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'll say no. Whatever effect it may have (given how healthcare has done, it would appear to be positive) has already played out, given all of the discussion over time since it was first announced. Healthcare is going to be effected at some point by …
Reply to @catch22: "I personally don't find a problem with slow growth, but that is not what the central bank economic policies are or have been based upon for many decades. If growth is only 1-2% per year, something must be broken somewhere. WHY? "…
I don't think this time period ends well - monetary experiments on a massive scale have usually not in history. I do believe that there is currently more inflation than what is being reported and monetary policy risks more significant inflation. I c…
Reply to @Charles: " Getting punished by SCHN. "
Bummer. I thought about getting into Cliffs Nat Resources convertible preferred yielding over 9%, but just didn't move on it for whatever reason. In terms of HCP, I'd also look at VTR (HCP is a fine …
Reply to @Ted: Oh, the decision still certainly has hurdles. If it is still denied, to me it just makes the existing pipeline operators that more appealing from the standpoint of you have dominant companies who will have a lock on the industry. If t…
Canadian dollar at something like a 4 year low. People can look at Transcanada (TRP), Enbridge (ENB), Gibson (GBNXF.PK), InterPipeline (IPPLF), Enbridge Income Fund (EBGUF.PK), Vermilion (VET), Crescent Point (CPG), Pembina (PBA) and others. All of …
Reply to @JedClampett: "Didn't realize posting this kind of thing was offensive, so back to lurking..."
No need to go back to lurking. I don't know if you offended anyone. (?)
Reply to @equalizer: I see a five cent spread between bid/ask on ALFA. Long-term, I'd rather be in ALFA than GURU. I'm not in either, but that's my view.
Reply to @bnath001: I'd pick one and put a little money in it with the idea that it's a long-term holding, because stocks like this are incredibly volatile in the short-term.
Additionally, I agree with Cman's comments below.
Reply to @hank: What % of households rely on some form of government assistance?
http://www.census.gov/how/infographics/government_benefits.html
About 50% is high, but not as high as I'd expected.
I completely agree with your comments.
Reply to @bee: It is pretty remarkable - they need the infrastructure, but it's probably a matter of dealing with a ton of regulations. As I've noted before, I continue to like energy infrastructure and rails - they aren't going to be building more …
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: "The Windows Phones have been slow to take off but they had some catch up to do --- but their quality has been pretty good at least from the Nokia line of phones. I switched my wife's phone from a Windows Nokia phone …
Ted's link to a Sarcastic Gamer video also reminded me: whatever happened to the original Microsoft Surface? When it was a giant table instead of a poorly selling tablet?
Sarcastic gamer parody vid: Microsoft Surface
XBOX is a success though, an…
Anything is better than Ballmer, but I'd rather be in Qualcomm (QCOM) - which I do own and consider a very long-term holding - or a few other tech co's than MSFT.
Was MSFT a disaster under Ballmer? No, but it was like having Cramer as the head of…
My question remains what happens when all of the things they need to import (energy being a big one) become all the more expensive? Maybe bullish from an investment standpoint, but whether it's sustainable is questionable and I just don't think a lo…
All of these hedge fund managers who think they can be retailers. Ackman (Borders, Target and then JCP) and Eddie Lampert's horrendous handling of Sears.
Reply to @JohnChisum: Watching "Counting Cars" the other day and they were looking for an old part. Finding the actual old part: a grand. Printing it on a 3D printer. About $100. Stuff like that (and a lot of other things) are really potentially int…
Uh, what? Maybe an ETF, but a mutual fund? I think 3D printing is awfully interesting, but I think this mutual fund 1:) makes me wonder if the time for 3D printing in terms of investing is over and 2:) I just don't see this having interest and would…
Reply to @rono: Exactly. I think there are smaller businesses that are figuring out what the consumer wants and actually being competitive. I do think you will see a fair amount of major retailers go away - sadly, Sears and JCP are probably among th…
I don't disagree with a fair amount of what Williams has said, but he's sort of Hussmaning. I think people should devote a good deal of their portfolio to companies that can fare well in inflation - core needs, healthcare, real estate, "toll road" s…
While we're on the subject of funds that disappointed because they didn't do better than the S & P, can we talk about the Merger (MERFX) fund? I mean, that really lagged the S & P last year.
In all seriousness, I agree with what BobC said …
Reply to @PopTart: Thanks! The whole thing appeals to me from the "toll road" standpoint, similar to say, the oil pipelines or even the rails. I see companies like FIS, V, MA and others as the "rails" of money. For example, in terms of FIS, In 2012,…
Reply to @PopTart: I am looking at MA as well, and may start a position in that in the coming days. I think Visa is more reasonable and underperformed in 2013 (by comparison, it still certainly did well.)
I like the pure "toll roads" (MA, V) more g…
Reply to @cman: You can participate as well with Icahn Enterprises (IEP), although it is an MLP and Icahn owns something like 93% of the float. Institutions make up a lot of the rest, with only a few % public. It is definitely not a very liquid stoc…
Reply to @Ted: No. Ridiculous salaries do have something to do with it, while people have instead decided to watch sports in their man caves on bigger and bigger TVs and go to Costco to get cheaper drinks and snacks.
Minor league games are still th…
Reply to @willmatt72: Wouldn't be a bad choice. I am a fan, despite some inconsistency at times, of Ivy Asset Strategy (WASCX), which does have the ability to hedge and is flexible in terms of assets and in terms of what parts of the world they may…
Reply to @cman: The technology already exists, although it's not widely used. You can see Visa Paywave (http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/card_technology/paywave.html) or Mastercard Paypass (http://www.mastercard.us/cardholder-services/paypass-loca…
Reply to @JohnChisum: Thanks for your comments! :)
I use my Nexus (4 and now 5) for NFC buying at CVS and Walgreens, as well as some other places. Very cool, very quick and very easy - bring up the app, hold the phone over the point of sale termina…
I bought the Nexus 5 (Google-branded LG phone) the other day. I have nothing against Apple, I think they make excellent products, but I can buy a Nexus 5 with 5 inch 1080p HD screen and quad core processor for around $200 or so (Nexus 5 is $349 16GB…
SPY w/RSI of 34.91 on the daily chart. DIA at 32.83. QQQ at 43. IWM at 39. I'd say getting to oversold, but not "solidly oversold." However, like cman notes, "oversold" and "overbought" are not well-defined.
Edited to add: Apple -6% AH after disapp…
Reply to @cman: Exactly. I also agree with David's list above, and think #4 definitely plays a part. Investors seem to have very little interest in individual EM stocks - I'd say in the US, investment in EM is probably done 90-95% via funds.
The only Pimco fund I would sell at this point (although I'm sure most have already) is Pimco Global Multi-Asset. It was discussed that El-Erian was going to take a hands-on role in that fund, but now that clearly isn't going to happen, so you have …
