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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.
  • Best Frontier Market Funds?
    For a short term position, cost is secondary to market movement. Frontier market ETFs don't seem to offer an advantage aside from cost over OEFs. Meanwhile they have the usual bid/ask cost mitigating or perhaps dominating the ST management cost difference.
    While the ETF options are more attractively priced, these index funds do face certain challenges in frontier markets, which is a relatively illiquid asset class. For example, when executing an index change, an ETF portfolio manager might face front-running and/or large market-impact costs. Turnover related to index changes could also result in capital gains distributions, as most frontier markets do not allow for in-kind creations and redemptions (the mechanism that allows ETFs to remove securities from their portfolio without incurring capital gains).
    There is only one diversified "frontier" market ETF with more than 1/3 of its assets in frontier markets. FM. If one is recommending an ETF for this market segment, that shouldn't have been so hard to name.
    ETF.com rates this the best frontier market ETF. That said, it also says that it is not particularly representative of this market segment, with a "poor tracking mean[ing] that realized holding costs are even higher." Overall, it rates FM an 'F' on a scale of A-F.
    Why again are ETFs good in this market segment for ST trading? Again quoting ETF.com: "All three [ETFs in the market segment] trade poorly. FM sees the best volume most days, but it still won't be cheap to buy and sell." That may be excusable for a LT position, but is detrimental to use in ST trading.
    I'm with Kevin on this one - if you get entertainment value out of these funds, that's fine. Otherwise it's a lot of research work for something that will not make a noticeable impact on your portfolio.
  • Towle Deep Value Fund to close to third party intermediaries
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318342/000139834417000539/fp0023990_497.htm
    497 1 fp0023990_497.htm
    Towle Deep Value Fund
    (Ticker Symbol: TDVFX)
    A series of Investment Managers Series Trust (the “Trust)
    Supplement dated January 13, 2017 to the
    Prospectus, Statement of Additional Information and Summary Prospectus, dated February 1, 2016.
    IMPORTANT NOTICE ON PURCHASE OF FUND SHARES
    Effective as of the close of business on January 27, 2017 (the “Closing Date”), the Towle Deep Value Fund (the “Fund”) will be publicly offered on a limited basis.
    After the Closing Date, only certain investors will be eligible to purchase shares of the Fund, as described below (the “closure policy”). In addition, both before and after the Closing Date, the Fund may from time to time, in its sole discretion based on the Fund’s net asset levels and other factors, limit the types of investors permitted to open new accounts, limit new purchases into the Fund or otherwise modify the closure policy at any time on a case-by-case basis.
    The following groups will be permitted to continue to purchase Fund shares after the Closing Date:
    1. Shareholders of record of the Fund as of the Closing Date may continue to purchase additional shares in their existing Fund accounts either directly from the Fund or through a financial intermediary and may continue to reinvest dividends or capital gains distributions from shares owned in the Fund.
    2. Existing registered investment advisor (RIA) and bank trust firms that have an investment allocation to the Fund in a fee-based, wrap or advisory account may continue to add new clients or purchase shares.
    3. New shareholders may open Fund accounts and purchase shares directly from the Fund (i.e. not through a financial intermediary).
    4. Certain financial intermediaries may continue to open new underlying customer accounts provided the platform on which they offer access to the Fund has an existing funded position.
    5. Group employer benefit plans, including 401(k), 403(b), 457 plans, and health savings account programs (and their successor, related and affiliated plans), which make the Fund available to participants on or before the Closing Date, may continue to open accounts for new participants in the Fund and purchase additional shares in existing participant accounts. New group employer benefit plans, including 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans, and health savings account programs (and their successor, related and affiliated plans), may also establish new accounts with the Fund, provided the new plans have approved and selected the Fund as an investment option by the Closing Date and the plan has also been accepted for investment by the Fund by the Closing Date.
    6. Members of the Fund’s Board of Trustees, persons affiliated with the Advisor and their immediate families will be able to purchase shares of the Fund and establish new accounts.
    In general, the Fund will rely on a financial intermediary to prevent a new account from being opened within an omnibus account established at that financial intermediary if the account would not otherwise satisfy the conditions outlined above. The Fund’s ability to monitor new accounts that are opened through omnibus accounts or other nominee accounts is limited and the ability to limit a new account to those that meet the above criteria with respect to financial intermediaries may vary depending upon the capabilities of those financial intermediaries. Investors may be asked to verify that they meet one of the exceptions above prior to opening a new account in the Fund. The Fund may permit you to open a new account if the Fund reasonably believes that you are eligible. The Fund also may decline to permit you to open a new account if the Fund believes that doing so would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, even if you would be eligible to open a new account under these exceptions. If all shares of the Fund in an existing account are redeemed, the shareholder’s account will be closed. Such former shareholders will not be able to buy additional shares of the Fund or reopen their account.
    Please file this Supplement with your records.
  • What Are You Buying ... Selling ... or Pondering?
    I know this is mostly mutual funds, but I also read a couple of stock newsletters too, esp dividend oriented ones and pick up a small position when something sounds cheap or reasonable. I missed GM last month so bit on CVS rather than add to VIG or VDGIX.
    Added to POLRX 12/30 after I sold some of my much appreciated indiviual stocks (since 1998!) to take advantage of capital losses last year and diversify a bit. More to VASVX NCAVX and but afraid I missed a lot of the rally.
    Still very uncertain what to do about Fixed Income. I am concerned the burgeoning inflation pressures will destroy anything but short term bonds, but at yields of 1% why bother? Surely this news is baked into the prices, but if you believe standard ideas, the 10 year returns on Intermediate Bonds will only match their current yields.
    Sure hope the Winklevoss's Bitcoin ETF gets approved... It would be fun to speculate a little Buy at $400 sell at $1000! One billion Chinese investors can't be wrong!
  • 2016 At A Glance
    LIBOR At 1% For First Time In 7 Years - A Significant Level For Leveraged Loans
    Copyright © 2016 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC
    During periods of rising interest rates, the base rate will also increase, creating a coupon rate that keeps pace with current interest rates. Hence, the appeal of floating-rate loans in rising-rate environments.
    Leveraged loans (also called bank loans or senior loans) are a particular type of floating-rate instrument. These are loans that are typically taken on by firms with higher existing levels of debt (hence the use of "leveraged" in the name). However, the loans are senior in the capital structure and are often secured by assets of the borrowing company.
    Due to the floating-rate characteristics discussed previously, leveraged loans tend to perform well in environments of rising rates (or expected rising rates). http://seekingalpha.com/article/4033644-libor-1-percent-first-time-7-years-significant-level-leveraged-imageFor the year, US junk bonds topped the list. Markit’s iBoxx Liquid High Yield Index surged 15.3% in 2016, beating the 12.8% increase for the number-two performer (US stocks via the Russell 3000) by a comfortable margin. The only loser among the major asset classes last year: cash (3-month T-bills), which inched down 0.1%.
    image
    src="https://staticseekingalpha.a.ssl.fastly.net/uploads/2017/1/2/saupload_gmi.02jan2017.png" />loanshttp://www.capitalspectator.com/major-asset-classes-december-2016-performance-review/
  • Mutual Fund Observer - New Year's Edition
    Dear friends,
    Well, the Patriots have the NFL’s best record (14-2) and have outscored their opponents by a league-high 191 points this year, which is a pretty good signal that New Year’s is upon us and the January issue of the Mutual Fund Observer has launched. You can find it at http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/issue/january-2017/.
    Highlights of our January issue include:
    Snowball’s “publisher’s letter” shares a hard truth: despite everything you’ve heard in the past year, things are getting better. Distinctly better. Historically better. Globally better. He shares the evidence, offers you a chance to make a difference in the life of a child and presents “the 2% challenge.”
    Leigh Walzer, president of Trapezoid LLC, looks at the role of investor activism in prying open the value locked away in closed-end fund portfolios; at base, the liquidation value of the funds routinely exceeds their market NAVs which leads more and more activists to look for quick gains through forced liquidations.
    Ed Studzinski returns to the question of fund expenses. We celebrate expense reductions. Ed asks us to consider the cost of those reductions; when a fund dependent on talent fires its talent, who gains?
    Bob Cochran reminds us that prediction is easy while getting it right is hard. Maybe impossible. That has distinct consequences for how you need to approach your finances. Bob lays out the case for humility for us.
    Charles Boccadoro updates folks on developments at MFO Premium; the chief one is a reader-inspired change that eliminates the effect of loads on return calculations. That’s based on the observation that virtually all loaded funds are now available with waivers. See Charles for details.
    Snowball also spends a moment trying to reason with the fund community, using the lens of an abandoned, sand-filled squatter toilet in the weeds behind a rural farmhouse as a way of focusing their attention. The question at the bottom line: are you stubborn enough to choose failure on your own terms to success that requires change? Cue Sinatra: “I did it myyyyyy …”
    Dennis Barran completes an Intrepid trifecta with his extended profile of Intrepid International (ICMIX), a young fund that mirrors Intrepid’s absolute value, risk-aware, small cap value orientation.
    One of the decade’s best emerging markets managers has re-emerged. Rajiv Jain, long-time star manager of Virtus Emerging Markets Opportunities (HEMZX), resigned from Vontobel Asset Management in March to start his own firm. On December 28, GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity launched with Mr. Jain at the helm. It’s much like his previous charge, give or take the fact that he’s unambiguously in charge and is managing $30 million rather than $48 billion. We share a little detail in our first Launch Alert.
    Our second Launch Alert focuses on Cognios Large Cap Value, which represents the strategy being the “long” portfolio at the five-star Cognios Large Cap Market Neutral Fund.
    Last month we highlighted the launch of Rondure Global Advisors, a partnership between former star Wasatch manager Laura Geritz and her former Wasatch colleagues who launched Grandeur Peak. This month we provide first word about her two funds in registration which will be available to you in March.
    But wait, there’s more! We detail a relatively modest 19 fund liquidations and Chip tracked down three dozen manager changes, one of which strikes us as quite odd. We found 16 funds in registration, including a suite from BNP Paribas and a couple other goodies. There’s other stuff, too.
    If you prefer the long scrolling format, find it at http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2017/1/
    We hope you enjoy it all in the January Mutual Fund Observer at www.mutualfundobserver.com!
  • 2016 At A Glance
    After an early year scare, US equities fared well in 2016, especially since November 6th ... ending year up a handsome 12%.
    image
    Just about the opposite for US aggregate bonds. After a strong first half, they have given up much of their gains to close the year up 2.4%.
    image
  • Trump Throws Monkey Wrench Into REIT Sector
    Real Estate Annual Performance Review from Hoya Capital Real Estate
    Hoya wrote a brief annual recap this week, "REIT Awards: 2016." We noted the moderate 6-7% total return in the REIT indexes hides significant divergences within the real estate sector.So how does 2016 stack up by historical standards? Believe it or not, the seemingly strong 6% return is actually among the lowest annual returns since the beginning of the "Modern REIT Era" in 1992, a testament to the robust performance of the real estate sector over the past quarter century.imageimage
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/4033516-real-estate-weekly-reits-end-2016-high-note-christmas-retail-sales-surge
  • RPIHX a bad idea?
    From a hard bottom in early Feb. 2016, a large portion of the better managed HY bond funds are running about +16% returns. This movement may exist and continue the trend into the unknown future for "x" months or ??? One is or would be buying HY at a pretty high price at this time, IMHO. If pricing starts to decline for any number of reasons, one will find the yield even better than now; but at the expense of the loss of capital (losing money on the pricing, eh?). This situation would likely find a loss in value overall. We've held as much as 60% of our portfolio in HY/HI; but not at this time, nor would I buy at this time. Just my personal 2 cents opinion.
    As to VWINX (40 bond/60 equity): you may entry any fund you choose to compare at this site page and find how returns compare going out to 10 and 15 years for this conservative fund. Yes, bonds may affect this fund going forward more so than in past years. Institutions and folks will buy bonds going forward. Pension funds and others have limited choices for some holdings to maintain policy pay out into the future. Bonds may have been wounded recently, but they are not dead. And as you understand, there are many types of bonds; and all have their day(s) in the sun.
    http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=VWINX&region=usa&culture=en_US
  • Overrated Fund Families
    Of course, this does not address fund families that died long ago does it?
    Anybody remember Mathers Fund? Henry van der Eb was almost 100% cash in the 1990s writing lucidly why the market was wrong. He was eventually right but by that time the fund dissolved.
    In rank order of most disappointing families (ie not worth the ER)
    American funds... Maybe I would feel more positive if I had made any money with them or if I could tell them apart. They all look pretty homogeneous to me and too big
    Franklin Templeton. too expensive, rarely excel. Bond funds are Ok but too expensive. to make up their expense ratios they go out on a limb. I ended up in some of them when Michael Price sold out, but have stuck with MDISX given large capital gains, and their ability to slide over to new management relatively successfully
    Fidelity Most too big too identical. Too much work to tell what is going on.
    Janus They seemed to know what they were doing in the go go 1990s but we all know how that turned out.
  • The Closing Bell: Stock Market Gains Evaporate After China Seizes U.S. Underwater Drone
    FYI: U.S. stocks traded lower Friday, with the Dow industrials swinging to a loss following reports that a Chinese warship seized an underwater U.S. Navy drone in international waters off the coast of the Philippines.
    Even as the Dow was curtailed from its advance to the psychologically important 20,000 level, the blue-chip average is still on track for its longest weekly winning streak, at six, in more than a year.
    Regards,
    Ted
    Bloomberg:
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-15/dollar-solidifies-its-climb-on-fed-outlook-as-japan-futures-rise
    Reuters:
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKBN1451N9
    MarketWatch:
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-set-to-edge-closer-to-20000-even-as-other-markets-take-a-breather-2016-12-16/print
    USA Today:
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/12/16/asian-shares-muted-dollar-climbs-rate-outlook-sinks/95508208/
    IBD:
    http://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-backs-away-from-20000-oil-rises-alexion-gets-a-big-bounce//
    CNBC:
    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/16/stocks-open-higher-as-traders-eye-us-dollar.html
    AP:
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP
    WSJ Markets At A Glance:
    http://markets.wsj.com/us
    Sector Tracker:
    http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
    Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
    https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
    Current Futures: Negative
    http://finviz.com/futures.ashx
  • Consuelo Mack's WealthTrack Preview: Guest: François Trahan, Co-Founder, Partner Cornerstone Macro
    FYI:
    Regards,
    Ted
    December 15, 2016
    Preview Clip:

    Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,
    The U.S. has been the place to be for investors this year, even more so after the election of Donald Trump as President. Since November 8th, U.S. stock markets have been on a tear, reaching new records and extending their lead over international markets by a substantial margin.
    As a recent Wall Street Journal headline put it: “The global dominance of U.S. stocks has been boosted by the post-election rally”, as well as the strength of the U.S. dollar, which has also been appreciating rapidly against other currencies. It hit a 14 year high Thursday against a basket of currencies. The market capitalization of U.S. stocks reached over $25 trillion in December, comprising more than 40% of the world’s stock market value, levels not seen since 2006.
    No other country comes even close. Despite rapid gains in China’s stock market size and value, it still has less than a 10% share of global market value.
    With low unemployment, corporate profits expected to pick up and stimulus anticipated from infrastructure spending, corporate tax cuts and regulatory roll backs more investors are jumping on the bullish bandwagon. Even the Federal Reserve acknowledges that economic conditions have improved significantly enough to allow it to boost interest rates this week, for only the second time in a decade. The way things are going, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen expects to raise interest rates another three times next year, in 25 basis points, or a quarter of a percentage point increments.
    Improving conditions and this positive outlook are why the message from this week’s guest is such a stunner.
    In a WEALTHTRACK exclusive, Wall Street’s top ranked investment strategist is saying it’s time to put on the brakes and get much more defensive!
    He is François Trahan, Co-Founder, Partner and head of the Portfolio Strategy team at Cornerstone Macro, an independent macro research, policy and strategy firm he and his partners launched in 2013.
    Trahan was recently inducted into the All-America Research Team Hall of Fame by Institutional Investor magazine, having been ranked the number one portfolio strategist for 10 of the past 11 years by institutional investors.
    Up until recently Trahan was correctly bullish on the US stock market, as he has been for well over a year.
    No more. He is adamantly telling clients that this rally should be sold. He will explain what has changed.
    If you’d like to see the show before it airs, it is available to our PREMIUM subscribers right now. We also have an EXTRA interview with Trahan about what he describes as investing’s great mystery. Intrigued?
    Plus, WEALTHTRACK is available on a YouTube Channel. So if you are unable to join us for the show on television, you can watch it on our website, WealthTrack.com, or by subscribing to our YouTube Channel.
    Thanks for watching! Have a great weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and a productive one.
    Best regards,
    Consuelo
  • John Waggoner: How To Keep Clients From Going Wild When The Dow Hits 20,000
    am not anyone's client except for several mutual fund firms but am more nervous than going wild ,Right or wrong I am redirecting mutual fund distributions toa short term bond fund therefore reducing risks without generating additional capital gains I have now learned that after a seven year bull market one should not have actively managed mutual funds in a taxable account. 10% distributions cut into returns even if the fund outperforms
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    Maybe BlackRock, Capital Group, Dreyfus, Fidelity, and J. P. Morgan with two or three "Total Return" funds signaling multi-sector EM bond?
  • Trump Rally Could Mark Biggest Post Election Stock Market Rise Since Hoover
    Hoover would be a kiss of death but nevertheless, with promises of lowered taxes on cap gains and divi's, the markets are sure to do well barring any negatives that occur.
  • best vanguard funds for your retirement savings
    Why waste column inches? Regarding a sibling PRIMECAP-run fund, they'd already written:
    "Capital Opportunity is closed to new investors, but you’re in luck if the fund is offered in your employer-sponsored retirement-savings plan—that rule doesn’t apply."
    Also, VPMCX is open to some Flagship retail customers.
    http://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/15805/vanguard-fund-changes-to-primecap-and-primecap-related-funds
  • best vanguard funds for your retirement savings
    @msf: Someone should tell Kiplinger Vanguard Primecap Admiral & Investor Shares are closed to new investors !
    Regards,
    Ted
    Best Vanguard Funds for Your Retirement Savings
    Vanguard Primecap: BUY
    Symbol: VPMCX
    Expense ratio: 0.40%
    Assets: $47.4 billion
    One-year return: 11.2%
    Three-year annualized total return: 12.8%
    Five-year annualized total return: 16.7%
    Ten-year annualized total return: 9.3%
    Yield: 1.4%
    From Primecap’s debut in 1984, the fund returned 13.4% annualized, handily beating the S&P 500 by an average of 2.4 percentage points per year. Few funds have done better. Primecap is closed to new investors, but if the fund is offered in your employer-sponsored retirement-savings plan, you can ignore that rule.
    Primecap Management, the fund’s subadviser, runs this fund the same way as Capital Opportunity. Each of the fund’s five managers independently runs his own slice of the fund’s assets. But they all follow the same approach, focusing on large and midsize companies with strong growth potential that are trading at reasonable prices.
    Note: On November 15, 2016, we changed our rating on this fund from Hold to Buy
    Vanguard Website:
    https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0059&FundIntExt=INT
  • Trump Rally Could Mark Biggest Post Election Stock Market Rise Since Hoover
    FYI: If the postelection stock market rally continues at its current pace it could be the largest stretching back to the gains scored in the wake of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 election victory.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-rally-could-mark-biggest-postelection-stock-market-rise-since-hoover-2016-12-12/print
  • Kimberlite Floating Rate Financial Services Capital Fund to liquidate
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1423047/000116204416002687/kimberlite497201612.htm
    497 1 kimberlite497201612.htm
    KIMBERLITE INVESTMENT TRUST
    Supplement to the Prospectus dated December 12, 2016
    Effective as of December 12, 2016, Kimberlite Floating Rate Financial Services Capital Fund (the “Fund”), a series of the Kimberlite Investment Trust (the “Trust”), will end the public offering of its shares. Accordingly, shares of the Fund are no longer available for purchase. The Fund will continue to operate until the soonest practicable date on or after December 16, 2016 (the “Closing Date”), when it will be liquidated.
    The Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”), in consultation with the Fund’s investment adviser, Kimberlite Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”), made the determination to end the Fund’s public offering and to discontinue the Fund by unanimous vote of the Board during the Board Meeting held on December 12, 2016, based on, among other factors, the Board’s determination that the Fund’s current asset size, recent purchase and redemption history and projected expenses and expense structure indicate that it is unlikely that the Fund will grow for the foreseeable future. Through the date of the Fund’s liquidation, currently scheduled to take place on the Closing Date, the Adviser will continue to waive fees and reimburse expenses of the Fund, as necessary, in order to maintain the Fund’s fees and expenses at their current level, as specified in the Prospectus.
    As of December 1, 2016, in response to market conditions, the Fund assumed a temporary defensive position and converted all of the Fund’s portfolio securities to cash. In connection with the liquidation: (i) the Fund will remain in cash until Closing Date; and (ii) all outstanding shareholder accounts on the Closing Date will be closed and the proceeds of each account will be sent to the shareholder’s address of record or to such other address as directed by the shareholder including special instructions that may be needed for Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”) and qualified pension and profit sharing fund accounts. In addition, the Fund’s redemption fee for all shareholder redemptions on or after December 12, 2016 is eliminated. As a result of the Fund’s cash position described above, the Fund’s normal exposure to investments has been eliminated. Accordingly, shareholders should not expect the Fund to achieve its stated investment objective.
    Shareholders may continue to freely redeem their shares on each business day during the Fund’s liquidation process. The distribution of proceeds from the closing of shareholder accounts remaining on the Closing Date will be considered for tax purposes a sale of Fund shares by shareholders, and shareholders should consult with their own tax advisors to ensure its proper treatment on their income tax returns. In addition, shareholders invested through an IRA or other tax-deferred account should consult with their own tax advisors to understand the rules regarding the reinvestment of these assets. In order to avoid a potential tax issue, shareholders may choose to authorize, prior to the Closing Date, a direct transfer of their retirement account assets to another tax-deferred retirement account. In addition, shareholders generally have 60 days from the date of the liquidation to invest the proceeds in another IRA or qualified retirement account; otherwise the liquidation proceeds may be required to be included in the shareholder’s taxable income for the current tax year.
    If you have any questions regarding this Supplement, please call (855)- 318-2804.
    Investors Should Retain this Supplement for Future Reference
  • Investing is a Mix of Art and Science
    Holy INSIGHT, Batman! ...Cripes, I've maintained this very approach ever since I began to learn my very first lesson in investing, going back to the 1990s. I listened and read a lot, and made a habit to watch PBS each week when Lew Ruckeyser offered his corny-jokes and puns in his opening monologue for "Wall Street Week." I paid attention AND "read between the lines" as I heard each panelist's weekly contributions. I realized that the first step was to learn how to translate all of the "money-speak" lingo. It helped me to find and identify their professional thought-matrix, even if I did not give it a name, for my own purposes. (The talking heads and guests on CNBC need to be constantly translated in one's head, as they go along, too.) Being able to just know it when I heard and saw it was (and is) good enough--- at least for starters. THEN, I could learn to MAKE something of it all. Along the way, I learned to hear the double-speak underneath the actual words being expressed. "Tax Reform" = making things better for Capital and screwing Labor, for example. Avoiding any talk about the underlying POLICIES being advocated and instead deciding to speak in terms of mechanics of the Market, is the "common currency." It's more politically correct to go about it THAT way, between Talking Head-host and Prestigious Guest.
    Examining financial statements and doing analyses are Science. How one uses the information is Art. (All things being equal---and they never are--- why invest in A instead of B, when they look the same in terms of fundamentals? Ding!) One's investing elan needs to be tempered with skill, a certain legerdemain. Thus, I assert, the validity and usefulness of the paradoxes to be found in the likes of The Zurich Axioms. Eh???
    Here, you can click on the link that will let you open or download the Axioms via .pdf:
    http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVr1ArE1YBa0ASO0nnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNnJkMjI2BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjI1ODBfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1481514176/RO=10/RU=http://www.forexfactory.com/attachment.php/706430/Zurich_axioms/RK=0/RS=vlCWaQCq0eLSeDxZtls.pv6Awv8-
    ...I hope it works for you all. ...At the same time, I hasten to add that I've never been able to perfectly follow Max Gunther's advice, here. I doubt it can be done, and I doubt it was ever written with that intention. The attempt would be to confuse the Art with the Science of the whole thing. ;)
    Follow-up edit: Crap, that link is dead now. But Yahoo, as a kind afterthought, will allow you to click on THEIR OWN link to the same thing, once you click on my original link. Stupid stuff.