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.
Mainstay's PR holdings, last I read their commentary, were all insured debt, in contrast to Opp'heimer. The 1m total returns reflect the difference: MMHAX -0.59%, OPTAX -2.65%, ORNAX -2.88%. M* shows the HY muni fund category with a -0.60% return fo…
That's a sweet one, Bee. My '87 Toyota p/u turns 30 on Halloween. I'd pay up for a new one just like it (well, maybe a hybrid gas-elec this time), and be good on motor vehicles for the rest of my days -- but they stopped selling anything similar in …
Okay, since we're off topic anyway, I'll add that my dad took me to my first MLB game - the first Colt .45 game, in '62, an offensive show against the Cubs. The one mental picture left is Al Spangler's triple to the corner in right in the bottom of …
I recently wrote them about the faulty stock/fund search box at the top of every M* page (on the old site), and received a reply that M* is no longer fixing problems on the old site, in order to concentrate on the beta site.
Beta's still under con…
RNWIX holdings as of 7/31:
72% Emerging
14% US (Total of 6 holdings, two being Carnival Corp Lines and Royal Caribbean)
6% Frontier
6% Foreign Developed
2% Cash
For anyone who's interested, I spoke to Rondure Cust Svc the other day to ask when…
Per the Aug 31 stats, those are the four, and discretionary is the laggard. My question is why it wasn't knocked out by the poor momentum factor. Was energy the other sector in the top-5 value department, and so it was the one knocked out instead of…
If you haven't observed the Seven Sisters through a pair of good imaged-stabilized binoculars, you're missing a treat.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades
Tennyson (quote's in the Wiki piece):
Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro…
By some cosmic coincidence, I just went window shopping at an online medical supply store -- and then I checked out the account registration page, which proudly displays an "Equifax Secure Site" mini-banner. I hope they're re-evaluating their securi…
Had an inkling it might be the same Morgan Cr. James Taylor made semi-famous in his song "Copperline," and it is ... song's a memoir of growing up half a mile from said creek, before it was "all spec house and plywood, tore up and tore up good." Kin…
Good stuff, Hank.
Speaking of earlier NASA work, there is a fantastic, outstanding new documentary out on Voyager. Was on PBS this past week, repeats on Sept. 13, and can be streamed here.
Carl Sagan's lines about Earth as "a mote of dust suspen…
Al on M* brought this up; according to his post, "institutional" means not listed on an exchange. (I know nada about buying preferred shares retail, so I'm no help on this.)
Why not ACWI?
VMV's got more small & mid caps, and it's currency hedged. ACWV (which I think you're referring to, the min vol option) is mostly large caps, and not currency hedged. I assume the hedging difference is what's mainly responsible for…
And there I thought it must be a Josh-ism about dancing a while with evidence till you figure out what's significant about it, or something like that ....
@davidmoran, just checked and we do indeed have a BoA in these parts now - apparently not until fairly recently - out in the sprawl zone. Have not seen/heard of significant local contributions, which banks in particular tend to advertise loudly and …
Most people have access to a locally or regionally owned brick-n-mortar bank or CU; there's no reason to have $ with any mega-bank, including WFC. Local/regionals in my experience are far more customer- and community-oriented.
The one where I bank,…
Considering that it's up ~ 65% ytd, I'd say it's about time to take some profits. Sorry I missed the run - was waiting for it to dip below $200 ~ Feb, and it never did.
The millennials I come in contact with on a regular basis are startup farmers (for urban and semi-urban markets) and are working their asses off, and wouldn't have time for a frappuccino even if they wanted one.
Thanks, fundalarm, didn't think you had anything against it, just checking on composition per your earlier post. It does have a bit more HY and non-U.S. developed than PDI. (Still have a relative lot of PDI here, less of PCI.)
The HY corp spread is within 20 basis points of a 10-year low: definitely not a bargain at these levels. Some of the multi-sector funds many of us own have small allocations to HY, which imho is plenty, for now, with the valuations so stretched.
Yeah, a few decent tips in there. Not sure I could bring myself to invest in something called Chimera Preferreds tho - might turn out to be too much like its namesake: "a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination; a vain or idle fancy."
In the "he gets it" department, Grantham's also the founder/benefactor of the climate research institute named for him at LSE: http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/
Nice job on the Evermore fund. I sit here wondering why I didn't put some $ into it when I first caught wind of it; value trap possibilities may have been the reason (?). Anyone here invested in it, with additional insights to offer?
Good, thanks. I called a month or so ago and was told not to expect full holdings disclosure until after the end of Q3. Sure hope the right hand knows what the left hand is doing in this new joint venture.
Sorry to keep beating the horse Zinke rode in on (yes, on his first day at his new job at Interior), but I can't pass up posting this summary from WaPo's Daily 202 blog:
"Murkowski ... took it one step further and demonstrated that she has more le…
@Old Joe, you got it. I saw a copy of his first address to DOI employees, and it was remarkably disjointed, off topic, and weird; he is a strange bird for sure.
Of all of the amazing things the past few days, the Murkowski affair provided (for me, anyway) the biggest LOL moments. The hamhanded Zinke threatening the senator who chairs the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over his agency's nominations a…
A totally reasonable position:
"We are basically overweight investment-grade credit. We have reduced ... our exposure to high yield. We have ... eliminated our exposure to bank loans. We have a small position in preferred stocks.
"We're starting …
@msf, hope you got to Tasmania; beautiful, friendly, great parks and reserves. But since it's winter there, and more temperate than subtropical/tropical like the rest of the country, you may not have; if not, it's definitely worth another trip.
Ri…
It's their own calculation, but the source I usually go to is ECRI, which publishes weekly leading indicators. Most of the site is paid subscriber only, but the free content is plenty for most of us duffers.
Here's the explanation of their approach.
