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 @kevindow: Don't agree with some of the stuff mentioned, but not going to really get into it. I will agree that much of the alternative retail product is hampered (see RYMFX, which I continue to use as an example*) just by the mutual fund s…
Latest week outflows (lets just call this section "equity funds") and inflows (lets just call this "fixed income")
http://ici.org/research/stats/flows/flows_08_29_12
I think my question becomes when does retail start putting money into funds again…
Reply to @BobC: Thank you for the excellent and detailed response, Bob - greatly appreciated. I find strategies like the Forward fund (and GTAA etf and Toews funds) interesting, but as you note, they appear to be whipsawed unless there is a fairly c…
Perpetual Bull posted the link earlier in reference to another fund, but I thought this bit from Pimco EQS Long/Short (PHMDX) was well put in terms of describing the fund's long/short philosophy.
"We short stocks when we identify opportunities to g…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Forward Enhanced (FETEX) has done okay, but the first fund, Forward Tactical Growth (FTWGX) has barely done anything. Both funds are subadvised by Broadmark. I believe Bob C has mentioned these funds before and can likely dis…
Reply to @kevindow: OT, but as for Apple, an amusing take regarding Apple - http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/more-evidence-wall-street-is-overpaid-20120821
I think MXXVX has done very well, but I think the concerning thing is th…
Reply to @Old_Joe:I believe it was directed towards both sides, but...
Ok, how about this, I'll take it to the basics: "Sadly, neither Obama nor Romney has yet offered a meaningful, forward-looking economic reform program."
"As has been amply demo…
Reply to @catch22: I think the issue becomes that there is no real desire to make difficult decisions and really try to fix the structural issues of the economy that have been papered over, or any attempt to learn from what happened in 2008. We will…
Buying Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) and added to Graincorp (GRCLF.PK) - two instances of I like the business and very nice yield - and looking at a number of other things.
I remain largely in foreign telecom, hard assets (commodity/infrastructure…
Holmes also wrote a book, "The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing." (well, I believe he wrote half of it - co/written.) I haven't read it, but it's one of the books that people can consider when using MFO's amazon link (see how I worked in tha…
Definitely not selling and may add a little more before the change, partly for the reasons Bob C notes below. It has been said that existing shareholders will be grandfathered in (http://www.mfwire.com/article.asp?storyID=40485&template=article)…
As noted in the article, REITs have run up quite a bit. I've been looking at Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, but while I like the idea of an opportunistic portfolio of undervalued high-end hotels (and the REIT website offers a terrifically detailed investm…
Reply to @claimui: I think it's a matter of evaluating the risks and pros/cons, but I think there are a number of smaller funds that offer opportunities to access talented managers that, for whatever reason, have not found an audience. Seafarer bein…
What a stunner that the financial media continues to ride to the defense of the comment from Gross! "OMG, equities are still great, no one listen to him, especially the three people still watching CNBC!" At least Morningstar quoted him right that he…
Personally, my view is this:
There are tremendous mutual fund managers (although pretty few I'd say) and tremendously skilled hedge fund managers (who I think number more than similarly highly regarded mutual fund managers, although on an overall %…
I think this time is different. If the retail investor always chases, at what point does that happen? On fundalarm people thought money would run from funds like Arbitrage (ARBFX) when the market was heading higher. Instead, Arbitrage closed not lo…
Reply to @claimui: My thought is that the fund is an attempt to try to get a similar return - and the hope is an improvement upon, using the active management of collateral - to the index. Likely, the commodities portion of the fund is not very acti…
Reply to @MikeM: I don't know about anyone else -I know food costs have crept higher, but I think I've really noticed lately basic goods (shampoo, toothpaste) are noticeably higher than a few years ago.
Reply to @catch22: The attempt (with ZIRP, etc) was to push people into risk, and I think it's really quite fascinating to see that much of the population has not responded in the desired fashion, instead selling stocks and moving into fixed income …
Reply to @catch22: To a significant degre, an issue with valuation (whether bonds or the S & P or whatever) is that you have interventions and rumors of interventions to the point where fundamentals matter less than whether or not there will be …
I one of my main concerns continues to be the rise in food costs and the effect that it's going to have on EM consumers.
I've lessened Asia exposure moderately, but do continue to have a few core holdings, such as Jardine Matheson. If one wanted t…
Reply to @catch22: lol talking about "bailouts" and "not creating moral hazard" after the last few years loaded with bailouts and creating moral hazard in the financial system. Hilarious. We're a little far down the path of trying to bail everything…
Unfortunately, it looks like Hennessy bought FBR. Not all of the funds are being merged.
http://www.fa-mag.com/fa-news/11228-hennessy-advisors-inc-to-acquire-fbr-funds-.html
Say what you want about Bill Gross ("He never means what he says!"), but:
CNBC:
Gross - "If Fed does QE3, you want to buy what the Fed is buying - TIPS and Mortgages."
Gross - "QE3 almost a done deal."
Gross - "Need to see several months of 3% or m…
Reply to @hank: Doesn't Blackstone (BX) own Weather Channel?
Edited to add: Yep, NBC, Bain and Blackstone bought Weather Channel in July 2008 (nice top tick buy, much like Blackstone's Hilton buy.)
http://www.blackstone.com/news-views/details/nbc-…
My favorite disclosure (in that it gives some sort of insight) remains Dallas Fed Governor Fisher, who indicated over a million dollars in GLD and between $50-250K in Platinum and Uranium, as well as 7,000 acres of land and some odds/ends stocks.
…
Reply to @hank: The Gross comment came from the Pimco twitter. I'd guess if nothing was announced at Jackson Hole, then the next likely possibility would not be until after the 1st of the year.
Additionally, as for Pimco otherwise: "Three of Pimco'…
Reply to @hank: At some point the market will call the bluff.
From Bill Gross: "PIMCO @PIMCO
Gross: #Fed minutes make #QE3 and extended period language an 80% probability. Front-end curve friendly."http://twitter.com/PIMCO
http://headlines.ransqu…
Reply to @Charles: Best of luck to the both of us! :-) What also impressed me about the fund was the history of both of the additional managers, as well. The Whitebox Selected Research website also provides both their insights and a number of other…
Reply to @hank: light (in terms of size) positions in ultrashorts against a few indexes. I am very comfortable being in them for the time being and may increase a bit depending on how things look going forward, but I don't see myself getting heavily…
I continue to hold a set of stocks (many of which pay divs, like Brookfield Infrastructure/BIP and some foreign telecoms, as well several other odds/ends), funds (mostly flexible) and a couple sector ETFs, as well as a bit of cash and some light ult…
Reply to @hank: "Hussman being something of a slave to his own macro-economic convictions."
Exactly. I mean, I agree with a lot of what I've read of Hussman in theory, but his indicators did not seem to take into account the easiest monetary policy…
Reply to @Old_Joe: I remain lightly short indexes against a set of funds, etfs and stocks. Not predicting disaster, but - aside from starting a position in the Whitebox fund the other day - more than happy to wait for the markets to drift back down …
Reply to @Old_Joe: I think the issue that I have with the fund is that HSGFX is not a vehicle that could really capitalize on a downtrend that well if the market tanked tomorrow. Given the nature of the fund, a 12% loss in this fund could take a whi…
