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.
For the math people - Bill Fleckenstein posted this yesterday ...
The Street's Favorite New Chart Pattern: ‾\_(ツ)_/‾
Personal note: I’ve cut back fixed income over past few months, so maybe I’m being hypocritical, but my guess is that piling ou…
Thanks for taking a look. Yes, if I were to do it again I’d do it differently - weed out duplicates (same fund / different share classes) and toss in more variety. Ran out of gas late last night and been traveling all day today.
There was a certa…
I don’t think we’ll see anything near 10% Y/Y inflation (CPI) this year or next. As for the “general public” I have little faith in their understanding of money, markets, financial planning. We’ve been dumbed down and polarized as a society compared…
Many thanks folks. I’m learning about funds I didn’t know existed. Since many offered their YTD return, I’ll venture outside my comfort level and say that at Friday’s close I was down 1.05% YTD. With me, everything revolves around the benchmark. Min…
Thanks for the insights @BaseballFan.
Your questions are beyond my pay grade.
But according to the linked article U.S. housing prices climbed to a new record level in March. From my general reading a lot has to do with (1) rising lumber and mater…
@BaluBalu - Not perhaps the answer you want. But look at inflows into SARK which opened in November. According to Lipper it already has $324 M + in assets. The fund shorts the stocks ARKK owns. There’s probably is information out there on short i…
“Also, curious as to why all the attentionon Wood/Arkk...meself,”
Agree. The fund has ISTM received an inordinate amount of commentary in the media (and perhaps here). I guess the media likes bright and shiny objects - likes them even better afte…
@Mark. Clearing all data in my DuckGo browser did pull up the article as you linked it above in full one time.. Thanks.
Read Barron's, but don't bet the house (-:) on anything Barron's say.
Yes. If a company intrigues you, put it in your tracker a…
“It is up to the investor to have at least some degree of knowledge what they are investing in (and some degree of knowledge about investing in general) … .”
The “Catch22” here - Most of us acquire that knowledge gradually over years of experience…
Well said. Thanks @msf and @LewisBraham -
ARKK is probably up 15% or more from its bottom. (Lipper has it up 12% over the past 4 weeks.) A few lucky or skilled traders have now perhaps gained a bit at the expense of the less fortunate. I’d venture …
Learned from both of them. Good interview.
I agree. Both the ladies in the first segment provided some interesting perspective on markets. Honestly, I’ll rewatch the program at least one more time before I comprehend everything covered. ISTM there w…
On the other hand …:
“The S&P GSCI, a benchmark tracking the prices of commodities futures from precious metals to livestock, has climbed 29% in the first quarter, notching its biggest gain since 1990 … U.S. crude oil prices have climbed 33% t…
I don’t think @rono is in total disagreement here.
If I read him correctly, this ban on certain hours is like sticking your finger in a single hole in a leaky dike. I encountered that often in the workplace. Bureaucracies often prefer to plug the …
“had loud early-morning protesters outside her duplex.”
I agree with freedom of speech / freedom to picket public offices. But here it sounds more like harassment. I wonder too about carrying these protests to private residences. What’s wrong wit…
Thanks for the clarification @MikeM. Lipper must have both in the wrong category. It calls JHQAX long-short and GATEX market neutral. Obviously the second is wrong. And I’ll take your word they have JHQAX miscategorized as well. I know little about…
Since we’ve expanded this to advantages of credit cards over debit …..
Don’t take my word for it, but ISTM some credit cards provide a form of (secondary) collision insurance against accident damage on cars you rent using their card, I can only har…
@Mike was referencing GATEX which I’d just bought. Owned a decade or more ago and had been considering for a while when a spot opened up in the portfolio. As I understand, the fund owns a portfolio of equities similar to the S&P, but generates…
Cash outperformed most everything today. Be glad you have some. Though I’ll guess longer dated investment grade bonds had a better day.
Commodities & the metals started out hot this morning , but slid to flat / negative near the end.
Energy g…
At one time the price of nat gas ran opposite that of crude oil on many days. That’s partially because the gas was a necessary (somewhat unwanted) byproduct of oil drilling / fracking and the market for gas was saturated - so they needed to sell …
“Regulators suspect that investment banks have been tipping off their top clients, who jump in and sell ahead of that wave … In many deals examined by the Journal, the stock-price slide began in late morning or early afternoon, around the time selle…
Currency War - from Wikipedia
Thought I remembered something about this from history class. ISTM the financial plight of some European nations (Germany in particular) led, albeit indirectly, to the outbreak of WW II. Some of this financial weak…
@TheShadow … Re above ... Your spell checker must have changed “inept” to “incept”.
PS - And I do remember when @Old_Joe was messing with the stuff. Don’t know whether that’s bad or good (that I can remember back that far).
Also, if yen strengthens, is FXY a buy?
The operative term there is “IF”.
I’ve never had any luck playing the currency markets. If I understand @Crash correctly and their inflation rate is 1/2 % (0.50%) than I do understand the money printing goi…
Here’s a really “odd” way to look at it - but I do. - You’ve got a predetermined allocation model. Within that model are held set percentages of cash, bonds, equities and other assets. Those assets work together to generate an overall return. In my…
Even with an allocation model I feel “lost” most of the time. I can’t even begin to imagine how “winging it” might feel.
I do have discretion to play around in the 5-10% “speculative” component. That’s filled to the max 10% with (3 different) equi…
The VIX dropped below 20 this morning. “Happy days are here again … ”
@Bobpa said, “ … and if you are holding cash right now, how are you feeling about this market that seemingly only wants to go up?”
How am I feeling? Stick to the allocation …
I should clarify that my reassessment of inflation assets was triggered largely by global events. Six months ago I thought a lot of industrial metals, agriculture, and especially energy assets were quite overvalued. That was before Russia invaded Uk…
I confess to being “a day late and a dollar short”. Missed out on the energy play - after oil topped $60. Decent exposure to broad based commodities thru a couple allocation funds. And of course own the precious metals miners. Looked and looked thi…
It is tricky but there is a system to it.
Most bond funds accrue dividends daily but pay them monthly. If one sells mid-month, then one gets proportional dividends. NAV is not impacted by distribution.
Some bond funds and most equity/hybrid funds …
Thanks @Mark for digging up the link. The cut and paste came via circuitous route from a Kindle reader. No link,
Very good article. I can’t help thinking that was an intentional dive. As one person quoted near the end says “Planes just don’t do tha…
My impression with bond funds is you still get a portion of the interest based on how many days you held it during the quarter, although this would not be true with a stock paying dividends.
Thank you. I agree as far as that goes. At a fund house I…
