Reader Nitin submitted an article from the NYT written by Floyd Norris titled “Credit Crisis? Just Wait for a Replay.” It tries to look beyond the Subprime debacle by trying to answer the question “What if it’s not just Subprime?” It’s an interesting read and makes you look at other potential problem areas. This is not meant to dwell on …
How To Make A Mortgage CDO
2007 was the year where most investors became acquainted with a variety of new terms created by Wall Street, some of them which by now have reached infamy. CDOs, RMBSs, SIVs and many others made it to the front pages of every financial newspaper and web site. The better known ones are CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations), which have been around …
Sunday Musings: A New Real Estate Book
In the face of only negative real estate news for most of this year, as a result of the Subprime/credit crisis, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) managed to dispense any kind of information related to the topic with a positive undertone. I am not sure if that was out of sheer ignorance or a motivation to rally the troops. …
ETFs or CEFs: What’s The Difference?
Recently, a reader asked for clarification about the differences between Closed End Funds (CEFs) and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The WSJ describes the features as follows: “Both exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds are baskets of stocks, bonds or other investments that typically trade throughout the day on an exchange. Traditional mutual funds, in contrast, are typically priced just once a …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 12/27/2007
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpThe assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister, along with weak housing data, pulled the major indexes slightly lower. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has moved to +4.67% above its long-term trend line (red) as the chart below shows: The international index dropped to -1.62% below its own …
A Different View
With 2007 fast coming to a close, you will find the media gearing up for a variety of market forecasts and predictions ranging from the plausible to the downright outrageous. Be prepared to be fed this information on an almost daily basis for the next few weeks. Most of this “advice” is useless as I have written about before. Nevertheless, …