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, that will be important. If Greece leaves Euroland the Euro should soar and European stocks will tank. But the Germans need Greece and a weak Euro for their export driven economy, so I believe no matter how much tough talk they give Greece, t…
Hi Puddnhead,
Since I like the combination of humor and insight in your posts so much, here's where I would start if I was undertaking the effort:
I screened for open equity funds with average market cap less than $500MM this time and Perritt Micr…
The question for me would be why I'd think this would be a winning fund. Their US small cap fund is well known with great results. But both their mid cap growth fund and their large cap international fund have failed to attract assets and have del…
I'm hoping/expecting to join the call, but here are the questions I have so far.
1. How do you weight the different aspects of innovation against price? For instance, does a longer history of innovation as you view it trump a particularly insightf…
Lord Abbett has two funds, LMIYX and LMVYX, that seem to be institutional in nature but I never trust M*'s purchase information so I'm listing them just in case
Allianz has GMACX that carries a load but maybe there are places you can get it with th…
Driehaus has a micro-cap growth fund DMCRX
Oberweis has one also OBMCX
According to M*'s fund screener I found 31 funds with 'micro' in the name that are open to new investment. Most of them I don't recognize the name of the fund company but if yo…
Just before the close, must have been close to 3:30pm, the ECB revoked a waiver that allowed banks to use Greek government debt as collateral. Stocks fell sharply, the Euro plunged, the yen strengthened a bit and I think, but haven't checked broadl…
I think you'll find a lot of different opinions about the "ideal" number of funds and I think the real answer depends largely on your style. For instance, if one is mostly a passive investor, then I would think that person wouldn't need more than 5…
I'm a believer in frontier markets because I believe we will see better growth rates and I think there's a lot of room for businesses to grow, especially ones with more and more access to foreign capital, as the middle class grows substantially.
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Thanks @Crash! I remember now, you called and amid a contentious call received terrible customer service. @JohnChisum sold MAPIX previously because of the dividend issue and I'm rotating into hedged exposure to Japan by reducing MAPIX rather than …
@Crash and @JohnChisum, are your moves based on moving to funds that you feel better address your asset allocation desires/mix, an opinion being expressed about Asia or an opinion being expressed about Matthews specifically? Thanks!!
BCCHoosier, wow! I also hold WAFMX but I haven't sold any and don't have any plans to buy either. MSCFX is a fund I've been watching but I have so much small cap exposure, and in funds that I really like, so it's just not something I've been willi…
Busy month!
Sold 20% of WAAEX, PRNHX and FSCRX to reduce exposure to small caps. Sold 25% of MAPIX to rotate into hedged exposure to Japan. Sold 10% of HQL to take a little profit, essentially rebalancing.
Bought HEDJ and DXJ just before the…
The problem, the real problem in Europe right now is that the Germans were right before (tough requirements when they bailed out Greece in the first place) and they're wrong now (not only Greece but others need to spend to get their economies going)…
If we believe the rumors then Grandeur Peak will have a US focused small cap fund sometime this year. If you're able to get into that I'd guess it'd be NTF at Fidelity. Just don't really know when it might appear.
@Tampabay, I don't mean a lack of an incentive to save for the vacation they want to take later this year, or to buy clothes, etc. The problem, though, is that interest rates are low enough that there's no real benefit to put your money in a saving…
@Charles, I think you're right about a lost generation, not just because they don't want anything to do with the stock market, but they have almost no incentive to save and they have unprecedented amounts of debt when they leave college.
Geez, these NURO guys are getting NO credit! Market cap is $13MN. This is tiny of the tiny and it doesn't look like there's been any real bounce from the announcement that they were going to introduce the product. If it does well I guess this wil…
I'm thinking disappointment. Expectations are so big at this point that even if the ECB actually comes through and delivers some real QE, I'm just not sure they're going to be able to even meet expectations. I'm hoping to buy European stocks on we…
@JohnChisum, thanks! I agree, most of the stuff out there are clones of a handful of different themes in healthcare and I generally feel like many of these newer ETFs are just jumping on the bandwagon with small differences in an attempt to differe…
Oh, this is the kind of post that may generate not only a large number of comments but all the emotions attached to M*!
FWIW, I subscribe and I do so for a couple of reasons. I use their research reports (stocks, mutual funds, ETFs) and while I do…
The portion of the healthcare sphere that involves robotics, wearables, bionics etc has huge growth potential. For someone with a long time to invest these are the kinds of future stocks that hold a lot of promise.
@JohnChisum, are you aware of any…
To do what they did in the fashion they did it makes me wonder what they know that we do not.
Well that could make some sense but then it was apparently what they didn't know they everyone else in the world did. Of course maybe we'll find out next …
@Ted wrote posted a note about this ETF at the end of December when it was launched. There's no question it will be volatile but I have been watching it because like you JC I think there will be very big winners in their universe and hopefully not …
This isn't just a stunner, this is crazy. From what I've read the Swiss have been outspoken not only about their intent to keep the CHF from appreciating relative to the EUR but their ability to defend that intent. To turn around and go the exact …
It seems to me, and I think it was even said in the article, that most investors end up with a combination of top-down and bottom-up. I do give some credence to the 5 year record when I'm doing my research so the point in the article about the best…
Its funny because my wife calls this a bribe. When I want my kids to eat stuff that's good for them, I tempt them with a treat. If you eat the vegetables then we'll be able to have some dessert. It seems pretty much the same as if you don't eat t…
Hi Charles, your summary is fantastic!! I haven't seen the Honor Roll category here before but its a great category and wonder if its possible to add it to the existing list? Luckily I have chosen a handful of the funds on that list, but I would u…
The only surprising thing related to Gundlach's forecast is that the author finds it surprising rather than being surprised by the junk many others get paid a lot of OUR money for. I've only recently started paying some attention to Gundlach and I'…
I gather this one is going to be a wild ride!!! Not for the faint of heart (unless you're hoping there will be a medical breakthrough to solve the problem :) )
For those interested or considering Japanese stocks, on page 49 there's an interesting graph comparing the yen to the Nikkei. Based on the scale of the graph and the rough idea that they have moved in similar fashion for the last 6 years, I think t…
POAGX is the biggest position in my portfolio and I hold HQL, PRHSX and MEASX as well. Unfortunately, and I think Charles got it right, it was a tough year for the other 80% of my funds, even in the few cases when they were large cap funds.
All in…
