349 the previous fiscal year.

The drop was the result of 25 percent fewer business jet deliveries, offset in part by a 10 percent rise in commercial aircraft deliveries.

That suggests that businesses are still reluctant to spend on big-ticket items like new aircraft until the global economy returns to more solid footing.

TORONTO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Toronto-Dominion Bank <TD.TO> said on Thursday it is moving its U.S. financial advisers from its main banking unit to discount brokerage TD Ameritrade <AMTD.O> as part of a plan to streamline its operations south of the border.

TD, Canada’s second-largest bank, is asking its clients to follow the move to TD Ameritrade, in which it holds a 47.5 percent stake, or to move to the bank’s wealth-management division, geared to high-net-worth individuals.

“Really, the decision was centered around making sure that each of the businesses in the U.S. are focused on what they do best,” said TD spokeswoman Susan Webb.

There is no specific timetable to complete the move, which is part of a tighter integration between TD Bank’s retail operations and TD Ameritrade’s brokerage and advisory businesses, said Fred Tomczyk, president and chief executive of TD Ameritrade.

TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Canadian auto sales rose for the second month in a row in January, up 6.2 percent, but that was compared to a year earlier when sales were at their lowest point in a decade and the country was gripped by recession.

A massive recall by Toyota <7203.T> that temporarily suspended sales of eight of their most popular models added to the lackluster results.

Canadians bought 81,581 vehicles last month, compared with 76,850 a year earlier, according to data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.

“But at least sales were up slightly and January is the lowest absolute sales month each year, so you can’t read too much into this early market performance,” said Dennis DesRosiers, president of the firm. “March to June are the make or break months.”

TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Growth in U.S. and Canadian equities will be tepid in 2010, but currently there is no real alternative to stocks for returns, two of Bank of Montreal’s <BMO.TO> private-banking executives said on Tuesday.

BMO’s U.S. private banking arm, still overweight on equities after the 2009 stock market rally, is looking forward with caution, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO’s Harris Private Bank, Chicago.

“The economic front still provides a tailwind, although I would argue that that tailwind is unfortunately artificial,” he said on a conference call, referring to government stimulus spending.

“It’s an electric fan powered by batteries and those batteries are set to run out probably sometime mid to late this year.”

TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – There are three things people can do with their money: save it, spend it, or give it away.

Financial advisers have always been very active helping Canadians with saving and spending, but they’ve traditionally steered clear of helping clients with philanthropy.

Only 1 percent of Canadian baby boomers use a financial adviser when planning their charitable giving, according to a recent poll by the Bank of Montreal’s Retirement Institute. But clients benefit from giving to charity, and advisers should play an active role — even if that means watching money leave their accounts.

“It’s not a natural thing for them to suggest a client send C$100,000 ($94,000) down the street as a charitable donation because that C$100,000 is literally leaving the client’s account that the adviser manages,” said John Archer, associate portfolio manager and investment adviser at RBC Dominion Securities Inc in Montreal.

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian arm of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> should be able to resume sales of the eight models that had defective accelerator pedals as soon as the end of the week, Toyota Canada’s managing director said on Monday.

Sale of the eight models was suspended after about 270,000 Toyota vehicles were recalled in Canada due to defect, part of a much larger recall that included the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East.

Many Canadian dealers will be increasing their service hours to fix the defect, which can cause accelerator pedals in some models to become stuck after they are pressed down, said Toyota Canada’s Stephen Beatty.

“Given our normal service capacity and the fact that this service itself should take under an hour per vehicle, we can fix large numbers of vehicles quickly and it is conceivable that we could do it (all 270,000 vehicles) within a month,” he said.

TORONTO, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Investors should begin preparing their fixed income portfolios now for higher interest rates, advisers say, even though the Bank of Canada said again on Tuesday that its key rate will stay at record lows until at least mid-year.

The central bank kept its overnight lending rate at 0.25 percent, but all of Canada’s primary dealers surveyed by Reuters recently said they expect rates to rise later in the year, with some expecting a hike as early as the second quarter. [CA/POLL]

“What might force (Bank of Canada Governor Mark) Carney’s hand to raise rates sooner rather than later is the hot Canadian housing market,” said Barry Schwartz, vice-president of Baskin Financial Services Inc in Toronto.

Canadians looking to take advantage of low mortgage rates bought houses in near record numbers in 2009, driving up prices and fueling concerns among some analysts that a bubble was forming that could threaten the economy. [ID:nN15205585]

TORONTO, Jan 14 (Reuters) – With Canadians living longer and having children later, many families are finding themselves in the position of having to parent their parents along with their kids.

The role reversal can prove difficult for everyone involved and a long-term plan — including how to pay for it — is needed long before a crisis hits, financial planners say.

“Care-giving is definitely a big topic in someone’s overall financial plan,” said Rosemarie McKinnon, a certified financial planner with Investors Group in Guelph, Ontario, “because at some point in your life, whether you realize it or not, you are going to have to take care of someone. That’s the reality.”

One in 10 baby boomers in Canada who are still supporting their children also provide some type of support to their aging parents, according to a recent study by Investors Group, a unit of IGM Financial Inc <IGM.TO>.

TORONTO (Reuters) – 2010 may turn out to be the year of the stock picker.

Market volatility has made it difficult for fund managers to beat the return on index funds over the last two years. And as a result, many investors, unhappy about paying higher fees for underperformance, have migrated toward less costly index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

But the tables could turn in 2010 as the market returns to more traditional patterns after sharp swings lower and higher in 2008 and 2009. As the market “normalizes”, investors will start looking for quality picks to assure stronger returns, analysts and traders say.

In late 2008 and early 2009, the value of many companies plummeted as the economic meltdown threatened their very existence.

TORONTO, Jan 8 (Reuters) – 2010 may turn out to be the year of the stock picker.

Market volatility has made it difficult for fund managers to beat the return on index funds over the last two years. And as a result, many investors, unhappy about paying higher fees for underperformance, have migrated towards less costly index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

But the tables could turn in 2010 as the market returns to more traditional patterns after sharp swings lower and higher in 2008 and 2009. As the market “normalizes”, investors will start looking for quality picks to assure stronger returns, analysts and traders say.

In late 2008 and early 2009, the value of many companies plummeted as the economic meltdown threatened their very existence.