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.
Elliot Wave has not exactly had the best record lately, but the idea that Greece's problems will not be solved and will spread if they fail is not without merit. The only issue with that is that it is clear at this point that any such situation will…
If you want to take down risk, you could definitely sell, but I guess for me it becomes "then what?" I don't have a particularly good long-term view on a lot of fixed income, but I could certainly be wrong on that for a while or a long-while, but I …
China's attempts to deal with inflationary pressures have resulted in a drag on market performance this year, but if it succeeds, it will be healthy for the longer-term. The issue with China - and the issue with other countries besides this one, is …
I have no solely EM bond funds left (the selling started when TCW Emerging Markets announced the celebration of something like taking in 7x AUM in a manner of about 10 months and ended earlier this year) , but do have the balanced Pimco EM Multi-Ass…
I think this:
"Investors last month appeared to follow the stock market adage "Sell in May." They withdrew nearly $3 billion more than they deposited into stock mutual funds in May. And funds buying foreign stocks attracted nearly $7 billion in ne…
There's certainly aspects of that, but a transformation into an (even more?) service-oriented economy is not a positive. My view was that if things do turn South again, rural cities are not going to fare well, and I'm doubtful big cities are going t…
Whatever one thinks about the Meredith Whitney call, she was rather good on CNBC making her case the other morning. I think my concern that's not necessarily bond-specific but more of a generalized concern is some of the small-to-mid towns in rural/…
On CNBC the other morning, a couple of Congressmen from different sides of the aisle talked about how their parties would be able to work together, and then proceeded to - for the next 2-3 minutes - accuse each other's parties of this, that and the …
Janus does have a few good funds - Balanced, the Perkins Funds, Overseas and a couple of others (it remains to be seen what will happen with Contrarian with a new manager) - but the company has never moved past its past (at least successfully.)
I've thought congress is really going to take this towards the edge, and whether unintentionally or not, could wind up going over. Apparently, the banks think the same thing.
Fantastic read. "The fact that the U.S. finds itself in its current predicament really ticks me off. Cathartic moments and beneficial change can occur after experiencing great pain. As a nation, we had a chance following the financial crisis, but bl…
The farmland portion is not a huge portion of the company, but it is a good portion and there is significant planning for expansion/development (branded products, etc) - at least according to the company. It would appear to be the portion of the com…
The second movie was kind of interesting in that it looked more at the impact that the crisis and people's actions had/have. There was a line from Gekko at one point in the movie that I forget, but it was effectively that 2008 happened, it will happ…
Berkowitz was just on CNBC. Offered nothing new, really. He did increase the holding in AIG recently.
You can see what AIG is up to lately: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/us-taxpayers-about-be-saddled-another-european-bailout-courtesy-aig
GCC is more heavily weighted to ag than most broad basket commodity futures ETfs (a bit more than half.) USCI is apparently coming out with an ag-focused ETF, although it's not out yet. I liked Sprott Resource and the farming portion (both in terms …
This isn't anything against the article above, but I lean towards David's discussion on EM bonds in this month's mutualfundobserver article. "By Morningstar’s estimate, of the 20 emerging-markets local-currency funds, 14 have been opened in the last…
I'm not a fan of Leuthold, but that's just me. I'd rather suggest Ivy Asset or the Blackrock Global Allocation fund. T Rowe also has some good balanced offerings. The Mairs and Power fund is also a good suggestion.
I think there's a lot of potentially very exciting ideas for it and you can look at various possibilities on how it could turn out, from Berkshire to maybe something like Howard Hughes. However, who knows what's in store - Eddie Lampert was going to…
Every brokerage appears different. Ameritrade has no min/NTF for D shares of pimco funds in both IRAs/Non-IRAs. Etrade has no-min for ALL Pimco shares in IRAs only. Ameritrade has some Pimco admin shares no-min. Etrade has Loomis Sayles Bond/Global …
I see Berkowitz turning St Joe into something along the lines of Howard Hughes Corporation, which Bill Ackman is the Chairman of the Board on. Or maybe something like Leucadia, which I think would be more interesting. However, I think that's a few y…
Bought more AQR Risk Parity and Rivernorth/Doubleline Strategic, both of which I've been very pleased with. Also bought a bit more commodity (not commodity stock) funds.
Yacktman is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but I think that's fairly close and I think a more conservative concentrated fund. Additionally, while it has not had a good year this year either, there is also investing with Berkowitz enemy and par…
They have run quite a bit over the last couple of years, but emerging market bond funds - and especially EM bond funds denominated in local currency - are a good fixed-income bet over the longer term. EM Bonds can certainly be volatile (see how most…
Any regulators going to do much about making sure this isn't happening on an ongoing basis with these Chinese IPOs? (Crickets.) No? Okay.
Broker: "We have this new Chinese IPO. The auditor left, and when I looked up the company address on Google E…
I think there are very few alternative funds that have a consistent long-term track record with their strategy (whether it be long/short, whatever, although some specific strategies do have off years.) A lot of market neutral funds have not done wel…
A few notes:
1. You cannot open a foreign market IRA (an account to invest directly in foreign markets), as far as I'm aware. Investing directly in foreign markets (London, etc) has to be within a separate, traditional account. That may not be the…
It was the state treasurer on CNBC (note the CNBC link) saying that the state's finances are a disaster, and due to their deteriorating fiscal state, they are borrowing at higher rates than other states, among a number of problems (spending $3 for e…
I wouldn't call tech now a bubble, but I would call what occurred with Linked In last week very reminiscent of .com era. It reminds me of Cramer's discussion of the IPO day for Street.com in "Confessions of a Street Addict" (and Cramer compared it t…
I don't know of a fund, but Mallett PLC is an antiques dealer (paintings/furniture, etc - http://www.mallettantiques.com/) in London, but there does not appear to be a pink sheet version of the stock, nor does the stock appear to have done very well…
I believe PAUDX is a fund-o'-funds only. Otherwise, I completely agree with what Gross is saying, but the way he presents it may not be to everyone's liking. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him either, but Gross is an investor with the …
I've been told that one cannot open (at this point) a foreign market IRA.
Whether or not that's "across the board" I don't know, but that's what I've been told. I don't expect sizable returns from Allblue; I expect consistent year/over/year good or…
So much depends on the situation with energy in this country and energy policy, but I think CLNE, with its nat gas stations, is a neat, rather unique company (with a great front man in T Boone Pickens) that could do really well if everything lined u…
