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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • The Story Behind the Emerging-Market Meltdown
    Many EM countries produce oil or raw materials - both of which which have tanked. The strong dollar is a second blow. Some of the carnage is probably due to investor flight.
    I just put a little in OEMAX, Oppenheimer Emerging Market Debt (already owned Class A shares there). It was down over 15% for 1 YR.
    What struck me when I looked at the AUM (after investing) is the very low 29M at last report. One wonders how they can keep the fund open with that small a pool of investors.
    I think it's around 5 years old, so that explains some of the small AUM. But, I imagine there's been a stampede out as well.
  • What Are The Hottest Mutual Funds This Year ?
    A 6% front load and 2% ER for MCXAX - and comes with a one-year track record.
    Umm ... I'll have to sleep on that one before sending $$.
    But the +45% YTD looks appealing!
  • Consolidating portfolio

    In my Fido accounts VWENX is unavailable at any fee, being an Admiral, and VWELX is closed. Fee may be $50, note, not sure.
    Although the fee on such transactions from my husband's workplace brokerage window would be $75, I believe we are stopped from purchase of Wellington due to the closure too. (We do have access via one of our Roth accounts at Vanguard, though.)
  • Consolidating portfolio
    I would never pay fund purchase charges at Fido; if I feel really strongly, I will go directly to the parent company (Vanguard e.g.). JABAX used to be NTF at Fido.
    Since the Fido guys started, fall 08, it very slightly outdoes VWENX. As does JABAX, again very slightly. I would not bother with Vanguard myself, and certainly not to pay for it.
    In my Fido accounts VWENX is unavailable at any fee, being an Admiral, and VWELX is closed. Fee may be $50, note, not sure.
  • Sector Trading Range Charts
    FYI: Below is our trading range chart for the S&P 500. The white line represents its 50-day moving average, while the light blue shading represents between one standard deviation above and below the 50-day moving average. This light blue shading represents the index’s trading range. The red and green shadings represent between one and two standard deviations above and below the 50-day. The red area is “overbought” territory, while the green area is “oversold” territory.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/sector-trading-range-charts/
  • The Story Behind the Emerging-Market Meltdown
    FYI: If you invest, you may have noticed that emerging-market stocks have done badly of late. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which did so well in the early 2000s, has been almost unchanged since the global financial crisis. Since this spring, though, the index has tanked.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-17/the-story-behind-the-emerging-market-meltdown
  • Consolidating portfolio
    @willmatt72, there is no compelling reason to hold three balanced funds in your tax deferred account. Are those your only choice in each separate account? If you are use a brokerage like Schwab or vanguard, you have access to many balanced funds, some requires transaction fee and some don't depending if they are on the No-Fee platform or not. Personally I prefer VWENX base on their low ER and excellent long term record. I am much less familiar with the ones you posted. If I would use more than one balanced fund, I want to understand the strategies they use are sufficient different for the sake of manager diversification. Otherwise they are redundant.
    I agree that they are somewhat redundant; that's why I'm trying to consolidate them. All of my tax deferred accounts are held with Fidelity. Purchasing VWENX would incur a $75.00 transaction fee at Fidelity. I hold VWENX in a taxable account with Vanguard. Great fund but not very tax efficient in a taxable account.
    I hold FBALX in a 401K with Fidelity. I chose it because it was one of the only good funds available for my 401K.
  • What Are The Hottest Mutual Funds This Year ?
    A commendable list Ted. Of course, on a percentage basis of all available funds, this group of leaders represents only a very small number.
    I'm not aware of anything I own that's up year-to-date, with the exception of PRWCX which was still about 3% above water as of yesterday. Price's ultra-short, TRBUX probably is, but I'm not currently in it.
    Even my most conservative (income focused) funds are down: RPSIX, TRRIX & DODIX, each by a percent or so. In the case of the first, it appears their 12.5% allocation to PRFDX (equity-income) is really hurting. (That fund is off around 8% YTD).
    My two balanced funds, DODBX and RPGAX, are both down - but the second by only a small amount.
    ---
    Brings to mind the Depression era line, "Brother, can you spare a dime? "
  • What Are The Hottest Mutual Funds This Year ?
    FYI: As the stock market approaches the three-quarter pole for the year, small-cap mutual funds dominate the pack of front-runners. Six of the 10 top-performing U.S. diversified funds are small-cap funds, says Morningstar Inc.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MjA0ODMzMDU=
    Enlarged Graphic:
    http://news.investors.com/photopopup.aspx?path=MFdiv_150918.png&docId=771607&xmpSource=&width=429&height=380&caption=&id=771606
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Says He Likes Bonds More Than A Month Ago
    FYI: Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said on Wednesday that U.S. Treasury bonds look attractive because their yields have moved higher in recent weeks.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/16/us-doubleline-gundlach-fed-idUSKCN0RG2VZ20150916
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    Fed Keeps Rate Unchanged: What Experts Say Thomson Reuters | Last Updated: September 18, 2015 01:24 (IST)© Thomson Reuters
    Scott Wren, senior global strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri
    "...wage growth not hardly doing anything, when you look at almost 10.5 per cent of the working population is either unemployed or underemployed, that is why wages aren't going up. The labour market is not tight, inflation is nowhere near their target, it totally doesn't surprise me they didn't do that. Saying that, they almost backed themselves into a corner here, our call is they do make one move this year, it is going to be in December. It is going to be a 25 basis point move and it's basically a credibility, 'let's get the normalization ball rolling' here."
    Steve Gutch, senior portfolio manager, Federated Investors, Rochester, New York
    "In our view, they are going to wait until it's essentially crystal clear before they raise rates."Now it's a waiting game. In our view, we don't think this is material, and I would expect a volatile market to continue."
    Omer Esiner, chief market strategist at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange Inc. in Washington
    ...a little surprised at the dovishness of the statement. I would have expected 'no move' to be accompanied by a slightly more upbeat assessment of the economy. Instead, what we got was more focus on macroeconomic uncertainties,..
    Hugh Mcguirk, head of Municipal Bonds Team, T. Rowe Price, Baltimore, Maryland
    "I'm a little disappointed. We've got to rip the Band-Aid off. Clearly they're being very cautious, as they have been all along. We'll just have to wait until October."
    Gene Mcgillian, senior analyst, Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut
    ... probably be neutral for oil, although maybe you could say it will weaken the dollar and that would be supportive to oil.
    "But we've been at this level so long and this just moves the Federal Reserve watch to the next meeting. The oil market will go back to watching to see if the economic slowdown in China spreads to other economies and whether low oil prices start to lower US oil production significantly."
    Bob Michele, global chief investment officer, head of global fixed income, JPMorgan Asset Management in New York,
    I would have been shocked if the Fed raised rates because the market wasn't at all prepared for it. It's the first rate hike in nine years, they have to be careful. Do I think they should have raised rates? Yes I think they have had the opportunity, but they clearly decided that the international economic conditions warranted waiting for a while. I think they could have stuck to their guns. I think they need to get off the zero lower bound."
    Brian Dolan, head market strategist, Drivewealth, New Jersey
    "...did the right thing. There's no need to rock the boat right now. Again the disconcerting element is the downgrade to the interest rate trajectory, which could provide solace to investor sentiment overall. Given the global headwinds, the last thing we need right now was a hike in rates and any kind of hawkish projections."
    http://profit.ndtv.com/news/global-economy/article-fed-keeps-rate-unchanged-what-experts-say-1218868
    By James Picerno | Sep 18, 2015 at 04:45 pm EDT
    The Capital Spectator
    Investing, Asset Allocation, Economics & The Search For The Bottom Line
    Negative US Interest Rates: A Primer (Just In Case)
    The crowd is buzzing over the possibility that the Federal Reserve may be considering negative interest rates. Where did that notion come from? Well, from the horse’s mouth. As noted earlier, an unnamed FOMC member recommended—for the first time in Fed history in terms of a formal, public document—that the central bank’s policy rate be set slightly below zero for this year and in 2016, as per two dots in yesterday’s dot plot (see chart below). It’s an idea that seems to be catching on… again. The Bank of England’s Andy Haldane just outlined the case for going negative in the UK.
    As for the Fed’s tentative foray into the concept of negativity, some wonder if yesterday’s below-zero advice constitutes some sort of monetary joke. Or is it an early clue that lays the groundwork for QE4 and yet another embrace of monetary stimulus that goes above and beyond the usual fare? Not so fast, said Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who was quick to dismiss the idea in yesterday’s press conference. When asked about the subject, she quickly sacked the issue: “Let me be clear that negative interest rates was not something that we considered very seriously at all today,” she insisted. “It was not one of our main policy options” under consideration. Ok, but is it under consideration going forward?
    In any case, the rumor mill has been set in motion and the machinery of inquiry and analysis has been let loose on this formerly esoteric subject in the annals of US central banking. Is it ready for prime time? Maybe not, but to be fair it was the Fed that let this gnarly monetary cat out of the bag.
    Lots of links on the topic.
    Current News/Analysis on the Negative Rate Dots
    General Research/Commentary On Negative Rates
    Recent News Stories On Negative Rates
    http://www.capitalspectator.com/negative-us-interest-rates-a-primer-just-in-case/
  • Still Paying Interest
    Yale called to claim $153 ?!?!?!?!
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    Was actually thinking about buying some income names if they were thrown out after the Fed hiked rates. Since that didn't happen, no view on doing anything for the time being.
    Four governors now see hike after 2015. This is hysterical - they're not going to raise rates for a whillllleee if ever.

    I agree but, they might just raise rates because they said they would and not to lose street cred.
    Yellen On NIRP:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-17/what-yellen-said-about-negative-rates-coming-us
    "I don’t expect that we’re going to be in a path of providing additional accommodation. But if the outlook were to change in a way that most of my colleagues and I do not expect, and we found ourselves with a weak economy that needed additional stimulus, we would look at all of our available tools. And that would be something that we would evaluate in that kind of context."
    image
    -------------------
    Also...
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/one-monetary-policymaker-wants-negative-rates-in-the-u-s-
    "Along with the statement, the central bank also released a set of projections—known as the "dot plot"—from members of the Federal Open Market Committee, which include forecasts of where each policymaker thinks the Fed should have its policy rate at the end of a given period.
    There's one remarkable outlier in the projections: For the first time ever, one monetary policymaker thinks the U.S. needs to move to negative interest rates until at least the end of 2016 to achieve full employment and get inflation back to 2 percent
    ."
  • Fallen Angels Value Fund to liquidate
    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1368578/000116204415000977/amm497201509.htm
    497 1 amm497201509.htm
    AMM Funds
    Fallen Angels Value Fund
    Supplement dated September 17, 2015 to
    the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated December 1, 2014
    The Board of Trustees of the AMM Funds (the “Trust”), with respect to the Fallen Angels Value Fund (the “Fund”), a separate series of the Trust, has concluded that it is in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders that the Fund ceases operations. The Board has determined to close the Fund, and redeem all outstanding shares, on October 16, 2015 (the “Liquidation Date”). The Liquidation Date may be changed without notice at the discretion of the Trust’s officers.
    Effective immediately, the Fund will not accept any new investments and will no longer pursue its stated investment objectives. The Fund will begin liquidating its portfolio and will invest in cash equivalents such as money market funds until all shares have been redeemed. Any capital gains will be distributed as soon as practicable to shareholders and reinvested in additional shares, unless you have previously requested payment in cash.
    After September 17, 2015 and prior to October 16, 2015, you may redeem your shares, including reinvested distributions, in accordance with the “How to Redeem Shares” section in the Prospectus. You may choose to redeem your shares as a “redemption in kind” as per the Prospectus. You may incur transaction expenses in converting these securities to cash if you choose to do an in-kind redemption. Unless your investment in the Fund is through a tax-deferred retirement account, a redemption is subject to tax on any taxable gains. Please refer to the “Tax Status, Dividends and Distributions” section in the Prospectus for general information. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.
    ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT TRANSFERRED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUND PRIOR TO 4:00 P.M. EASTERN TIME ON OCTOBER 16, 2015, WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT EITHER BY CHECK TO THE ADDRESS OF RECORD OR VIA ACH TO THE BANK ACCOUNT ON RECORD. The Fund reserves its right to redeem large shareholder in kind. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your financial advisor directly or the Fund at 1.858.755.0909.
    IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
    If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another Individual Retirement Account within sixty (60) days of the date of the distribution in order to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you receive a distribution from a 403(b)(7) Custodian Account (Tax-Sheltered account) or a Keogh Account, you must roll the distribution into a similar type of retirement plan within sixty (60) days in order to avoid disqualification of your plan and the severe tax consequences that it can bring. If you are the trustee of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may reinvest the money in any way permitted by the plan and trust agreement.
    This Supplement, and the existing Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated December 1, 2014, provide relevant information for all shareholders and should be retained for future reference. Both the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information dated December 1, 2014 have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference, and can be obtained without charge by calling the Fund at 1.858.755.0909.
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    @MFO Members: Just remember what The Linkster told you in January---No rate increase in 2015.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    Four governors now see hike after 2015. This is hysterical - they're not going to raise rates for a whillllleee if ever.
    I agree but, they might just raise rates because they said they would and not to lose street cred.
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    Four governors now see hike after 2015. This is hysterical - they're not going to raise rates for a whillllleee if ever.
  • Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged But Forecasts Hike This year
    FYI: The Federal Reserve on Thursday opted to keep interest rates steady, attributing the lack of a move to "global economic and financial developments" that in the central bank's dry language mean China's economic turmoil and U.S. stock-market volatility.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/federal-reserve-keeps-interest-rates-unchanged-but-forecasts-hike-this-year-2015-09-17/print