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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.
  • Fidelity Global Balanced Fund to close to new investors
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/354046/000137949117005298/filing694.htm
    497 1 filing694.htm PRIMARY DOCUMENT
    Supplement to the
    Fidelity® Global Balanced Fund
    December 30, 2016
    Prospectus
    Effective the close of business on August 11, 2017, new positions in the fund may no longer be opened. Shareholders of the fund on that date may continue to add to their fund positions existing on that date. Investors who did not own shares of the fund on August 11, 2017, generally will not be allowed to buy shares of the fund except that new fund positions may be opened: 1) by participants in most group employer retirement plans (and their successor plans) if the fund had been established (or was in the process of being established) as an investment option under the plans (or under another plan sponsored by the same employer) by August 11, 2017, 2) by participants in a 401(a) plan covered by a master record keeping services agreement between Fidelity and a national federation of employers that included the fund as a core investment option by August 11, 2017, 3) for accounts managed on a discretionary basis by certain registered investment advisers that have discretionary assets of at least $500 million invested in mutual funds and have included the fund in their discretionary account program since August 11, 2017, 4) by a mutual fund or a qualified tuition program for which FMR or an affiliate serves as investment manager, 5) by a portfolio manager of the fund, and 6) by a fee deferral plan offered to trustees of certain Fidelity funds, if the fund is an investment option under the plan. These restrictions generally will apply to investments made directly with Fidelity and investments made through intermediaries. Investors may be required to demonstrate eligibility to buy shares of the fund before an investment is accepted.
    GBL-17-02
    1.855563.122 August 1, 2017
  • Pimco Has A Manager Who Tops Dan Ivascyn. His Name? Dan Ivascyn
    FYI: Investors in Daniel Ivascyn’s Pimco Income Fund have enjoyed stellar returns. Those who put money in his much smaller closed-end fund have gotten those gains on steroids.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2017-08-01/pimco-has-a-manager-who-tops-dan-ivascyn-his-name-dan-ivascyn
    PDI: 17.09% YTD
    PONAX: 5.62% YTD
  • Technical Analysis Tip of the Month for August, 2017
    @Tony,
    Thanks for posting your views and thoughts. I'll experiment a little using SPY in my already established chart matrix. By no means am I a technical analysis expert; but, the things you have noted in your recent post(s) have been enlightening.
    Additional comment of August 2, 2017.
    After using the standard code (12,26,9) I substituted both the daily charting option code that you suggested (12,26,0) and weekly charting code (4,9,0). Both were interesting.
    My weekly charting code, thus far, for the MACD have been (1,65,0) for the Elder Impluse System (intermediate term signal). This might be something for others to look at along with the others you noted. I have also used (1,13,0) for the short term signal. But, the (1,65,0) seemed to provide the 65 day sell trigger that Elder recommended for the weekly chart setting. And, the sort term MACD code of (1,13,0) was determined by (65/5=13).
    Any thoughts and/or comments?
    Skeet
  • Fund Manager #@$%*! Fired as Trump's Communications Director
    LOL! It will be joined by the retrospective of the 45 regime, tenatively entitled "#FAKE ________!"
    (yes, I am not a fan of this administration ... or any in recent memory, for that matter)

    @LewisBraham Hillary will receive a Profiles In Courage award for her new book.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    Just discovered Aldi grocery stores on the west coast. Quality wines with attractive price -$8-15 a bottle.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    Not quite following your point but sense your defensiveness. Not luck and not lucky.
    Just go exploring at Total and/or Costco and you'll see. TJ is fine and d'Alba etc and others from Sicily and southern Italy can be similarly fine, sure. Have not bought a daily-drinking bottle over $10 in any quantity for years, if ever. Those I buy selectively.
    Just slogged though a couple dozen gifted 1950s-1990s reds, perfectly stored but 80% over the hill, sad story. Some only slightly sherried, bordeaux and burgundies and barolos and NoCal cabs, so drinkable, and lots of finesse, but muddy by the end.
    Was glad to be back to my large cheap cellar of ~~6yo 2000s, all of them under $8 tops. I see some Totals in NoCal unless you're up near Eureka :) , then Costco.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    I would agree that there are lucky finds under $10, but if you explore this price range consistently you will drive up the average price considerably, as of necessity you purge the undrinkables. In our area at least, the grouping between $12 and $20 gives the best results for relatively consistent and predictable quality. But there are certainly exceptions- the under $5 at Trader Joe's for the Epicuro group of red wines from southern Italy being an example. We are stocking some four cases of these at this time.
    For over thirty years we have kept approximately 40 cases of wine on hand in a small air-conditioned room- nothing fancy, I assure you- but we have a fair amount of experience in selecting relatively inexpensive wines of decent quality.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    @OJ,
    Costco, Total, and the occasional lucky twofer bin in the front of your local packy have good reds, sometimes, Costco often, for well under $15 and often under $10.
    Hard to find, takes some taste-testing, suffering duds.
    But for everyday we drink and serve (and have done so for years) good-enough chiantis (principally sangiovese, sometimes nebbiolo-mixed), riojas (principally tempranillo but sometimes garnacha-mixed), malbecs, the rare pinot noir, lots of montepulcianos, and when lucky modest bordeaux, all in the $6.50 - $10 range. Blends, of course, though you have to go through a lot of sketchy stuff.
    Hard to find in that range good cabs, merlots other than bordeaux, zins, and shirazes but probably doable. The herbaceous and/or grapy-jammy weaklings wind up going to the cooking deglaze bottle.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    Haven't tried those two, but have had some perfectly decent Clos du Bois whites from Trader Joe's- $12-$15 sounds about right. Don't worry about where where you find decent wine at a decent price- grocery store or not. When you do find a good deal, but a case and stash it in a reasonably cool place. Reds should hold up for at least five years, whites for maybe one or two.
    Edit: "Good" wine is what you like, nothing more, nothing less. There is absolutely not a direct correlation between price and quality, once you get above, say maybe $20 or so. The price/quality curve is usually fairly well correlated up to $18-$20 or so, and from the on up it really flattens out, to a point where you are paying for an "ego trip", bragging rights, or maybe collectivity, to give Gundlach the benefit of the doubt.
    There are exceptional specialty wines of course- limited harvests from a small vineyard plot, and that type of thing. But for everyday use with dinner, $12-$15 should be just fine.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    I'll concede to your experience Old Joe.
    I'm only a few years into wine. But, always find both the Red Rouge and Cab from Clos du Bois (Senoma County) pleasant. Retails for $12-$15 and can be had for $10. I realize this is grocery store level stuff and may have come from anywhere before they branded it. But, to my inexperienced taste, it's pretty decent.
    If you've heard of the brand, your (always) blunt appraisal is appreciated. :)
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    We drink wine every night with dinner. Personally, I've done so since I was eight years old. (Yes, that's "eight",not "eighteen".) I must mildly disagree with the $10/"decent" threshold mentioned above... IMHO it's closer to $15 for good wine (at least here in northern CA), though some decent reds from southern Italy can be found at Trader Joe's for under $5.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    Not so fast. Gundlach's pretty bright and probably bought the wine as an investment.
    http://www.wineinvestment.com/wine-investment/alternative-investments/
    "The term ‘alternative investments’ is relatively loose, and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, art, wine, antiques, coins and stamps, plus some financial assets such as property, venture capital, funds and trusts.
    "Investing in wine, whether that be a rare bottle, a case of highly-regarded First Growths or an entire cellar, has consistently yielded decent low-risk returns. In fact, for the last 50 years the fine wine market has remained stable, despite the world’s economic crises ..."

    Agree with @Mark. Wine around here's often on sale at 20-30% below list. Some stores offer an additional 10% off if you buy 4. You can almost always find decent tasting Californias for around $10.
  • DoubleLine's Gundlach Sues California Wine Merchant Over Bogus Bordeaux
    I certainly enjoy good wine, but the whole idea of spending $15,000 on a bottle of wine (times 67 bottles!) is absurd. Think of what that could do for a homeless shelter, food pantry, after-school program, arts organizations, and other charitable endeavors.
  • Three Rise As A $10B Fund Firm's Chief Transfers Power: Mairs & Power Funds
    FYI: The chief of a $9.6-billion-AUM, Midwestern mutual fund shop is
    passing the reins at the end of the year, and a trio of other
    executives there are on the rise
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.mfwire.com/common/artprint2007.asp?storyID=56746&wireid=2
    M*: Mairs & Power Family Of funds:
    http://quicktake.morningstar.com/fundfamily/mairs-power/0C00001YS1/fund-list.aspx
  • Rondure fund holdings
    According to my rough calculations 11.65 % of the Rondure Overseas Fund's holdings are also in the Rondure New World Fund, but these stocks do not make up equal portions of the two funds. (One will have a smaller position in a commonly held stock than the other). Doing it the other way I found that 9.89 % of the New World Fund can be found (not in equal proportion) in the Overseas Fund. Since I own shares of the Grandeur Peak Global Stalwarts Fund I also calculated that 15.66% of the Overseas Fund's holdings can also be found in the GP Global Stalwarts Fund (in a different proportion) and 14.6% of the holdings of the New World Fund are also in the GP Global Stalwarts Fund (in a different proportion.) The overlap of stocks between the two Rondure funds does *not* coincide with the overlap between either Rondure Fund and Grandeur Peak Global Stalwarts.
    I was not able to calculate the proportion of stocks in Global Peak Global Stalwarts that are also in a Rondure Fund. It seems to be small proportion.
  • Rondure fund holdings
    For those interested, full holdings for both funds (as of 5/31) have been posted...
    rondureglobal.com/holdings/rosix-rosox
    rondureglobal.com/holdings/rnwix-rnwox
  • Tobacco Stocks Are Flaming Out
    Tobacco stocks may be the best investment since 2002, and for the next 50 years...but as an ex-smoker and heart attack survivor, I will pass. I refuse to make money from purveyors of cancer and pulmonary disease. Sorry for the buzz kill.
  • Tobacco Stocks Are Flaming Out

    RAI got bought recently by British Tobacco, didn't they? Not sure when the symbol stops being traded, though.
    I didn't notice Reynolds American Inc (RAI) in the article. But I checked Yahoo, and RAI is down about 2.25%.