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.
Reply to @hank: I think there's a lot that's unsustainable in this country - from rising healthcare costs to rising tuition costs to a society that's based upon spending to the way that many eat and more. In terms of bonds, like many other things, t…
Reply to @hank: " Is that any more "advertising" than newsletters & analysis from Pimco, Oakmark, or Price? (not to mention Hussman's weekly rants:-)"
Everyone is talking their book to some degree, exactly.
Soros called gold "the ultimate bub…
Reply to @hank: I guess the way that I meant it is that - at this point - Hussman will be proven right but in a way that a broken clock is right twice a day. It's not as if he's short subprime bonds and the fund has been doing badly because if shar…
Reply to @hank: Hussman will eventually be proven right, but to what result? Shareholders gradually get back what the fund is down in the last few years? The fund is not positioned to make some sort of massive gain if the market drops - it's not lik…
Reply to @hank: "...can always "find" the needed $$ to carry on a while longer."
"Find", "Print", what's the difference? :-)
I agree that the issue will be pushed further out in the future,but I'm skeptical of any real progress (I don't expect pr…
I covered my nasdaq short yesterday. This is not saying that I do not think that the market could not go down further. It absolutely could, and would not surprise me if it did. However, it isn't likely going straight down and technically, the market…
MBIA $13.25 book according to Yahoo Finance and M* - about half book, similar to BAC, AIG and etc in the tbtf area.
I suppose it's a matter not of whether I think Berkowitz is right or wrong with financials and SHLD as much as I find the idea of a…
Reply to @bee: I'll be occasionally stopping by the board and will respond to anyone who directs a question to me or if I'd like to offer a brief comment on something. I was rather dismayed by aspects of the risk parity thread, and that's part of t…
I'm not going to be commenting much on this board for a while, but I will note that a number of MLPs opened down fairly significantly, then recovered this AM. See LINE (which went positive earlier after being down something like 4% - about 75 min or…
Reply to @Old_Joe: I'll also add that I think the government will solve the fiscal cliff in the end by doing what it does best - kicking the can down the road and throwing money at the problem. I do want to add to a few stocks and funds, but otherw…
I bought a moderate amount of a specific stock yesterday, but otherwise am waiting until lower for adding any more to funds or stocks. I started a light short position yesterday, which I may add to.
Apple down nearly 4% more
Reply to @Charles: Thanks for the comment. :-)
I believe the new AQR Risk Parity funds are the same core strategy, but different. From the AQR website for Risk Parity I (The strategy will dynamically invest in over 60 markets based on the fund man…
Someone else mentioned HQH and HQL as CEF options in terms of health care. They are unique in that they can dip (to considerable degree) into private equity health care names. They also provide a significant yield, although I believe a good deal of…
Reply to @johnN: I own KMR (Kinder Morgan Management), which is an alternate (no K-1) way to invest in Kinder Morgan Partners. Energy Partners is also a good choice in the MLP category, as well.
I think Obama will likely win the election, althoug…
Reply to @johnN: I don't own it, but LNCO (LinnCo) is an interesting oil play, as an alternate (in other words, way that does not generate a K-1 at tax time) way to invest in MLP Linn Energy.
Yields over 7%
http://www.linnco.com/
http://www.linnen…
I find it a tad amusing that Bill Gross is referencing the 1% when he is part of the 0.1%, but otherwise, I've agreed with largely everything he's had to say about the state of the economy and markets in recent months.
Reply to @BenWP: HQH and HQL are quite interesting with their ability to hold some degree of private equity healthcare holdings and significant yields. I don't own them, but they're something I've been looking at. Good pick.
In terms of a (very) partial play on housing, STWD has been buying foreclosed homes ("Through his publicly traded Starwood Property Trust Inc. (STWD), Sternlicht has been buying foreclosed homes to rent as he waits for greater price appreciation. T…
Reply to @MJG: " Cramer was not a major Wall Street player, his assertions to the contrary. He was a minor league ball player in that pantheon."
Well, as CNBC goes, he fared better than Ron Insana.
I'll have to read "The Hedge Fund Mirage". I have…
Reply to @MJG: That's a good video - rather fascinating that his producer was formerly a producer on "Springer" (although it makes sense.)
Cramer's ability to move markets in Cramer's "current form" has been seen to some degree - although it is la…
I forget the details of the infamous Jon Stewart interview with Cramer, but I sorta remember one aspect that spoke to the two faces of Cramer. You have TheStreet.com Cramer, which is generally very serious, informative (debatable at times, but whate…
Reply to @catch22: Futures actually still open for a little bit longer. S&P -9.30, Nasdaq -23.25, DOW -88.
Yep, tons of outlets reported electronic trading only yesterday. No trading was announced overnight.
Yeesh, continuing to be irritable.
ZH did say that there was going to be electronic trading only and that WAS CORRECT LAST NIGHT. EARLY THIS MORNING it was decided that there would be no trading AT ALL Monday and possibly Tuesday.
http://www.zeroh…
There'll be a money printer at the Fed either way, despite Romney's claims to the contrary. Neither is going to fix things, although I think there are still sectors and other investments that will potentially do well.
I'll continue to look at real…
Reply to @BWG: STWD has some capacity for distressed property debt (I haven't looked into it in great detail), but OAK would be an excellent distressed debt option with superb management.
Reply to @hank: I dunno. I agree with Marc Faber: "Bernanke is a money printer and, believe me, if Romney wins the election the next Fed Chairman will also be a money printer”
Lastly, while I think he ain't going to fix anything either, the odds o…
Reply to @Charles: Yeah - I actually am quite a bit for alternative strategies, I believe they work and I believe they should be offered to a wider degree to retail investors. However, many of these funds have either been not very good or not flexib…
Reply to @hank: "hedge fund manager "
I believe fundalarm is an institutional investor or works within one. I don't know if they have shared the specifics. If they have and I've forgotten, I apologize.
"My impression of this highly ambiguous creat…
Reply to @BWG: The issue with MLPs in a tax-sheltered account is UBTI (Unrelated Biz Taxable Income), which is discussed in greater detail here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/313114-should-investors-hold-mlps-in-retirement-accounts-another-perspe…
Reply to @Charles: I dunno much about HYLD, but I'm not overly thrilled with Advisorshares. I think a fair amount of their products (not HYLD - which may be great - but some of the other stuff) just isn't/may continue not to attract enough interest …
Reply to @Turtle:
Similar mindset. I've owned L in the past and I've owned GLRE a few times in the past. LUK is something I've never owned, but it's something I've looked at and it remains a value. I'm very interested in OAK, but I wish it wasn't …
Reply to @Flack: Trust me, I absolutely make my share of mistakes! I'm still fairly young and my philosophy is really to try and learn from every trade in some way.
I'm not perfect by any means, but I did seem to get it right this week, as I took …
I took profits in some funds earlier in the week and started positions in a couple of new stocks today. The sell-off has more to go, although I'm actually looking to buy or add to a number of things.
Reply to @hank: You know, I've never taken a closer look at the Oppenheimer Commodity Fund. I found the variation in performance curious versus other commodity funds recently, and I never realized it was actively managed in terms of how it allocate…
