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.
@Hank, I see your complaints with the hussman fund, it seems to be a growing view that he "just doesn't get it", "isn't being flexible enough" (i.e. taking on risks he views as unwarrented). This is a common thing that happens to managers when avoid…
I posted the listing as of December 31st here http://www.wallstreetrant.com/2012/01/morningstar-ramps-up-analyst-ratings.html . They have continued adding more ratings since then though.
But of course, didn't everyone know, now ”It is ridiculous to be bearish”! At least according to Thomas Lee, the chief equity strategist at JP Morgan. He says the S&P could even take out its record high of 1565.........although, don't ask about …
Besides the apparent business reasons, I actually see Hussman's move to open the Strategic Dividend Value fund as a way to stop investors from hurting themselves.
The new fund has a limit of a 50% hedged position (which it is currently using to it'…
Reply to @catch22: " but I find it difficult to think that "most investors" buy individual bonds; which is noted with statement number 2. "
I would have to agree with you on that. I believe most investors access bonds through mutual funds/ETFs or i…
@Claimui Yep exactly, in fact if a fund has a top 10%-20% 3-year record during this coming timeframe, in most categories you should be highly skeptical. However, this specific static "rollover" of timeframes can be useful when used with the 5 year t…
I do think there is a rather big flaw in using Market Cap/GDP as a valuation measure for emerging markets though. It assumes that their companies are undervalued when in reality it could just mean that a large portion of the companies that contribut…
@MJG yes, I have no objection to attempting to give forward looking measurements. So far my objection is just in the way in which these "metals" are being awarded (and what does a 'gold' rating really mean if it's given out for replicating an indexe…
@BobC Thanks for the info!
Fortunately there aren't actually 26,000 individual mutual funds---unless you were to count each individual share class of every fund, But point taken! You mean you can't monitor the inner workings of over 8,400 different…
@BobC you say of the funds that "we" track -- what exactly is your business if you don't mind me asking?
Also, in regards to the marketing......Yes I think it will definitely be used for marketing purposes, especially for the fund companies receivi…
For the commodities space I like the etf USCI (United States Commoditiy Index). http://www.unitedstatescommodityindexfund.com/usci-details.php
Now granted, it is an index...but it is a little more fundamentally driven as it focuses on those commodi…
I always checked out FundAlarm sporadically from time to time, so it was a natural progression to this site. However, I never took the time to signup for the discussion forum. Honestly, there is not a lot out there focused on the mutual fund world. …
Catch,
Thanks for the welcome! Yes, that is my blog. Glad you liked the post. With so much day to day news I sometimes like to take a step back and see things related more to the big picture investment landscape as well.
US Investors still have a ways to go before their allocations to equities look low historically (where major buying opportunities presented themselves). 1975-1990 household equity allocations were in high 20%s to low 30%s. Now we are still in the lo…
I think as a whole, stock buybacks tend to be a terrible use of funds. I tend to shy away from companies that are using large amounts for buybacks. First thing you should think is why can't they find a better use of funds? Second and probably the bi…