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 @catch22: The whole currency thing to me is a game of musical chairs where all the chairs are broken in some fashion. You might get a chair, but it'll probably tip over anyway.
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: This is what I thought was pretty remarkable in the article and there are a LOT of people - including a number of them calling into CNBC over the last few days - saying this happened: "The 19 year-old student estimat…
Reply to @scott: "That said, there are people who are going to be able to come in and buy European assets on the cheap in all this. Banks will have to puke up assets and there's going to be people who buy them up at change on the dollar and probably…
"The short-term stock movement is based on a voting machine but in the long-term it's based on a weighing machine."
I don't disagree with a fair amount of what you said in theory, but I do disagree with the reliance on the old "things will work out…
Reply to @catch22: You mean on my 5th DC of the day? No, I think - as I've said before - different viewpoints at different ages and I think both are doing what they view as best. I would never recommend what I'm doing to someone in retirement age - …
Everything is being liquidated, and I'm guessing there's margin calls going on. Dollar ramping because the Euro is tanking to the lowest level in months is not good for gold (or commodities in general.) Bernanke's doctrine may have been "Deflation: …
Reply to @Old_Joe: Buying a couple of things here with a long-term view, but I think there's more probably more downside.
Overall, some broad funds, individual names I like as long-term stories, a lot of alternative investments. Circling the wagon…
"Some in Europe have mentioned offering an ECB bond. Duh, what will this do? Nada, in my opinion. These would only be fresh manure piled upon the old manure; but it is still a manure pile, only larger. "
That's why it's probably what's going to hap…
Reply to @Old_Joe: Interesting point. A lot of discussion today about demand coming from outlying European countries, as well (Greeks worried whether one day they may not be in the Euro?) If these are the factors, that would speak to a European situ…
Reply to @catch22: I think the real concern is having a period - and potentially a long period - where there are no good answers for investors. More volatility, more drama, more crises and more average investors leaving the financial markets.
I do…
5:30p
BREAKING
Facebook's Zuckerberg sells 30.2 mln shares
5:30p
Facebook director Thiel sells 16.8 mln shares
5:45p
BREAKING
Nasdaq says should have nixed Facebook IPO: WSJ
marketwatch.com
Also: "MASSACHUSETTS SUBPOENAS MORGAN STANLEY OVER FACEBO…
That which is not sustainable is until it suddenly isn't. I do understand that there are older generations who are not interested in taking risk, but my fear is what is perceived to be "low risk" cracks and things get very interesting very quickly.
Reply to @Old_Joe: No, I didn't think you were picking on Maurice - I do think it's interesting you mention "qualified", as that's often the term given to large/institutional investors who have enough to invest in hedge funds and other such things (…
Reply to @Old_Joe: I don't think Maurice meant anything by it. If you'd rather, the "retail" investor was hurt by the FB debacle in a number of ways. The retail investor who didn't want anything to do with Facebook is increasingly finding the odds f…
I'd say you're probably late with TIP (inflation protected bond) funds, although others may feel differently. In terms of inflation protection, a lot of natural resource-related equity funds have been creamed, but also represent a much greater level…
I agree that there may be a bounce and possibly a bounce that's sustained for a while, but I think caution should continue to be used, as there's too many underlying issues that haven't begun to be fixed. For example, even if incorrect, this is a fa…
Reply to @MJG: And I think infrastructure, with its consistent cash flows, will continue to become a popular asset class. I own Brookfield Infrastructure, which owns Nat Gas pipelines in the Midwest and talked in the last quarter about looking at ot…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9277128/Banks-move-in-after-shaky-start-to-Facebook-IPO.html
"Facebook’s banks ended up owning 86% of the social networking site’s $16bn (£10bn) initial public offering afte…
As for the market only I'd say 100K in money market/CD/cash equivalent, 150K fixed income, 150K equities, 75K balanced, 25K alternative/non-correlated.
Otherwise,
You know, I actually think it's probably not a terrible idea to look at rental hous…
Reply to @Sven: CNBC continually said that a larger-than-normal portion of the IPO was allocated to retail. So:
A:) Retail investors puked it up. For a name that everyone was supposed to be excited about, everyone sure sold it in a hurry.
B:) Ther…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: In terms of single stocks, you just have to have far more conviction than before. Because, otherwise, you get instances like:
1. Herbalife. I don't know the fundamentals of Herbalife or what the company is all about, but yo…
Broke below 38 a minute ago and it looks like that set off technical selling.
Edited to add: was under 37 for a while. Some discussion on CNBC that the pre-market trades will be broken if underwriters decide to come in to support 38 again.
"To summarize, the only rational reason that people are eschewing stocks in favor of bonds is fear. "
Not entirely. I believe distrust is absolutely a primary reason - many people's faith and trust in the financial system is broken and that's simpl…
Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but YTD chart of SFGIX vs MACSX:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=SFGIX+Interactive#symbol=sfgix;range=ytd;compare=macsx;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=und…
Reply to @Chinfist: I agree with you. It's not a matter of being uncomfortable, as Marketfield has been a hedge-of-sorts (a "flexible second opinion") that goes against some of my views and holdings. However, it's a large position for me, it's done…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Happy to help, and again, there's no way to know exactly/know extent, but the fund does seem to be at least lightly/mildly correlated to precious metals movements, especially in the last couple of weeks. I am keeping MFLDX, c…
Reply to @VintageFreak: There is no way to gain an exact conclusion, as there's no way to view to-the-minute holdings. However, while the fund has held up exceedingly (and consistently) well in comparison to the market for the last couple of weeks …
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: "Meanwhile Theophilus Hodges, a 36-year-old property manager, stopped into an E*Trade branch in downtown Chicago on Friday morning specifically to open an account to buy Facebook shares, he said.
"If it wasn't for Fa…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Let me say this: might FB become something more over the next decade? Sure. I think it needs to be about more than chatting with people about what you just ate for lunch and more of a "hub".
That said, I thought it w…
Many people apparently still have not gotten trade confirmations and a lot of anger. The battle at 38 towards the end of the day was one of the more epic things I've seen in quite a long time in the markets. That was insane and probably cost a fortu…
Reply to @fundalarm: I'm guessing there is a significant amount of money being used to defend $38 right now. 38 is being defended like it's "Braveheart" or something.
Reply to @Maurice: Most of this week the institutions have been selling toward the end of the day. Will be interesting to see if FB drops below $38 before the close."
It looks like it's heading that way.
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue:
GSVC (whose manager was on CNBC this morning all excited) is down 16% on the day, SVVC down a "holy ****" 21%.
"For example, GSV Capital (GSVC), which invests in "high growth" pre-IPO companies, holds 350,000 share…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Market down yet again, CNBC ("First in BS Worldwide") again stunned that the retail investor nowhere to be found, NASDAQ having all manner of technical issues that should have been prepared for, the world's biggest IP…
Reply to @JoeNoEskimo: They've been betting against gold and silver for a fair while using futures and I believe some individual names, but I think those bets may have been increased - I don't remember Central Fund of Canada (CEF) short being among …
HGI and CVY have been out for a while - both are multi-asset income funds, the former global, the latter US. While not to say that the above funds won't do well, neither of these has exactly what I would call a tremendous record. The one I do like -…
Reply to @Maurice: You're just being political (lol - saying before someone else probably does.)
In all seriousness though, it doesn't surprise me. Just another one of the occasional official who is presented as a "crusader for the common man" who…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: I agree with you in theory, but I think the concern becomes - to some degree - the rise of things like computer-driven trading, which is now something like over 70% of all trading. Things like this do not benefit the …
