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.
Somewhat sickening moment for me: in TNH at $185. The stock drops to $160 the other day with no news, bounces back to $172, I get out at that point and now the stock was $128 this morning. Lost a couple of bucks, but talk about nauseating price move…
In other sports news, a former Glencore trader bought part of the Yankees after walking away from the Mets (after David Einhorn walked away from the Mets, too.)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-19/bartoszek-said-to-buy-piece-of-ny-yankees.html
Reply to @Investor: As things continue to get worse, you're going to see an increasing amount of it from both sides, desperate to continue their own agendas. More reactionary movements by this country and others.
Bank of America downgraded today by Moody's. Uh, I thought they were a-ok? What a surprise, a financial company that acts like it's a-ok and doesn't need to raise money until it is (soon after) desperate to raise money by begging Buffett and selling…
Just to clarify: I'm not saying sell EM bonds - far from it. As I said before, I completely agree with the idea of diversifying away from the dollar. I think that people SHOULD have EM bonds as part of a diversified portfolio. I'm just saying be awa…
PRPFX would not be a replacement as a core fund. It's a supporting player, and would be a more conservative choice than a more aggressive inflation protection fund such as Pimco Commodity Real Return (PCRRX).
I find myself agreeing with Grantham more and more. "...and which produce goods that people need.." has largely become my long-term view (real/strategic/hard assets, needs), not getting things that are faddish. I'm certainly in agreement with the re…
Reply to @BobC: There's probably not too many people on the board more pro-diversifying away from the dollar more than me. I agree on the diversification benefits of EM/EM local debt, but the explosion of products in regards to EM/EM Local debt woul…
The issue with Greek "value" stocks is that what happens to the economy? You're talking about a (insolvent, I agree with mns) country undergoing a massive change and what it looks like on the other side of that, in terms of currency, austerity, etc …
He may eventually be proven right, especially if Too Big To Fail continues, which is essentially what he's betting on. However, a number of his past actions would indicate hubris probably plays a very significant part.
Reply to @catch22: As the days go by, the more disappointed I am that there were trade secrets stolen from TCW. RNSIX was a very small portion of the portfolio anyways. I don't think that people will pull money because most people today probably don…
"In August 2005, U.S.-stock funds alone took up 54% of mutual fund assets (excluding money market funds), while foreign-stock funds absorbed 14%. Meanwhile, taxable-bond funds represented just 15% of overall assets. The landscape has shifted signifi…
And the most unfortunate thing is that they will absolutely never listen to a word Schiff says. Good speech and worth listening to, but no one in government (well, aside from Ron Paul, who had Schiff as his economic advisor last campaign, not sure i…
Earlier in the year (last year?) there was a St Joe discussion and I had a few thoughts.
1. Whatever happens is going to take a long while. Hopefully it will not take longer than Marty Whitman's Tejon Ranch investment. He could repurpose it and tu…
Glad that he's trying and I thought his book was an interesting read. However, I think the corruption has reached too deep into the .gov for things like this to matter anymore. At WORST, State and BNY will simply get a slap on the wrist and anyone w…
People just going from one hot fund to another, and sometimes a fund stays cold for ages. Heebner's CGM Focus was iconic - to the point of Cramer mentioning it on "Regis and Kelly" as his "favorite mutual fund" (which I thought was that fund's peak …
Reply to @Maurice: "And if they lose, they lose their money." No, they get bailed out, because this country (and increasingly, the world) isn't moral hazardy enough yet. Isn't that how it works now? I'm confused.
In terms of green companies, someon…
L'Too Big to Fail. Maybe I'll put some money with Berkowitz and Fairholme; it's clear that no sizable financial institution will ever be allowed to fail again, no matter how insolvent they are in reality. Berkowitz should go global and start buying …
I think this is particularly odd:
"he two sides also clashed over whether Mr. Gundlach had a valid contract with TCW. Mr. Quinn said Mr. Gundlach did not have a contract with TCW because he failed to sign it in 2007, while Mr. Brian said a handshak…
Reply to @Greg: "Printing more currency did NOT work very well for Germany"
Which is why it's unlikely they're selling any gold; the memories of Weimar have not likely faded from the national consciousness. Which is why others aren't selling, bec…
Reply to @catch22: "Are we seeing/watching the equivalent of the "Hail Mary" pass of a football game; continue to evolve in the world of global finance???"
That's a good way of putting it.
"I just get so peeved with all of the posturing and "words…
In the early morning hours, the futures were down 150+.
Around dawn-ish there was a rumor that there was going to be an announcement from Germany and France regarding Greece and the market went flat/positive.
An hour later, there was a denial, marke…
Reply to @scott: Again, more rumors - futures down 150+ in early hours this morning, then a rumor of France/Greece making an announcement about Greece comes out and futures go positive. Moments ago, cnbc reports a denial out of France that a meetin…
Reply to @bee: ...And futures down 134 as of crack of dawn this morning.
I've been reasonably successful with BH Macro (BHMDF.PK), which definitely uses more complex strategies, but for certain, nothing is for certain (at least for very long) in th…
Rumors that China was going to (again) bail out part of Euro-land. That rumor came out and the market went from something like -160 to -55. Then it fell back to -110, then it came back up throughout the last hour. Market is probably oversold and I d…
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't done a great deal of research into the details of preferreds, but Kansas City Southern (KSU.PR) and Dupont (DD.PR.A) have "quiet" (not particularly volatile) preferreds that yield around 4-4.5%.
Reply to @David_Snowball: I appreciated what I took to be at least some skepticism after your interview with Berkowitz.
In terms of NARFX, I said several months ago that you're going to see an increasing amount of funds be pulled in by other compa…
I think the issue in terms of a fund getting it right eventually is opportunity cost - how long do you have to wait while you could have been in something else. I mean, Heebner's investors in CGM Focus could have had time better spent elsewhere over…
Reply to @Investor: I think Cramer has changed somewhat in the last couple years after the "Bear Stearns" incident (among many other things), which he talked about during a near-fight with Simon Hobbs (and I wish Cramer had gone after Hobbs with muc…
Before anything else: "As an independent investor responsible for your own successes and shortfalls, a huge dose of skepticism is always a prudent quality." I agree with that quite a bit (especially the first part), although I'm shocked with the nea…
Kind of an interesting, absolute return-oriented/conservative fund. Little expensive for this sort of thing, but I do like small/unheard of funds like this.
I believe CAMAX can use leverage, as well as options and equity swaps. It was short the EAFE index at last morningstar update. Like the look of the fund and holdings but don't own it.
