Hi @Junkster
Yowie, eh?
IOFIX = +29.9%
PIMIX = +13.4%

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?PIMIX,IOFIX&n=521&O=011000
I double checked the performance math against M* and indicates correct.
I have not reviewed IOFIX magic sauce, although it appears they use "special tools", too.
Disappointed that the web site for the fund has not been updated for 1 year. Suppose the folks are too busy running the algo's.
Take care,
Catch

Thanks Mark "catch22" no special sauce/derivatives/leverage just non agency RMBS. One of the fund managers (Brian Loo) gave me a long tutorial on the niche they operate in. The link below is a current fact sheet from the company. Hopefully few here will rush out and buy because of its high expense ratio and the toxic assets they specialize in. The last thing I want is for this to become a "groupthink" fund because then the party may be over. Anyway I mentioned this back in March so why buy it now? Hopefully some of the bond cognoscente here can steer everyone away from this fund - just as they would have done at the beginning of the year.
http://alphacentricfunds.com/funds/IncomeOpp/FactSheet.pdf

Hi @Junkster
Yowie, eh?
IOFIX = +29.9%
PIMIX = +13.4%

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?PIMIX,IOFIX&n=521&O=011000
I double checked the performance math against M* and indicates correct.
I have not reviewed IOFIX magic sauce, although it appears they use "special tools", too.
Disappointed that the web site for the fund has not been updated for 1 year. Suppose the folks are too busy running the algo's.
Added: Relative to 14 day RSI (Relative Strength Index) with 70 being the edge of "too hot" and 30 being the "everyone has sold" (value), IOFIX has been at about 97 since day one, with a small down blip of a few points.
Take care,
Catch

I'll let the chart "speak".
PTIAX vs PONDX, from August, 31, 2010 ( PTIAX inception) to date which includes distributions for total return for the time period.
PONDX = 74.5%
PTIAX = 47.8%
Moving through time periods of the chart finds there were periods when either fund slightly outperformed the other; but the total return for the period tells the story, yes?

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?PTIAX,PONDX&n=1713&O=011000
Regards,
Catch

@ron: Look at these.
Regards,
Ted
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/rankings/allocation-30-to-50-equity

The 1Q average duration of PTIAX is 8.2 yrs. The duration is 5.03 yrs.

According to Investopedia investopedia.com/ask/answers/030415/, both the Fed and the IMF have tested stocks and oil and found little correlation. While there are periods when one appears to lead the other, over time they are not connected in a predictable way.

“There are no easy solutions when investing in an overvalued market. Every strategy has its flaws. The trick for investors in this situation is to find a strategy they can stick with no matter what happens in the markets. No one can predict the future, but you can plan how you will react under different scenarios.”
My emphasis.
Roughly 10,000 people retire each day – or roughly 3,650,000 each year.
My guess is that >90% of them are unaware of the market’s Sequence of Returns.

Situation Assumption -
Assume that it’s June and that your friend (age 65) is about to retire at the end of the year with a portfolio of $600,000. (The actual amount is anything he believes is sufficient to be adequate for his retirement.) His mortgage is paid and he has $3,000 in credit card debt.
He has a 60/40 or 50/50 allocation of vanilla mutual funds in a 401k and $10,000 in cash. He has booked a cruise in January for his family and plans to buy a new car that he will keep for the next ten years.
The market starts to fall dramatically. By November it’s down 25% and sliding.
He asks your advice.
Based upon “find a strategy they can stick with no matter what happens in the market”, what do you tell him?

FYI: Bitcoin is kicking sand in the face of traditional investments. Between July 1, 2013 and June 13, 2017, it gained 3,130 percent. To put that in perspective, it took Vanguard’s S&P 500 thirty years (from its 1976 inception) to make investors that much money.
Regards,
Ted
https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/bitcoin-gains-174-percent-in-just-six-months-should-it-be-part-of-your-portfolio

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/842436/000139834417007827/fp0026362_497.htm
497 1 fp0026362_497.htm
ALPINE EMERGING MARKETS REAL ESTATE FUND
A SERIES OF ALPINE EQUITY TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED JUNE 22, 2017
TO THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUS, PROSPECTUS AND
STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
DATED FEBRUARY 28, 2017
On June 22, 2017, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Alpine Emerging Markets Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”), a series of Alpine Equity Trust (the “Trust”), determined to terminate and wind up the Fund.
Terminating and winding up the Fund requires approval by a “majority of the outstanding voting securities” of the Fund, as defined in the Trust’s Declaration of Trust, and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. A Special Meeting to vote on this is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2017. If approved by shareholders, the Fund is expected to cease operations shortly after the Special Meeting.
Alpine Woods Capital Investors, LLC, the Fund’s investment adviser, will bear all of the expenses associated with the Special Meeting, including, among other things, legal fees for the preparation and filing of the proxy materials, the mailing of proxy materials and other solicitation expenses.
Effective June 22, 2017, the Fund will no longer sell shares to new investors or existing shareholders, including through exchanges into the Fund from other Alpine mutual funds. Shareholders may exchange their Fund shares for shares of the same class of any other fund in the Alpine family without redemption fees as described in the Fund’s Prospectus.
Shareholders of the Fund who redeem their shares prior to the completion of the liquidation will be redeemed in the ordinary course at the Fund’s net asset value per share. Each shareholder who remains in the Fund will receive a liquidating distribution equal to the aggregate net asset value of the shares of the Fund that such shareholder then holds.
Shareholders should consult with their tax adviser about any tax consequence as a result of the liquidation.
This supplement does not constitute a solicitation of any vote or approval. Any such solicitation will be made by a proxy statement containing important information about the Fund and the liquidation, which investors are urged to read carefully in its entirety when it becomes available. When available, the proxy statement and any other relevant documents will be accessible, free of charge, on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 1-888-785-5578.
Please retain this Supplement for future reference.

Morn'in @LLJB @davidrmoran
Yes, of course, some of this is about the "machines/algos". But, the humans in charge set the parameters and I am sure have an "override button" in place to alter the algos.
Relative to the simple side for we retail investors and "timing" methods.
I am reminded (based upon my time in the markets) when Fidelity introduced their "Select Funds". One (for a period of time) could trade the select funds at the top of every hour. This became too disruptive to the funds, and this option was removed.
A carryover for we retail investors was the evolution of momentum trading of these select funds. Numerous folks via mail and electronic web sites produced their views for choosing the rotation in and out of the best 4 select funds via Fidelity. These methodologies still exist today. These methods remind me of the choices being made by the managers at DSENX or PONDX, although at a very sublime level.
One can imagine the chatter in the offices of the quant, long-short, market neutral and the hedgies or related similar operations trying to figure out how to come close to returns from the likes of DSENX or even PONDX.
I have not checked, but I suspect most of the " quant, long-short, market neutral and the hedgies or related similar operations" have not matched returns with PONDX. One can almost hear the screams of despair at the meetings of "why can't we outperform a multi-sector bond fund?". :)
ADD: 5 year annualized average returns, except DSEEX (only 3 years available). A very few long/short, managed futures, market neutral and multi-alternative did surpass PIMIX , but the majority performed poorly. One would have needed the luck of the draw to have a winner in this group to even perform above the current low inflation rate.
---DSEEX / DSENX = 14.5%
---PIMIX / PONDX = 8.3%
---long/short = 6.6%
---multi-alternative = 3.3%
---managed futures = 1.1%
---market neutral = .8%
ADD 2: Hedge funds (various types) data 2015-2017, scroll down page for data
http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/05/hedge-funds-return-an-average-of-0-66-in-april-2017/
Well, anyway; per my original write is that currently, the funds noted are on a "Magical Mystery Tour" providing profits to the investors at a most reasonable cost.
Take care,
Catch

First: to GROK
[Coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his Stranger in a Strange Land.]
grok (ɡrɒk)
vb
to understand completely and intuitively
>>> K. I understand weaker or weakening crude prices if demand is greatly reduced and/or if supply becomes excessive. I also understand why any given active managed fund or broad based index is affected in some downward pricing of the energy sector based upon the percentage of holdings relative to energy companies within the fund, index or etf.
During a vacation period in July of 2007, we paid the highest ever price for a gallon of gasoline in Michigan, at $4.25/gallon. While driving in the central part of the yesterday found prices around $2.15/gallon to be the normal. Relative to a recent addition of 7 cents/gallon of Michigan tax; the price is $2.08/gallon versus one year ago.
So, how and why do lower crude oil prices bother the broad equity markets? One may tv view or read articles to the aspect of, " U.S. Stocks Struggle To Pull Out Of Oil-Driven Selloff".
Is this "equity selloff or struggle" related to old habits of patterns from the past and the big players just can't throw off old habits OR are the big players just playing and/or finding an excuse to take profits?
Except for profits of energy related companies and potential layoffs of their employees, I am attempting to discover why lower energy prices are "bad for an economy".
OR, is the economy really in sad condition?
Help me understand !!!
An overview of the good and bad relative to cheap crude oil from a January, 2016 article.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/cheap-oil-good-consumers-so-why-it-slamming-stocks-n500696
Michigan gas prices from 2006 through 2017: One needs to select/choose the "11 year" tab above the graph.
http://www.michigangasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx
Thank you and regards,
Catch

Yeah, you're right and that was part of my point. The majority of the return is driven by a formula. But the bonds, aside from delivering an income stream, can still work better or worse with that formula to provide a smoother ride and to 'help' the equity return more. For instance, if 25% of your equity is in technology then maybe the corporate bond exposure can work really well with the equity exposure or maybe it doesn't based on the it's own sector allocation.
On a tangent, don't you think someone should be able to front run DSENX? The calculations involve a lot of historical data but Barclay's has been very transparent about how they're doing those calculations. When a sector choice changes it's a billion dollars out of one sector and into another at this point and that's a big number compared to the volume even in the most active sectors and even if they're spreading their trading over several days. My very rough estimate is almost 2 full days of average volume for the most active sectors. In my mind that should provide an arbitrage opportunity.

Impressive - hybrid robo and human advisory with $50K minimum and 30 basis point.

Performance has recovered since the rough patch in 2015. Still prefer Pimco Income bond fund.

Hi @Maurice
A visual of the two funds since inception of EVBAX:
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?LSBRX,EVBAX&n=1105&O=011000
Take care,
Catch

We use TGBAX as a core hold in many accounts, with GSDIX for some larger accounts. Although TGBAX is not EM per se, Hasenstab uses a lot of EM currencies and has not been afraid of owning EM bonds (currently about 60%). It is clearly the "chicken" way to own some EM bonds. We have used FNMIX some in the past, and really like the manager. Should we be in a prolonged dollar slide, a local-currency fund like GIMDX could be advantageous (and it has done well YTD), and we have used it in the past under those circumstances. Unfortunately, M* lumps dollar and local funds together, skewing the dollar-based funds much higher because of the dollar's recent strength. I do not see much attraction for DELNX. The very low yield does not compensate me for the EM risk.

What do you think of a fund like PFSIX? I have been considering an EM bond fund also, but am hoping for a fund that is a combination of both dollar hedged and local currency (hopefully the holdings would be strategic based on how the managers see the currencies moving in the different countries it is invested in). PFSIX is currently divided between the underlying 3 individual funds (50% local currency bond, 26.5% dollar hedged bond, and 22% corporate bond, which I believe can be both dollar hedged and local currency depending on the managers views). Rather than having to choose one or the other, do you or anybody know of any other EM bond funds that invest in both dollar hedged and local currency?

My quick observation is that the three strategies may end up cancelling each other out. Then, as I look at the fund's three-year number of -0.45%, perhaps that is exactly what has happened? Perhaps not, but in the face of a strong dollar, this three-pronged strategy faces a lot of headwinds.

Thanks Bob. Pimco recently had a video that they saw better opportunity in local currency right now, but I might play it safe and go with dollar hedged. I'm thinking about possibly going with FNMIX.

FYI: Investors should consider these defensive fixed-income moves while the markets await a secular rise in interest rates, says Kathleen C. Gaffney, co-director of diversified fixed-income and a portfolio manager at Eaton Vance. She spoke at the 3rd Annual Invest in Women Conference.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.fa-mag.com/news/bond-market-is-on-tenterhooks-33350.html?section=110

Agreed, Ted. But hey, it gets people to click on the link! ;/

@MFO Members: "Investors Are Swarming" is somewhat misleading. The fund's inception date was 2/11/13, and with just 194.5 million in assets I don't think you could call that swarming.
Regards,
Ted

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946110/000110465917040561/a17-15532_1497.htm
497 1 a17-15532_1497.htm DEFINITIVE MATERIALS
Supplement to the Statutory Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information
CREDIT SUISSE EMERGING MARKETS EQUITY FUND
The following information supersedes certain information in the fund's Statutory Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
On June 7, 2017, the Board of Trustees (the "Board") of Credit Suisse Opportunity Funds (the "Trust") approved a Plan of Liquidation, Dissolution and Termination (the "Plan") for Credit Suisse Emerging Markets Equity Fund (the "Fund"), a series of the Trust, whereby the assets of the Fund would be liquidated and the Fund subsequently dissolved.
IN LIGHT OF THE BOARD'S DECISION, SHARES OF THE FUND ARE NO LONGER BEING OFFERED EFFECTIVE JUNE 8, 2017.
The liquidation of the Fund, originally scheduled for June 23, 2017, has been delayed due to a delay in the repatriation of cash associated with one of the Fund's emerging markets positions. The Fund expects such cash repatriation to be delayed by up to several weeks and the Fund's liquidation will be delayed until the cash is received. In anticipation of the previously scheduled liquidation date of June 23, 2017, the Fund's portfolio has been converted to cash and shareholders can continue to redeem their shares at net asset value on any business day at any time prior to the Fund's expected future liquidation date. Any shareholder remaining in the Fund as of the new liquidation date will be entitled to receive a distribution in an amount equal to the net asset value of his/her shares as of such date. Each shareholder may also receive unpaid income dividends and capital gain distributions. The liquidation of the Fund is expected to have tax consequences for a shareholder. Shareholders of the Fund should consider consulting with their tax advisers to determine any tax consequences and may wish to redeem their Fund shares prior to such liquidation date. A previous notice describing the Plan and the liquidation and dissolution of the Fund was mailed to shareholders.
Dated: June 21, 2017
16-0617
for
CS-PRO
EME-SUMPRO
2017-002

@MFO Members: "Investors Are Swarming" is somewhat misleading. The fund's inception date was 2/11/13, and with just 194.5 million in assets I don't think you could call that swarming.
Regards,
Ted