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.
@BobC: I think that while the retirement accounts are the only ones currently affected, the changes will go through the entire brokerage/advisory business model forcing many commissioned advisers leave the industry/ retire.
not ted, but all emerging market debt funds have done well this year, especially the leveraged ones. this thing is as risky as they come and its distribution, while has been cut several times, is still a suspect. I would not recommend. if you in t…
thanks for the shorthand on RESA, @msf. there is indeed so much distrust around the annuities even though they could solve a longevity problem. I think the new DOL rule will cause the insurance industry to arrive at a new product lineup - more appro…
European central bank mentioned tapering of QE this morning. The multiple QE's have been a huge support of flows into US yield-based products such as bonds, utility stocks, mlp's and reits. that multi-year trade saw some unwinding today.
i did, in practice, purchased several CEFs during 2008/2009, which made for a significant return in the following years. they consequently moved to premia and i had to exchange them for what i thought was a better relative value. each year, differe…
i also questioned this paragraph... the last sentence contradicts the first part.
"U.S. Treasuries are a disaster. Treasuries have been propped up by international buyers, mostly Asia or OPEC, who needed to find something to do with their trillion…
i think she needs a financial advisor - just picking funds is not enough. someone needs to look at the entire picture. now that she is a sole provider for the tho teenagers, does she have enough life insurance?...she needs to put 2 kids through co…
it depends.. if advisor charges a fixed % of assets annually, then any fund rebalancing or replacement is included (sans the underlying fund's fee of course) . if invested funds are load funds, then the load is paid once, initially. any exchange o…
YTD gains in the CEF world are even more striking due to leverage and discount shrinking. many funds are up over 10%. looks like 2012 all over again in the fixed income spread stuff - loans, HY, EMD, structured credit -- all up more than equities. …
I can't believe how terribly late to the party Barron is, muni CEFs are trading with a one year z-score of 2-3.... if this article leads to another jump, i'll be a seller.
"As munis have climbed in value, yields have fallen. The average high-rated …
right, 'pro-rata' basis is more common, if such language exists.
there are a couple of fund families without such language.
in kind distribution, similar to creation of a side-pocket, is an admission by the fund sponsor that they had failed. no o…
a bit more subdued for Bill.
one item that caught my attention is his recommendation of munis -- something that is discussed on another thread. he still likes access those through closed end fund structure since leverage is cheap and helps increa…
i am amazed their mutual fund had such language.. institutional commingled funds do. so do private funds - hedge funds and such. i went though many act 40 prospectuses and haven't seen such disclosure - very unusual case. in europe, however, redem…
@AndyJ: these are in no way substitutes for munis. Their 8%+ distribution yield is taxed as ordinary income. Junkster and I just took this muni thread to the side a bit, sorry.
@Junkster: i agree these have been better relative value. please note that lots of loans are made to junkier credits, especially those to smaller energy companies. the recent oil action has resulted already in a bunch of bankruptcies, but more to co…
nobody knows.. with a Brexit threat and the worst anticipated earning season since 2009, the long bond might still have juice in it. high yield corporates correlate with equities though, and more recently with the price of oil. less disastrous ear…
i glanced over one of your links and found the following references:
"The Junk Bond Index rate has increased significantly… driving prices downward to a 4-year low" and "High-yield spreads over Treasuries are significantly higher now than they hav…
i hope you're now suggesting that Gundlach doesn't know how to calculate total return for a bond fund.
he was referring to spread widening which started in August. junk spreads went to widths that were unheard of outside a full blown recession at …
Yes, OJ. It is active market participants who determine index values. the fewer active participants, the less price discovery. you're right to be concerned.
he closed at 18+ and the stock now is trading @10+. he could have halved his loss if he hadn't panic. new traders usually lose money by being long stocks - at least i did - and then selling at the unfortunate time. this way one can't lose more than…
@VF: read the press release... very slooooooow 12+ months transition to start including China smaller cap stocks. i think they learned their lesson with a rapid move from MSCI to FTSE and losing half the AUM in the process.
the distribution is precisely due to the fact that you (and many others) have bailed and caused forced selling.
If YAFFX (+12% distribution) is any indication, this year the tax man cometh.
Glad I bailed out of this fund earlier this year. Its supp…
one of the proposals by SEC is 'swing pricing', which is widely used in EMEA funds: allocating redemption related costs to a redeeming shareholder. not a bad idea imho.
well.. all material changes require a shareholder vote. regular annual updates do not, so that's might be it. also, some obviously beneficial to shareholders items do not require an approval -- it could be a fund re-opening or expense lowering. t…
anyone saw One America News? brand new stuff.. conservative, but not Foxy..instead of commercials -- bits of history. attractive anchors (i believe unemployed hollywood wanna be's) not all of it, but basic reporting is very decent.
and yes, david…
• Overnight, the Chinese A/H share class trade continued to play out as the “Southbound” train was moving at full speed. With the China A-share premium over H-shares touching on 3 year highs in recent weeks, yesterday’s correction represented a 2.6…
different benchmarks/ different index.. be careful.
Still prefer Vanguard's equivalent ETF, VWO: (1) better performance, (b) less tracking error to the same index - use more stocks in the index instead just the top 200, and (3) lower ER.
from far right to far far left -- that's why the country is so divided.
for financial reporting, FT seems based on facts, if anyone is interested.
Yay for plug of VF; RollingStone is also first-rate sometimes (not only Taibbi, but him chiefly); NY …
i would think these numbers are skewed by a few hundreds who make millions and the rest has a modest payout. not only the populist piece is scrapping the lowest of the low and reveals more about the author, but some of the commenters don't seem to …
i wouldn't go that far. he capitalized on non-agency mortgages coming out of the credit crisis, which a few others did with a similar success. that trade has mostly run out. he hedges interest rates - which many do as well. as the rest of the mor…
BGH?
(loans and some bonds, including a bunch from the energy sector with good fundamentals that got hit with the rest of the selloff; some leverage; earned yield over 9%; TTY over 10%.) just because i like you, oj
Increased position in GASFX. Do…