“Hedge Funds for the masses” features an update on how Long-Short (L/S) mutual funds have performed during the past couple of years. Are they really an alternative for the average investor? Here are some thoughts on this topic: Hedge funds enjoy a certain glamour that the humble mutual fund lacks, including wealthy investors, the promise of outsized returns and billionaire …
Domestic Or International Investing: Where Are The Opportunities?
Jim Jubak took the view in “For now, the money’s made in the USA” that over the next few months the U.S markets should lead the globe. Here is some of his reasoning: I can think of a dozen reasons why, in the long term, U.S. stocks will do worse than stocks in China, Brazil, India and Canada — and …
Investors Aren’t Buying It
MarketWatch featured a story titled “Easy does it,” supporting the view that many U.S. mutual fund investors have not participated in this market rally: Bull market be damned: U.S. mutual fund investors continue to sidestep this stock market. According to a report released by New York-based Strategic Insight on Thursday morning, investors put $30 billion into stock and bond mutual …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 3/18/2010
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpThe Fed’s unchanged stance on interest rates provided the ammunition to move the major indexes higher. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has now crossed its trend line (red) to the upside by +5.00% keeping the current buy signal intact. The effective date was June 3, 2009. The international …
Pros and Cons of Muni Bond ETFs
With the continuation of the Fed’s zero interest policy, investors are hunting for higher yields, and Muni ETFs have been the target as well. There are some pros and cons to investing in Munis in this market environment as discussed in “Muni-bond ETFs in a state of flux:” Investors starved for yield continue to stuff cash into exchange-traded funds that …
Income Investing: An ETF That Buys CEFs
Forbes featured an interesting article titled “Fixed-Income ETF For Income And Gains.” Let’s listen in: This fund kicks out a decent yield, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some decent capital appreciation down the road. We have heard of closed-end funds buying exchange-traded funds as part of their portfolio; it only makes sense. After all it is a fast …