The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition four months into one of the slowest years on record for small securities firms, some boutique investment dealers are finally beginning to give in to the reality that making a go of it in this market is a very long shot. The Globe's Boyd Erman writes Fraser Mackenzie Holdings, a smallish broker dealer that focused on mining and energy, closed its doors Monday. The firm said the odds of bringing in good money any time soon were too slim to bother sticking it out in hopes of a market turn. The partners met and divided up the cash in the firm, and announced that, after nine years in business, the company would wind up. There are 185 boutique investment dealers in Canada, many specializing in resource stocks that have become the last things a lot of investors want to hear about. In March, Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon said it planned to get out of the business of running a regulated securities dealer. As 2013 hit, gold sold off and other commodities joined the swoon. The year started even worse than 2012. Total equity financings on the TSX Venture Exchange are down 37 per cent through the first three months of the year from the same period last year.