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.
I'd add that semi-odd-duck GLFOX has started to show some signs of life after a rare period of underperformance. Classed as infrastructure, half utes, half industrials, 3/4 Europe, 30% midcaps ... It's US$ hedged, so the flattening out of the buck l…
An important qualifier to the Giroux comments on utilities begins at 17:08. He emphasizes that he's not talking about traditional utes as they exist today, but as they're certain to evolve over the time frame he's talking about -- to include more re…
Began buying back CEFs in Feb, but as a much smaller part of the port (so far) than 2016-H1/2017: KIO, PDI, PFN so far, looking to add PCI and possibly BGB or BGX on a bit more of a dip.
Lots of muni CEFs look cheap per discounts and z's, but larg…
Yes, no argument with any of what you wrote. My point was that the broad LW agreement between Fidelity and Pimco essentially rendered moot the account by account clause in the conversion notice for Fidelity customers. Of course Pimco and Fidelity we…
I spoke at length with a Pimco rep in early March about the conversion, mainly because the wording in one of the clauses seemed to be aimed at grandfathering accounts, not funds. The rep confirmed that was the case; in his words, the account in whic…
UMBC might have a decent chance of making it into the 16 - playing K-State. That is, unless the VA game was the game of their lives.
Buffalo didn't make it, but they did well, really even in that KY game they lost by 20. The KY not-really-students…
@AndyJ ...Stayed up 'till midnight watching Buffalo clobber mighty Arizona. If you haven't seen the Bulls play, they are a fun team to watch. Much more so than the Orange.
Saw it, @MikeM; first time I even knew there was a Buffalo U. or whatever it …
@MikeM, love that Syracuse zone. Duke used a really spread-out, active 3-2 today against Iona. Not the whole game like Syracuse, but they really play it well, just like the Orange guys.
@OldJoe, you're right, I'm having trouble getting used to the new reality. You'd think I'd have adapted during Bush II, with its "we make our own reality" unreality.
ISTM that this writer and ETF.com are muddling together various concepts. The writer talks about ESG, but uses a supposed SRI ("socially responsible") database, which in turn throws everything in.
@msf, I think that's exactly right, judging by the…
Very fishy article. I scanned through it, and an unknown (to me) "fossil fuel free" etf (BLES) listed as owning Petrobras jumped out as particularly egregious, so checked it - and the writer is completely out to lunch.
BLES is a Xian-themed fund; …
"Encore" at WT means "repeat." The PBS program last week and this were repeats of Hyman & McLennan's January (2018) two-part (U.S. and international) annual outlook interviews. (I always wonder why PBS shows reruns during a significant chunk of …
@ooby, I looked back at the wording in the REDWX writeup, and it refers to avoiding the energy "sector," which in the conventional breakdown is made up of FF companies. Renewables are scattered around various sectors - mostly as tech, but also utili…
I'd owned GLFOX for a few years, until it began to lose momentum middle of last year, then sold it and put the $ into ARTGX.
If I still had it in the port, I'd think about holding at least some of the position for now to see what happens in the ne…
Just saw in their new prospectus (Jan. 31, '18) that they've changed the wording around currency hedging from "The Fund may hedge ...." to "The fund generally hedges a significant portion ...." (emphasis mine)
Leaving little doubt, apparently, that…
Hi Bitzer, that'd be the expectation from the way they're built, and it's the way it worked the only down quarter for the S&P (Q3 2015) since both funds have been around.
L/S is M/N + a long overlay, about 50%, which if I recall right is varia…
@davfor, you're right on the money about MCRDX. The only investment grade FI in the portfolio is that sliver in BBB-, the lowest IG rating. Everything else is below IG, not rated, or cash (12%).
T. Kong's rollout communication emphasized U.S. doll…
Hi Bud, I have two "alt" equity funds, a L/S and a M/N, that have done very well in the few years I've owned them. The M/N fund in particular I've found valuable in "nothing's working" markets; it's got the volatility of bonds, but typically beats g…
ARTKX is close with 30.11% loss, but you already own ARTGX managed by the same managers.
Is ARTKX open again? It's been closed to new investors for years, and M* still shows it that way. Recent announcement?
If I understand correctly, they're closing class D. So it's not about savings, it's about making the funds load only, unless you can afford the institutional class. Is that right?
Yes. The language in Pimco's supplement seems to make that clear. But…
Top Holdings SFHYX
Holding, Weight %
Payb Lord Abbett Fl. - 34.10
Recv Lord Abbett Fl. 34.08
Recv Semper Mbs Total 31.13
Payb Semper Mbs Total - 31.04
Looks to be long and s…
A view of the industry as a whole and the effects of the tariffs here. Note they're certain to be appealed to the WTO, and that China is not the only Asian country involved. The actual manufacture of "Chinese" panels is spread around several differe…
Agreed that it's to each his own, @MikeM. What I object to is the authoritarian in chief telling others what to do in no uncertain terms, when it's clear he doesn't understand anything about them.
One other minor point: category returns aren't espe…
Hey Ted, since you opened the door to cherry-picking data points, how about this one from 2015:
SPX +1.38
QLENX +16.79
The 15%+ difference was a lot of money!
This isn't a bad point for a retail or any other investor to be looking for hedged equ…
The AQR long short equity fund QLEIX looks pretty good but it is closed and just has a 3 year history.
Not that it matters, since it's not available to new investors, but it's been around 4 1/2 years and will hit 5 in July. (Even some L/S funds wi…
I would use Pimco's PMZIX in my own accounts if I felt the need to hold cash-plus - i.e., an emergency fund for large unexpected expense where I'd tolerate small changes in NAV. (Run pretty much absolute-value-ish, 3y SD 1.2, 3y Sort 7.1, negative d…
If I were to invest in commodities, I'd buy DBC ....
This ETF has been on a big upswing since mid-2017, so a purchase today might not be timely. It certainly would not be buying at the bottom. Maybe the momentum will continue.
I have a smidgen of …
I bought DBCMX.
It amazes me how so many people able to buy institutional shares of funds. How???
You can buy any DoubleLine fund's inst shares in an IRA for $5k initial minimum. Since that's Dbl's thing, I'd assume it'd be the same at brokerages -…
It's current; CM reports on full-year 2017 equity results as "last year" in the preamble to the program. She interviews these two guys annually.
These are good sessions - wouldn't miss 'em.
