Category Archives: Charles

Daily FLOW Updates

By Charles Boccadoro

This week we announced daily updates to our MFO Premium fund flow tool; specifically, FLOW, which combines four plots for a single fund: total return, total net assets (TNA, aka AUM), total net flows, and daily or monthly flows (depending on how reported), each versus same time period. On funds that Lipper updates daily, like SPY, TIBIX, and in fact for most funds (approx. 11,500 oldest share classes; 26,000 all share classes), this tool will now enable users to assess performance and flows through the Continue reading →

MFO Premium Year-End Review 2024

By Charles Boccadoro

On Wednesday, 8 January, at 11 a.m. Pacific (2 p.m. Eastern), we will be conducting our year-end webinar to review funds and MFO Premium updates. If you can make it, please join us by registering here.

We will use MultiSearch Pre-Set screens and other custom criteria to review fund performance in 2024. MultiSeach is the site’s Continue reading →

You Too Can Start an ETF

By Charles Boccadoro

At Tidal … The ETF Masters: Launch, Manage, and Grow Your ETF. We are an award-winning, full service ETF platform managing 183 ETFs in partnership with 68 issuers and responsible for $29bn+ AUM. Build Your ETF.

At ETF Architect … Want to easily create an ETF? Build, launch, and manage it with us. An Affordable, Turnkey, and Transparent White Label ETF Platform. Learn how we’ve helped innovative firms create new ETFs, convert separately managed accounts (SMAS), mutual funds, and hedge funds into ETFs, and tap the power of our platform to lower costs and streamline operations for existing ETFs. Create Your ETF. (Here’s an excellent presentation.)

Continue reading →

MFO Premium Introduces ETF Benchmarks

By Charles Boccadoro

Our colleague Devesh Shah encouraged the incorporation of ETF Benchmarks into MFO Premium. Traditional benchmarks cannot be purchased. Similarly, category averages, which are the basis for much of the ratings on MFO Premium, also cannot be purchased. Establishing an ETF “benchmark,” Devesh argues, makes for a more relevant and practical comparison.

Furthermore, the Continue reading →

Morningstar Celebrates 40th Year – MICUS Chicago 2024

By Charles Boccadoro

Morningstar held its annual investment conference [Morningstar Investment Conference US (MICUS) 2024] last week in Chicago, on 26 and 27 June. It employed a new venue and conference schedule: The Navy Pier and a chock-full, two-day agenda. The 292-foot-wide Pier, which opened originally in 1916, and was “built by the city for the people, is the largest in the world, projecting east 3,040 feet into Lake Michigan. It remains the longest public pier in the world today.”

The occasion also Continue reading →

December Brings S&P 500 To All-Time High

By Charles Boccadoro

All fund risk and return metrics, ratings, and analytics were uploaded to MFO Premium Saturday, 30 December, reflecting performance through year-end. We used Refinitiv’s Friday data drop, which was last business day of year, to get an early peek at 2023 calendar year performance.

December is the second full year of The Great Normalization (TGN) market cycle. It also marks the 15th month of this market’s bull run and brings the Continue reading →

@MFOPremium Channel Demos Enhanced Chart Tool, Plus Fund Flows Preview

By Charles Boccadoro

We rolled-out our interactive Total Return Chart Tool last year, as described in Introducing MFO Charts. Recently, we integrated several new features, including enhanced styling, eliminated display restriction (previously based on youngest fund), and added a legend placement option. Here’s a Continue reading →

Strong June Propels New Bull Market

By Charles Boccadoro

Despite pervasive skepticism based on: Russian invasion. China US tension. Inflation. Rising rates. Bank collapses. Default fears. The S&P 500 has been climbing generally for 9 months. Axios describes this year’s market as “climbing a wall of worry.”

A strong June of 6.6% return propelled the index to 26% over its October low, which qualifies the advance as a new bull market. Continue reading →

MFO Premium Webinar, 2022 Year End Review

By Charles Boccadoro

On Friday, 6 January, we will be conducting our year-end webinar to review funds and MFO Premium. If you can make it, please join us by registering here. There will be just one session this year: 9 a.m. Pacific (noon Eastern).

We will use MultiSearch Pre-Set screens and other custom criteria to review fund performance in 2022. MultiSeach is the site’s main tool, enabling searches with numerous screening criteria. We will also demo some of the many features across the site.

MFO Premium includes the Continue reading →

Worst Year Ever

By Charles Boccadoro

All fund risk and return metrics, ratings, and analytics were uploaded to MFO Premium today, 31 October, Halloween 2022. We used Lipper’s Friday data drop to get an early peek … and today markets seemed tame enough, so numbers should be pretty close to month’s end.

October was a decent one for equity funds, especially value. The Dow was up an extraordinary 14%. But still Continue reading →

Happy Preferencing!

By Charles Boccadoro

All fund risk and return metrics, ratings, and analytics were uploaded to MFO Premium Sunday, 31 July, reflecting performance through July 2022.

When we run the monthly update that close to the last business day, we will normally re-run the ratings the following Saturday to pick up any late reporting funds. This past month that version was uploaded Sunday, 7 August. We also uploaded Continue reading →

The 100 Club?

By Charles Boccadoro

In our April 2021 commentary, David highlighted: “The Total Stock Market Index is up 62% in the past 12 months. 291 funds (and uncounted ETFs) have 12-month returns in excess of 100% …” By the end of the bull run in December, that number had grown to 730 mutual funds and 1102, including ETFs. The S&P 500 ended up 90%.

If we examine just US & Global Equity funds and ETFs but exclude trading (e.g., leveraged) and sector funds, The 100 Club tallied 705 or more than a quarter of the 3000 products available in the US. Continue reading →

MFO Premium 2022 Mid-Year Review

By Charles Boccadoro

The next MFO Premium webinar will occur Tuesday, July 12th.

Our premium search tool site helps individual investors and financial advisers 1) sort through the vast number of funds available today based on criteria important to them, 2) maintain candidate lists of promising funds to conduct further due diligence on, and 3) monitor risk and return performance of their current portfolios. Continue reading →

The Great Normalization

By Charles Boccadoro

Numerous bear sightings occurred these past several weeks, but with June’s awful performance, the new bear is clear and present. Intra-month, the S&P 500 closed down more than 20% from its previous peak and at month’s end, it closed down level at 20%, similar to the CV-19 bear of March 2020. In June alone it dropped more than 8%. This retraction marks the seventh bear market since 1968 (or tenth since 1926), as depicted in the chart below.

It remains quite astounding what a 3% rise in the 10-year T-Note has done to equity and bond markets over the past 6 months. Some good news? 10-year CDs are now yielding close to 4%. Continue reading →

Easy Access Analysis

By Charles Boccadoro

Our MFO Premium search tool site now makes it quick and easy to run several analytics that previously required accessing through the main MultiSearch tool. Users can click on the Analyze link in the navigation bar atop any page, including Home, to run Chart, Compare, Correlate, Rolling Averages, Trend & Momentum, and Ferguson.

On first run, users will be prompted to enter up to 12 tickers. Once run, those same tickers can be used to run any other analysis tool or modify accordingly. This feature gets us one step closer to enhanced mobility, enabling focused fund analysis via your cell phone.

Here is screenshot of quick-access, pull-down analysis menu …

Continue reading →