RICHARD BLACKWELL

February 16, 2008

Jittery investors, worried about plunging stock prices, yanked their money out of equity mutual funds in January.

New numbers from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada showed net redemptions of $3.1-billion of equity funds in the month, a sharp contrast from the previous January when $1.1-billion went into that category of funds.

Those willing to put money into mutual funds loaded up on lower-risk money market products, which saw a surge in sales to $4.8-billion in January.

Over all, however, the value of funds managed by the industry fell a dramatic 3.7 per cent between December and January, knocking almost $26-billion off total assets.

In mid-January the S&P/TSX composite index took a steep plunge, falling about 1,500 points in the space of a week. That, combined with increasingly bleak economic news out of the United States, spooked retail investors into pulling their money out of equity funds and parking it in relatively safe money market instruments, economists and advisers said.

"The fear factor is pretty substantial" said Frank Hracs, chief economist at Credo Consulting Inc. in Toronto. He noted that the drop in assets occurred in what is usually a very busy time for fund buying - RRSP season. The bad markets "overshadowed people's inclination to save taxes," he said.

...

Adrian Mastracci, a portfolio Manager at KCM Wealth Management Inc. in Vancouver, said he would not recommend going back into equity funds any time soon.

"I'm not convinced we're at the 'buy' stage yet," he said. "I'm more than willing to give up the first 10 per cent so that I can see a trend before I jump in."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...

Bumpy ride in the market is not over yet but Meo has a good chance to reverse the decline of the SP.

Also it be nice is they can update their website, it was valuable to read again about their different play, especially the Peace River Arch where Dejour(dej.v) has :

Amex: DEJ/TSX-V: DEJ

VANCOUVER, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - Dejour announces continued significant drilling success in Canada's Peace River Arch, continues to target (greater than) 10,000,000 cubic feet natural gas equivalent per day (mmcfe/d) production from current operations in this area and witnesses natural gas prices rising materially

http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet...

Cheers

ecce(still in)