Sounds to me like you guys are in violation of a whole passel of federal regs re on-line gambling and wagering. Unfortunately my conscience requires that I report all of this to the proper authorities. However, my conscience can be easily disabled if somebody sends me a check for, oh hell, make it $20.... I hate to gouge.

LOL! The only gambling fool here is me. They stood to lose nothing. Even when I was 100% in the munis early last year no way did I think the 10 year would fall below 2%. And I still think no way will it fall to 1%. The only trend I see here is me being wrong!

FYI: Eaton Vance (EV) lined up its first partner for its recently approved exchange-traded managed funds: American Beacon Advisors.
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2015/01/15/eaton-vance-snares-first-partner-on-etmfs-american-
Investment News Slant:
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150115/FREE/150119948?template=printart

Dex, mailed my $250 my check to heezsafe the other day. If I have to pay you off will send it to you and you can do whatever with it. But we have a ways to go there. I'm 100% in junk munis too now and will try and stay with the trend and have some sort of exit strategy in place. Markets tend to surprise. If we have some sort of dramatic economic slowdown that could impact the lower rated munis and the place to be would be investment grade. I am licking my chops hoping hi yield corporates fall out of bed as they will be the next great thing somewhere down the road like they were in December 2008.

The portion of the healthcare sphere that involves robotics, wearables, bionics etc has huge growth potential. For someone with a long time to invest these are the kinds of future stocks that hold a lot of promise.

@JohnChisum, are you aware of any funds/ETFs/CEFs that focus on these areas?
Here's a question I keep thinking about and asking myself when I consider new healthcare investments: The expense ratios of these "passive" ETFs seems to fall between 50 and 100 basis points whereas Vanguard offers an active fund for only 30 basis points, T Rowe Price's healthcare fund costs 79 basis points and Fidelity's biotech fund costs 75 basis points. Are there any good reasons to go passive when you only have to pay 25 or 30 basis points for someone to be a bit more selective with your money and how to invest it, and especially in cases where the active funds have lower costs than the ETFs?

Junkster awhile ago in a discussion I said the US 10 year will go to 1% before it goes to 3%.
It is in the 1.7% area today and with the Swiss' interest rates at 0%, it won't be too long until the US hits the 1%.
I'm still 100% in US High Yield Muni Bonds and I think they will do well this year and maybe several years in this low rate environment. I can sleep very well at night with this - thanks for pointing it out.
The way things are going - low interest rates and strong US$, there may come a time when High Yield Emerging Markets and other foreign bonds will be the investment.

Is It Worth Paying $189.00 a Year To Subscribe?

Ha!
Everyday, another stock in my portfolio drops 5%.
Did add to BAC on the (let's hope) "dip".
It's now off 16.5% from about one month ago.
That's more than the stock gained in all of 2014.
Good grief.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-edge-lower-1421328394
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-15/u-s-index-futures-advance-after-s-p-500-posts-four-day-retreat.html
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0KO1C120150115
MarketWatch Slant;
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-rebound-on-tap-as-futures-surge-with-big-bank-earnings-ahead-2015-01-15/print
Markets At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us
Current Futures: http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

@johnN: Already been linked !
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/18285/john-waggoner-fund-pros-picks-for-2015-jim-lowell-dan-wiener#latest

Ugly day for biotech
Jan 15 2015, 14:03 ET | By: Douglas W. House, SA News Editor Contact this editor with comments or a news tip
Money flow is decidedly negative today for (IBB -2%) (BIB -3.9%) biotech. For whatever reason, there always seems to be a sell-off at the end of the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
ALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF Dow Jones
SBIO 25.87 -3.36%
Real-time: 2:55PM EST
https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSEARCA:SBIO&ei=UBu4VOnFFY6lsQeH1IC4BA

About the PQTIX portfolio allocation, it's all over the place from month to month. Here's the range of exposures from April (when I first started following it) through December 2014, per the monthly spreadsheets:
Equity 2-54%
Currencies 16-43%
Rates 0-72%
Commodities 0-13%
Volatility 0-23%

Hi @mnzdedwards
I don't dismiss their methods or all of the tools that they have available to move in this special market area. One needs to be aware that these type of funds are not plain jane equity funds.
But charting the performance of PQTDX , during its short life (1 year), indicates they have had success with their formulas during a decent equity market in 2014 and a rough equity market start this year. During this one year period has found many swings in many market areas: equity, bond and currency.
Thank you for your thoughts with this.
Regards,
Catch

MFO, certainly nice work, I'm about max. on mutual funds, but have to do some work on these funds...Always room for a winner or two
Best of the Best?" only about 30 are top quintile across all five evaluation periods (20, 10, 5, 3, and 1 year), yes even in 2014"..... fascinating stuff, worth some effort with these nuggets
thanks, tb

According to Pimco's website, the assets of PQTDX consist of:
Percent of Risk Allocation as of 12/31/14
Rates 41.83
Currency 38.81
Commodity 13.42
Equity 6.36
Volatility -0.42
https://investments.pimco.com/Products/pages/659.aspx
Click "Portfolio" tab. It appears PQTDX is a current play on interest rates and currency. Not my cup of tea. Many bond managers got burned in 2014 when they thought the only direction for yields was "up." Could managers in 2015 be making a similar mistake by continuing to "bet" on a stronger dollar? I hope for those investors in this fund that the managers are correct.
Mike_E

Judging by the video, Art needs to cut back on the cafeine. USB should be able afford a nice gym. About a hour a day would be good. We actually walked past the CNBC studio in NYC recently and noticed a huge USB building right across the street. So, possibly he's not getting enough exercise travelling back and forth.
If all else fails, Amazon sells a nice selection of Scotch & Bourbon Whiskey. (Just make sure he uses the MFO link.) :). http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_7?url=search-alias=grocery&field-keywords=scotch&sprefix=scotch+,grocery,248&rh=n:16310101,k:scotch
And remind Art that Amazon offers 1-hour delivery in parts of Manhattan.

@LLJB: Thanks, I thought I had brought SBIO to the attention of the MFO Board.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/17999/new-biotech-etf-hits-the-market/p1

FYI: Gold has absorbed its fair share of the commodities-market blows in recent years, but now is the time to move back into the precious metal, according to superbear Marc Faber.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/market-doomsayer-marc-faber-gold-will-rally-30-in-2015-2015-01-13/print

All Smiles in India !
Sensex Surges 600 Points After RBI's Surprise Rate Cut
NDTV | Updated On: January 15, 2015
The BSE Sensex and Nifty surged today by nearly 2 per cent after the Reserve Bank of India in a surprise move cut its main lending rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points.
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/market/article-sensex-surges-600-points-after-rbis-surprise-rate-cut-727417

SBIO follows the Poliwogg Medical Breakthroughs Index, as volatile a collection of SMIDs as I've ever seen. (You couldn't make this stuff up.) Poliwogg has a new CEF in registration, the Poliwogg Regenerative Medicine Fund, with a target launch date of Jan 15! Anyone thinking bubble?