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.
Support MFO
Donate through PayPal
Open Thread: What Are You Buying/Selling/Pondering
Bought Softbank and a couple of muni bond CEF's but otherwise I'm content with just collecting, and in some cases reinvesting the dividends on stuff I already own. I am thinking about taking a position in GSK merely for the sake of diversification within my current holdings which lean heavily toward energy MLP's.
In terms of fertilizer, I own Agrium (AGU) due to the reasonably nice dividend (although part of that can't be reinvested due to foreign witholding taxes) and the diversification aspect of their large retail operations in multiple countries.
Thanks! I definitely like Oaktree from the standpoint of management and high-quality exposure to distressed debt. It's a long-term holding for me that I think will likely not be highly correlated to the broader market. I hate the K-1s - they are a PITA - but I have a number of others at this point so it becomes a matter of what's one more?
Otherwise:
Added a bit to Softbank and Visa. Added (new) Canadian Nat Resources (CNQ) and Vodafone (VOD.)
Although I am invested within my asset allocation ranges within my portfolio I am awaiting a pullback in the stock market with the thought of deploying about five percent of my cash into a spiff investment position in equities hopefully before the anticipated fall stock market rally arrives which usually comes around Halloween and continues on through Thanksgiving and Christmas and then on into the first part of the New Year.
If this anticipated fall rally materializes then this is fine; and, if it doesn’t then that is fine too as I am invested within my asset allocation ranges within my portfolio.
So with this, I am hoping for a spiff position set up formation to develop in the near term.
Regarding LLC's, I looked at the IRS Publication and the form. I was totally intimidated. Anyone want to talk me out of this?
K-1's? I think one can do them themselves - especially if you're talking about just one - they just are a PITA and take some time and effort. Additionally, they do not arrive until around Feb/Mar - so you have to wait until then to enter the information.
Bought a small amount of MONIF last week. Waiting for better entry points into ZFC, KMR, WPC and some blue chips.
I think you probably bought MONIF at the right spot (I'm guessing you bought after the Visa drop). I owned it a while back but decided it was too speculative and moved on. I think it has a lot of potential, but you just have to have a long-term time horizon. It comes down to whether or not Visa Europe remains a shareholder and if another of the company's shareholders steps up to the plate to buy Visa's shares (IBM? Mastercard? someone else?)
WPC remains a long-term holding. I sold KMP the day of the announcement and now have some KMI but much less than the KMP position was. ZFC looks interesting. I own STWD.
I'm looking to buy/add to MEASX and IWIRX but I'm hoping for a good pullback that seems like it may have started.
I'm also looking for a bottom in gold and oil/gas as I'd be happy to buy gold miners and and energy etf/mutual fund.
I sold a portion of ABEMX and DGS last week to raise cash for better opportunities and a couple emerging markets bond funds two weeks ago pretty much for the same reason but I sold the whole positions because I think they'll take a beating when rates really start moving up.
I'm considering moving more money into funds or etfs focused on Europe and/or Japan. I've been very underweight since April/May but the central banks are becoming much more dovish and that should be good for stocks.
To early to ponder. I've been keeping my powder dry and have a hit list. Market has to correct lot more.
Some of these funds I have owned in the past but sold in keeping with my When vs Why mantra. I will wait patiently and if I'm wrong will not lament and never end up buying again, so be it.
MXXVX SEEDX GOODX BVAOX PROVX
If/When things really go to hell in a handbasket - BRSIX, TFSSX.
I will do technical ANALysis when I start creeping in.
Averaging into the best of the stocks in the O & G sector, names such as EOG, CLR, SN, WLL, etc. The price of crude (WTI) may go a bit lower but not much - perhaps a few dollars. Meanwhile, most of these stocks are on sale and are 20% off of their recent highs.
I suppose a question is whether or not one is interested in having exposure to distressed investments (primarily debt in the case of Oaktree) and whether or not to buy that when everything seems distressed or when everything seems a-okay. If you want exposure to distressed, I really don't know of too many better ways to get exposure to it beyond Oaktree.
Oaktree has started raising funds for distressed investments for the next downturn.
“Credit standards have dropped and non-investment grade debt issuances reached record levels,” John Frank, Oaktree’s managing principal, said July 31 on a conference call with investors and analysts. “Aggressive extensions of credit of the sort we’re seeing today have always been a precursor to a substantial distressed-debt opportunity.”
Personally, I have confidence in management to a degree I have with not too many companies, I like the MLP structure despite its annoying paperwork (and do be prepared for yield to vary in the case of the private equity MLPs.)
I will not likely be adding anymore (I added in the upper $40's), but it's something I don't think about on a day-to-day basis.
Good luck to both of us and hopefully it will do well short-term, but if it goes lower, I'm happy to just continue to reinvest dividends.
I added a little to one of my small/mid cap value funds on its current weakness as it is now at, or below, its 200 day moving average. I am thinking small & mid caps will rebound during the 4th quarter. In addition, today is a new moon and in this strategy, for me, one buys on the new and sells on the full moon especially if it is a harvest moon. For those that would like to read more about this strategy I have provided a link to a NYT's article below. Most investors do just the opposite to what I have just done as they buy on the full and sell on the new. Since, we had a pretty good sell down on the last harvest moon along with a solar storm coming during the same week I figured things were out of sync so I have done just the opposite and changed things around. The article says the strategy works more times than not with success found about sixty percent of the time. Anyway small and mid caps are currently the weakest of the three major S&P Indexes (the third would be the S&P 500) so I bought on small/mid weakness. I'll see if they cycle to the lunar phase(s) going forward.
In addition, I am providing the total return for my small/mid cap sleeve for the past week (-2.71%) ... for the past month (-3.57%) ... for the past three month period (-3.80%) ... and, for year-to-date it is up (+2.40%). So perhaps there is something to be said for seasonal effects, lunar phases and solar activity.
I just bought a chunk of RNDLX to wade into CEFs without actually buying them directly. I like the yield on this fund and its lower SD considering the portfolio.
Doubled down on SPX when it dropped almost 10% on wednesday due to some incomplete sales reports from a retail reporting agency. Was waiting for a big drop to pick up a bit more. As I have stated bfore I keep these spec stocks to 5% of my total. Also reduced WAGTX and put proceeds into VIG and TFOIX. Im getting the feeling that all the people that left Wasatch funds for the new Grandeur Peak funds might have impacted it but still keeping a decent amount in hoping for a recovery.
I'm buying half of my normal position today in FSNGX and ICENX. If they drop more, maybe another 10% I'll most likely make each a full position.
@john, I'm also close to adding gold. I have an order in to buy GDX, which is a gold miner's ETF, and I was close to getting filled today except I was just a little too late with a limit order, and I would like to buy gold itself in EUR or Yen terms when the USD price is just a little closer to $1200/oz.
I would really like to start building a position in MEASX but E*TRADE won't offer it and I'm not willing to open an IRA directly at Matthews so I'll have to find room in my taxable account, which right now is easier said than done.
Comments
Perhaps more oil...OXY, HFC.
Finally, Mosaic Co (MOS).
May add to BAC and HCP.
But have not made significant move on months. Doubled-up BAC when it dropped below $15 recently. But I have held it for quite some time.
Otherwise, steady as she goes...I hope.
Oaktree Capital Group LLC (OAK)
Thanks to another friend of the community.
In terms of fertilizer, I own Agrium (AGU) due to the reasonably nice dividend (although part of that can't be reinvested due to foreign witholding taxes) and the diversification aspect of their large retail operations in multiple countries. Thanks! I definitely like Oaktree from the standpoint of management and high-quality exposure to distressed debt. It's a long-term holding for me that I think will likely not be highly correlated to the broader market. I hate the K-1s - they are a PITA - but I have a number of others at this point so it becomes a matter of what's one more?
Otherwise:
Added a bit to Softbank and Visa. Added (new) Canadian Nat Resources (CNQ) and Vodafone (VOD.)
If this anticipated fall rally materializes then this is fine; and, if it doesn’t then that is fine too as I am invested within my asset allocation ranges within my portfolio.
So with this, I am hoping for a spiff position set up formation to develop in the near term.
WPC remains a long-term holding. I sold KMP the day of the announcement and now have some KMI but much less than the KMP position was. ZFC looks interesting. I own STWD.
I'm also looking for a bottom in gold and oil/gas as I'd be happy to buy gold miners and and energy etf/mutual fund.
I sold a portion of ABEMX and DGS last week to raise cash for better opportunities and a couple emerging markets bond funds two weeks ago pretty much for the same reason but I sold the whole positions because I think they'll take a beating when rates really start moving up.
I'm considering moving more money into funds or etfs focused on Europe and/or Japan. I've been very underweight since April/May but the central banks are becoming much more dovish and that should be good for stocks.
Some of these funds I have owned in the past but sold in keeping with my When vs Why mantra. I will wait patiently and if I'm wrong will not lament and never end up buying again, so be it.
MXXVX
SEEDX
GOODX
BVAOX
PROVX
If/When things really go to hell in a handbasket - BRSIX, TFSSX.
I will do technical ANALysis when I start creeping in.
Well, let's hope it's a dip.
@Maurice. Gotta believe it's temporary
Here's link to good memo by Howard Marks:
Risk Revisited
Oaktree has started raising funds for distressed investments for the next downturn.
“Credit standards have dropped and non-investment grade debt issuances reached record levels,” John Frank, Oaktree’s managing principal, said July 31 on a conference call with investors and analysts. “Aggressive extensions of credit of the sort we’re seeing today have always been a precursor to a substantial distressed-debt opportunity.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-02/oaktree-said-to-seek-10-billion-for-distressed-fund.html
Personally, I have confidence in management to a degree I have with not too many companies, I like the MLP structure despite its annoying paperwork (and do be prepared for yield to vary in the case of the private equity MLPs.)
I will not likely be adding anymore (I added in the upper $40's), but it's something I don't think about on a day-to-day basis.
Good luck to both of us and hopefully it will do well short-term, but if it goes lower, I'm happy to just continue to reinvest dividends.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/business/yourmoney/19strat.html?_r=0
And another link on the subject ... "Trading the Moods of the Moon"
http://www.theidiotandthemoon.com/moontrading.html
And, a paper on the subject by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ... Playing the Field: "Geomagnetic Storms and the Stock Market"
https://www.frbatlanta.org/filelegacydocs/wp0305b.pdf
In addition, I am providing the total return for my small/mid cap sleeve for the past week (-2.71%) ... for the past month (-3.57%) ... for the past three month period (-3.80%) ... and, for year-to-date it is up (+2.40%). So perhaps there is something to be said for seasonal effects, lunar phases and solar activity.
Old_Skeet
Derf
"Doubled down on SPX when it dropped almost 10% on wednesday..."
What?
S&P 500 index didn't drop almost 10% on Wednesday.
"Was waiting for a big drop to pick up a bit more."
How about today? How big a drop are you waiting for?
@john, I'm also close to adding gold. I have an order in to buy GDX, which is a gold miner's ETF, and I was close to getting filled today except I was just a little too late with a limit order, and I would like to buy gold itself in EUR or Yen terms when the USD price is just a little closer to $1200/oz.
I would really like to start building a position in MEASX but E*TRADE won't offer it and I'm not willing to open an IRA directly at Matthews so I'll have to find room in my taxable account, which right now is easier said than done.