Rich Best Although investors and analysts continue to focus on the relentless climb of the stock market and proffering their two cents on its near term direction, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is starting to beat its chest and becoming more difficult to ignore. For the most part, the prospect of inflation has [...]
As the stock market continues its two year surge and long bonds prices slump in response, the PIMCO Total Return Fund (PTTRX), which grew nearly 100% over the last ten years, appears to be receding into the background as investors jump into equity funds. Although it has recovered a portion of its 5% decline in [...]
As a staple among energy shares held by equity mutual funds, ExxonMobil Corporation came through with spectacular results for its fourth quarter as well as 2010 as a whole. In a press release filed by the company, earnings excluding special items increased 57% for the year to $30.5 billion from $19.4 billion the year before. [...]
Since the new year, International Business Machines (IBM) has been on something of a tear. This morning in a Bloomberg News article, the company revealed a software solution (or application as they are more popularly known these days) that could truly revolutionize social networking on a corporate level. Beneficiaries of the solution include Apple for [...]
The Commerce Department released its latest new home sales data today, showing that sales have increased by 17.5% in December of 2010. The increase translates to 329,000 units annually, an important leading indicator for the economy. According to the report at Bloomberg, new home builders have reduced the new-home inventory levels to 6.9 months’ worth [...]
Amidst its efforts to rebuild its reputation, Toyota Motors Corp. issued a recall on 1.7 million vehicles. This latest recall will most definitely irk Toyota President Akio Toyoda who underlined his company’s goal of repairing Toyota’s reputation as a safe and reliable auto maker at the Detroit Auto Show. This latest recall will most certainly [...]
Once a family and financial planner have determined the best financial instrument, it is time to select specific investments to use within the vehicle. For example, establishing a Roth IRA to generate some ‘tax free’ retirement income is only the first step. It will be important to determine how the money within the new account [...]
In a report delivered to Congress on Friday, January 21, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a unified fiduciary standard be adopted by Financial Advisors and Broker-Dealers alike. The 208-page report takes an in-depth view of the retail investment industry and makes careful distinctions between the quality of care that retail investors receive [...]
After the bell on Thursday, January 20, 2011, the Associated Press reported that Google‘s Eric Schmidt would be passing the reins of the company to co-founder Larry Page. Whether or not this change in management will prove positive or negative for the company remains to be seen, but we suspect that the long-term benefits will [...]
In a recent write-up published at Morningstar, Dreyfus Chief Investment Officer, Phil Maisano outlined five key areas that investors should keep an eye on for 2011. Not only does Mr. Maisano’s piece compliment our recent post on Where to Invest in 2011, but it highlights some of the strength behind the company’s actively managed equity [...]
Back in November, we examine some of the holding similarities among top performing equity funds. One of those top holdings was International Business Machines, or IBM, where it appeared in the top holdings of four particular funds. Why this matters is that Bloomberg.com reported today that IBM is going to create what many see as [...]
In our expository look at the holding similarities in top performing equity funds, we saw that a few funds actually shared some overlapping top security holdings as well as the obvious overlaps in sectors (remember, many funds hold Financial Services as a top holding with Industrial Materials being a favorite “second” or “third” top holding). [...]
Of all of the 39 equity funds that we have reviewed so far in 2010, there are some fairly interesting conclusions to be drawn. Now, these funds include domestic, international, emerging markets, dividend and small cap funds that we have reviewed. Overall, however, two overwhelming trends that we noticed are the following: 16 of 39 [...]
Admittedly, November has started off quite slow here at the Mutual Fund Site. But given some of the recent events that we have seen (historic mid-term elections, the news of more quantitative easing also known as QE2), it seems wise on our part to let the dust settle before we start stirring things up again. [...]
Fairholme has taken steps to launch a new actively managed mutual fund, according to recent regulatory filings and this report at Morningstar. This will be Fairholme’s second fund launch this year after opening the doors to the Fairholme Income Fund (FOCIX), a bond fond that holds mostly good corporate debt and a whole bunch of [...]
