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: Yeah, I thought Hussman was using futures at some point, but I guess it was probably options. I suppose a main benefit to consider in terms of using options to short is that your loss is limited to the option premium paid, but it bec…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: The average investor continues to either pull money out completely (and I think there are a good deal of people who are done with the stock market and aren't coming back for a long time if ever) and a lot of people who went …
Reply to @Sven: They are (at least at last report) short a handful of foreign (primarily EM) etfs, as well as a few foreign banks. Worked well last year, not so much this year. There is a great interview with the fund manager where he goes into deta…
Reply to @VintageFreak: I do hold some individual stocks and a number of funds, as well as a few ETFs. I'm usually not that critical of most funds, but I strongly disagreed with Fairholme's bet on financials a while back on fundalarm and in terms o…
Reply to @AndyJ: Yeah, I don't have anything against Sears in terms of shopping there or whatnot, but investment wise, at some point it becomes apparent that a value stock is a value trap. It is riding a short squeeze currently, but otherwise is - I…
Reply to @AndyJ: Minor and more personal. I completely dislike the Sears investment (I don't care that it's gone up this year), and I would rather see Leucadia than Jefferies (LUK owns - I believe - about 30% of JEF) Not a big deal.
I'm curious about that UK investment trust and may look into it further - it appears to be a mix of private and listed equity. I took a brief look at the website -it's also held by Fairholme. Goodhaven has done well, and - aside from a couple of irr…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: " if you were to arrive in Singapore, have a look at their airport and take the high-speed transportation from the airport into the city....you'll say to yourself, holy sh*t...this is what the 21st century feels like.…
I really enjoyed the Steve Jobs bio by Isaacson. Not an Apple fan, but thought it was a fascinating and detailed (5-600 pages) history of Apple and Jobs from the start.
Reply to @Old_Joe: They could say this: Εδώ, ο Μπεν μόλις τυπωθούν οι τόνοι του πράσινου να υποστηρίξει αυτές τις "ψεύτικες" ομόλογα που απλά έτυχε να βρουν. Υπάρχει περισσότερο, όταν αυτό ήρθε από..
Also, why is it the Italians who continue to be …
"I'm not sure why the authorities even worry about counterfeit anymore."
I don't either - they have enough people who continue to encourage them to act like counterfeiters.
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That said, the story is very concerning, and it's hard n…
Semi-similar:
"Americans Dump World as World Dumps America":
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/americans-dump-world-world-dumps-america
As for Norway, I agree with their view on Asia, although I think (selectively) there are opportunities at this point…
Reply to @_AP_: It's not that I don't agree with a lot of what he says (although I tend to think that he focused on X rather than the effect of Y (easy monetary policy), but it becomes a question of at what point does one change tactics? I don't th…
Reply to @NickF: Hussman's predictive abilities (or not) aside, I suppose my fundamental concern as a shareholder would be the lack of flexibility.
Even if Hussman's detailed take on the fundamentals now or couple of years ago are correct (they ha…
Reply to @kevindow: I certainly have nothing against ETFs and own a few of them myself, but I don't see them as "the future", but more as offering more options and in many cases more specific options than one can find in the mutual fund world. If I …
Hussman still shorting into an environment of easy monetary policy, it looks like. It would appear that Hussman is now using index put options (if I remember correctly, he used to short futures?) I haven't owned any of his funds, but I've found his …
I had a couple of stocks up yesterday, including Icahn Enterprises (IEP), Hutchison Whampoa and Jardine Matheson (although the latter two had been up in Asia.). Some other things held up very well, only to turn red towards the end of day. Emerging m…
JAOSX positive, DWGOX up, AEDNX up, PAUDX up, AQRNX flat, a few others up lightly. Some EMs did okay today/last night. Commodities did well (oil ended at HOD, I believe, and many other commodities were up.)
Not sure as to why this is an issue; I would rather have a flexible manager who has the ability to go further to cash if need be vs staying fully invested at all times and shrugging when the market tanks. Cinnamond has often had high cash levels and…
Reply to @Anonymous: I think there is certainly a place for both, as well - and there are plenty of ETFs that cover more specific sectors that mutual funds do not. I think a mass movement to ETFs is just part of an ever-increasing herd mentality, t…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/russia-dumps-treasurys-14-consecutive-months-china-slashes-holdings-lowest-over-year
Russia selling treasuries every month for over a year, while China continues to sell.
Reply to @scooter: The USAA fund is popular and has done pretty well, but I just continue to think that the best fund in terms of consistency and quality is Toqueville Gold (TGLDX) I own a small position in DWGOX, which I have as just a small, highl…
Reply to @scooter: Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) is - I think - the best infrastructure play, although it's gone up considerably in the last couple of years and is due (I think) for a pullback. Still, it does at least provide a 5% yield at this po…
My view is that it's already visibly continuing to creep in, despite what the news says. However, if one were to believe that it could become severe (and I continue to believe that's a possibility), I'd suggest layering into various forms of inflat…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Vitasoy looks kinda interesting. I'm not a fan of soy-based stuff, but it's so big. You certainly see Vitasoy products at Whole Foods, etc. Their Nasoya stuff I've seen all over.
77 cents a share.
They follow different commodities indexes (I believe Plus follows the Credit Suisse Commodity Index, while RR follows the Dow Jones-UBS commodities index) and the collateral/fixed income management is different (RR has a large portion of its fixed i…
Reply to @DPN: Really? A number of brokerages have 0-250-500-1000 mins for many funds for IRAs; IRA minimums are often lower or much lower than non-IRA minimums. Templeton Global Bond (TEGBX), for example, should be a 250 min for IRAs but is a 2,500…
Reply to @Anonymous:
I think most people with the desire and time can absolutely make their own financial decisions.
In terms of mutual funds, it really depends on your age (as if you're 30, recommendations are going to be a lot different than i…
Reply to @prinx: It would appear that it holds different assets in an attempt to do the same strategy (metals etfs instead of physical metals, etc.) Ron, I think, put it well.
Reply to @Old_Joe: Thanks, you too.
As for China and oil imports that I mentioned above:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/china-january-oil-imports-rise-record
"At 23.4k metric tons of imports in January, China just imported the most crude in its hi…
