"One of the most telltale signs of whether it's a competitive jurisdiction is looking at the scoreboard," Reid Bigland, Chrysler Group LLC's head of U.S. sales, said in a Feb. 12 interview.
Canada received less than 5 percent of the $42 billion invested in the North American automotive industry in the last five years, Bigland said. IHS Automotive estimates that Mexico will top Canada as the biggest exporter of cars to the U.S. by 2015.
‘More Competitive'
"Some of these other jurisdictions, Mexico in particular, and the U.S., have become significantly more competitive," he said.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-closing-plant-shows-loonie-110001440.html;_ylt=A0LEVjVOryxTCDMA2lgPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBybnV2cXQwBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--
I bought a little of MXF in the last 10 days
http://www.themexicofund.com/pdfs/p201402.pdf

No. I wouldn't want to go near Brazil/Mexico. If I was, I'd only be interested in Femsa (FMX), Cielo (CIOXY), Ambev (ABEV) and maybe Wal-Mart De Mexico.
Bill Comes Due For Brazil's Middle Class (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304795804579097412611960306
"Part of the problem, some economists say, is that Brazil focused too heavily on policies designed to increase consumption instead of completing ports and roads to help economic production in the long term. Brazilians bought a lot of flat screens during the boom, but the country's ports are still so clogged some ships turn away instead of waiting."

Brazil/Latin Am E T F's lead this week.Precious metals dive.
EWZ
Weekly ETF Gainers / Losers
| 4:15 PM Seeking Alpha
Gainers: EWZ +6.55%. BRF +5.13%. ILF +5.11%. FCG +4.03%. FXI +2..79%.
Losers: GDXJ -10.60%. GDX -7.93%. PSLV -7.03%. VXX -6.66%. SIVR -5.34%.

Lots of meaningless labels. It is musical chairs and the music has stopped for now.
Lots of technical selling as it broke through its resistance as believed by technical traders and programmed in. Front running this behavior would have placed stops at 250-252 for IBB as I had suggested several weeks ago in case it broke the 255 level.
If the markets were to bounce back very bullishly, it may create a reversal for biotech as a rising tide here but the next likely reversal is around another 5% down between 230-235 but if the markets are weak or sideways, may go down to its 200 SMA about 12% down from here where it might be a good buying opportunity for the next cycle. Again, this is not based on any crystal ball powers of TA but rather the herd behavior of technical traders.
Traders will be playing financials until then.

sym,
Its not always only about total return. No doubt DLN is a solid ETF in this space. VIG has lower volatility and went down -26.50 to DTN's -35.9 in 2008. I hold VIG and to add to return in a similar category (but not identical), I have OYEIX.

FYI: I have not linked anything from Seeking Alpha.Com for over a year, and removed it as a bookmark.
Regards,
Ted
Regards,
Ted
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903601104579453152373741292.html?mod=BOL_hp_highlight_1#printModecies

Calculate the total return for DLN and VIG using Yahoo's Adjust Close Price history data,
For the trailing 5 year (3/20/09-3/20/14), the total return are
DLN: 264.25% ~ 1.2164^5
VIG: 244.88% ~ 1.1976^5
If extend the trailing period to the max. of the available Yahoo history data common to both DLN and VIG, 6/16/06-3/20/14, VIG actually has a higher total return as compare to DLN.
DLN: 159.31%
VIG: 178.31%

Probably the smoothest ride I have experienced with any of funds over the long term 5 - 10 years are two utility fund GASFX and TOLSX. I beleive GLFOX is somewhat new "utility/industrials -centric sml cap world fund" worth considering. Utilities seem to be in a sweet spot lately.
What are your favorites?

just thought i'd follow this up, just 'cause i said i would. so ... one day later here's what happened with the three MJ stocks in question, not that it makes any diff in the long run.
erbb: -2.91%
spli: -1.61%
mine: 45.45%

Where are you getting higher pretax returns for DLN? I'm very skeptical this is coming from analysis and is not just some assumption.

M* 5yr annualized (longest period available for these funds):
DLN 21.64% VIG 19.76%
Lipper ratings:
Total return: DLN 5 VIG 4
Consistent return: DLN 3 VIG 4
Tax efficiency: DLN 1 VIG 5

NASA-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for irreversible collapse
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists
"... accumulated surplus is not evenly distributed throughout society, but rather has been controlled by an elite. The mass of the population, while producing the wealth, is only allocated a small portion of it by elites, usually at or just above subsistence levels."
Anybody see a moral/ethical issue here?

Yes, I see a great moral issue here. NASA is taking money from taxpayers by force and using it to produce utter idiocy. Perhaps the Guardian missed the part of the report that called for all NASA employees, most especially the authors of the report, to take immediate 95% cuts in their salaries in order to remove themselves from the 'industrial elite' and drop them down to the median level of the world's workers. Or maybe not.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318342/000139834414001750/fp0009984_497.htm
497 1 fp0009984_497.htm
Jubak Global Equity Fund
A series of Investment Managers Series Trust (the “Trust”)
Supplement dated March 20, 2014 to
Prospectus dated October 1, 2013
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a Plan of Liquidation which authorizes the termination, liquidation and dissolution of the Jubak Global Equity Fund. In order to effect such liquidation, the Fund is closed to all new investment. Shareholders may redeem their shares until the date of liquidation.
The Fund will be liquidated on or about May 29, 2014 (the “Liquidation Date”). On or promptly after the Liquidation Date, the Fund will make a liquidating distribution to each remaining shareholder equal to the shareholder’s proportionate interest in the net assets of the Fund, in complete redemption and cancellation of the Fund’s shares held by the shareholder, and the Fund will be dissolved.
Please contact the Fund at 1-888-885-8225 if you have any questions or need assistance.
Please retain this Supplement with the Prospectus.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000259274&play=1

Hello, Steve999. You don't even need to get as specific as you are getting. The backdrop here is capitalism. It's dirty. It's about supply and demand, not about what's the right thing to do. Capitalism BEGS to be regulated, otherwise a very few become stinking, filthy, sweaty wealthy while most get left behind, eating dust. ...Hmmmm. Wait a minute, that's the way things are NOW, come to think of it! The regulations in place don't even stop the High Rollers from screwing everyone else in order to make money. Corporations just do what they want, and wait to see if MAYBE they get discovered by regulators or Attorneys General who will slap them with a fine that amounts to a slap on the wrist.
...But if you want to survive....... It's the "only game in town." So, in the end, there's no escaping it. At least not HERE in the USA. Everything I read tells me that Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries have a much better idea about how to operate.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=441971712601827&set=a.278989962233337.1073741829.263803127085354&type=1&theater

I define positive momentum as persistent upward movement above a trendline over short, medium and long time frames. The charts below shows GDX over two time frames (long = 7 years) and (short =3 months). By charting and setting some rules I am trying to accept a certain amount of volatility over the short term while trying to capture a short term upward movement spike. For GDX these short term spikes tend to be 20 -30%. The first chart show a number of these periodic short spikes. Regardless to the direction of the long term trend (up or down) these short term spike seem to consistently exist.
My short term rules are:
1. I entry the investment after a "higher lows" trend has been established (I try to confirm this with 5-10 days of data).
2. Any 10% gain is captured as a gain and invested elsewhere.
3. A 10% drop from any rolling new high is a trigger to end the short term investment.
4. I re-entry the investment after a new "higher low" trend has been re-established (again, I try to confirm this with 5-10 days of data).
Here GDX's long term chart showing these many short term "spikes" (a 20-30% movement in these short spikes).

Here's the last three months (25% upward spike movement). Over the short term, GDX has been making "higher lows" in a pretty consistent manner. You can see it has bounced off the trend line I've drawn a number of times over the last 3 months. This week it is testing the short term trend line again and actually seems to have broken through. I am using GDX's price of $25 (which is 10% below its rolling high price of $27.73) as a potential trigger point to close out this momentum play. If it bouces up above the trendline I would be encouraged to hold this position. I'll see how this works out by weeks end.
I would be interested in hearing from others who use a momentum strategy for all or part of your investments (speculations).

I believe the thread with the confusing title was intended as YOUR best 5 funds YTD, not the best funds over the last 5 years. Just one of those forum feel-good pastimes not meant to be taken seriously as fund recommendation.

I could always invest in Vanguards fund VDIGX but with my brokerage account its not a NTF so I'd be hit with a $50 fee anytime I invested more. I dunno....I'm just kicking some ideas around. I never really considered an ETF before but with 10-15K to invest maybe it's not a bad idea. Maybe DLN's tax bill wouldn't be as bad as I initially thought.

Thanks guys. It would be approx. 10-15K. It's not for income. I'd reivest all dividends at some point each year. It's just a way to invest in high quality US multinationals. Companies that for the most part I know, I understand, and feel comfortable with. The companies that each of these ETF's invest in seem to hold up better in down markets than most.

@jlev is right. It is the curse of small numbers.
In any case, the impact of a rate increase is related to the increase in basis points regardless of whether it is at near zero or at 6 percent and the speed with which it increases. 75 basis points in 7 quarters isn't that great an increase and allows the market and economy to adjust with less distortions than the current almost zero rate.
The 125 basis points move in 2016 seems a bit too fast unless they are expecting an accelerating economy with significant inflation pressures. The Fed doing this in an election year seems a bit of a stretch to be credible. My guess is that this is just to set up higher expectations so that the minimal increase to end of 2015 is taken seriously rather than as a very tentative one with the increase having no effect.