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.
Yeah, in terms of returns, many of these more "alternative" funds are not intended to match the S & P or other indexes; however, I think my concern is that some of the funds have not performed up to intentions (whether "absolute return" or other…
I like some general Asia-region real estate plays, such as Hong Kong Land (which I own through Jardine Matheson) and Capitamalls (which I don't own, but seems like an interesting speculative play. I definitely don't want any more Asia, but Capitamal…
I would not want to be in malls for the longer-term, as I continue to think that retail space is still significantly overbuilt in this country. I do think the offices are interesting, and public storage companies (like, um, public storage) may be in…
Third Point is available in pink sheet form, as is BH Macro (although not the other BH products - Global and Credit Catalysts.) Additionally, a few of the other funds are also available in pink sheet form (RIT Capital Partners), but they rarely trad…
I'm aware of the Hatteras Alpha/Beta Hedged funds, which are two mutual funds whose records have not been all that compelling. The multi-strategy fund sounds interesting on paper, but appears to require a very significant investment minimum and look…
Absolutely. I think there will be a time when the ship is turned around, but it depends on whether or not you have the luxury to wait (size of position, risk tolerance, etc.) In terms of manager loyalty? I don't know, as there's really no way to kno…
Costa Rica, which is often discussed, is 495 of their currency for one of our dollars. I actually have little fixed income at this point and admittedly, I don't have a strong view on any fixed income sectors in terms of how they will fare in upcomin…
Gundlach is certainly a good choice, and I think as well as Gross does trying to steer Total Return, Gundlach's skill and smaller fund may make him more nimble over time (very different funds, but both very skilled fixed income managers.) The Closed…
It's not that Berkowitz is done or that he isn't a great investor. I don't think it's a flaw in the overall management style (nor did I ever think the fund was low-risk), but simply a sector bet that he overstayed and while he can admit he was wrong…
I'm rather negative to begin with so the idea of shorting is something I'm open to, but I have a hard time imagining a world where we've spent trillions of dollars to prop up the financial system, only to have the stimulus stop and then let the card…
A couple of notes:
1. One can have a good feeling about the fundamentals for an asset class, but whenever someone says that something is a "slam dunk", that's a tad bit of a warning sign.
2. Is there a fundamental story/theme here, or are you just…
I think the question becomes how much can the lower/middle class be squeezed. I think there continue to be structural problems with the economy and that things will not improve until they are addressed, bu what can you do.
Cisco certainly has terrific potential, but it's a matter of how to go about realizing that value, and the recent announcement of restructuring may help in the longer-term. Similar situation with Microsoft, which I'd like to like but don't (yet.) HP…
In terms of Latin America, I continue to consider Coca-Cola FEMSA and Arcos Dorados (the largest McDonalds operator in Latin America) as quieter (by comparison, still certainly volatile) single name ways (and may be quieter than some Latin American …
Speaking of CNBC, anyone catch their constant promotion of Joe Kernan's new book, "Your Teacher Said What?!: Defending Our Kids from the Liberal Assault on Capitalism" I thought it was a joke until I looked it up on Amazon (and then he dragged his k…
I'm a little surprised that Ritholtz didn't name names, as who he's discussing is obvious.
"CNBC and tells Bartiromo she's "looking good" Ugh, Bartiromo probably wishes she'd gotten out of CNBC when the getting was good. Berkowitz could hit on Bec…
If the environment in the movie "Bread for Gold" is still present in the country, there really isn't even a currency, as the movie showed that the currency isn't even accepted and much of the population spends their days panning for tiny bits of gol…
The article is a bit much ("For a nation that was so economically backwards and pathetic that it could barely feed itself 15 years ago, China's executives have certainly come a long way"), but I think - and I discuss this in another thread in the of…
I think my "best worst" case scenario is a longer-term decline in living standards/quality of life over the coming decades if we proceed down the road we're proceeding on. I don't believe the current path is sustainable at all and I absolutely do no…
Again, I don't want to say this advisor in question is good or bad, but the fund choice seems similar, and when family dealing with a similar advisor started bringing the kind of suggestions to the table, 1:) it was initally a bit of a run-around an…
If interest rates were to head significantly higher, RE would not perform well - the residential housing market would quite likely decline further (if people aren't buying houses with any great urgency at these levels, would they be more likely if i…
I think it's just really tough to know where things are headed. All that I can do really is have larger themes (commodities and emerging markets), as well as smaller themes and have a belief in those themes over the long term (although position size…
MERFX is an interesting example of an alternative strategy (merger arbitrage) that does not correlate heavily to the market. Some people do not care for alternative strategies, but I think merger arbitrage has a consistent track record as an overall…
I'm not going to say that this person isn't a good financial planner, I don't know. I will say:
1. The advisor may have access to load-waived or no-load versions. I know there is a no load version of the popular Templeton Global Bond (TEGBX) fund.…
Normally, a great deal of things are correlated to the movements of the currency markets (and primarily the dollar within that category) to varying degrees (sometimes those correlations break down, sometimes - like the last couple of weeks - they ap…
Edited to add: Additionally, on this side of the world, I find it remarkable that there appears to be a Chinese IPO every other day, and despite questionable accounting and other issues from a number of these companies, everyone appears to look the …
And a "d'oh" for David Einhorn:
"We believe that Yahoo’s most valuable asset is its 40% stake in Alibaba Group’s still-private holdings, which are separate and distinct from its ownership in the publicly-traded Alibaba.com, which we are essentially…
It looks a lot like FAIRX. (shrugs)
Edited to add:
They don't perform that differently, either (YTD comparison):
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=FAAFX+Interactive#chart3:symbol=faafx;range=ytd;compare=fairx;indicator=volume;charttype=line;cr…
Sorta/kinda thinking about Best Buy (BBY) as a trade. Definitely may not, but is semi-interesting at these levels. No big picture theme or idea, just a *small* if it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't and quickly move on-style trade on an unlo…
