We had a nasty car accident late last night that I responded to (I was not in the accident, it was a fire department call) and so I am off to a late start.
A reader left a comment saying that he was reconsidering CNBC based in part to the value I attributed to the Gradient coverage. I apologize, I was be sarcastic. I find nothing but entertainment value in this. As an investment matter I find it to be a complete waste of time. It only matters to a very narrow slice of the investment community and Charlie Gasparino, who felt it necessary to continually interrupt his colleague, Herb Greenberg, to the point of almost not making his point.
As to why I watch CNBC, friendly heckles notwithstanding, there is certain news that is easier to just hear without having to spend time reading. For example I think the GM news is worth knowing but I haven't read anything about it. I don't own the stock so I just need to generally know what is going on, I don't need every detail. This is a time management issue. The other point is that in some interviews I can glean info about process from other people. I write to share my process and I want to hear about other people's process.
Another reader asked about whether the Japan Smaller Company Fund (JOF) is a good way to play Japan and how to go about choosing a closed end fund. Well, right or wrong, mostly wrong, I don't own Japan and have no plans to buy. Another reader suggested iShares Japan (EWJ) or iShares Topix (ITF) as better ways because there is no discount or premium issue to worry about. The correlation between EWJ and ITF is almost exact. Over the last year JOF has been much more volatile than EWJ but has outperformed by more than 10%. Over the last two years JOF has lagged by 10%. Over the last three years JOF has outperformed by 50% and over the last 4 years JOF has outperformed by 90%.
None of that provides forward looking analysis but sets a reasonable pattern that either the managers know what they are doing, small cap is often a better place to be than large cap (this has been the case in the US too) or both? That does not guarantee the future of course.
JOF has a wild premium/discount history that is tough for me to explain but it has calmed down lately and now has a 6.5% premium. I tend to not be concerned with premiums less than 5%. You can decide for your self whether 6.5% is too big for you.
Wikinvest Wire
5 comments:
Roger, I hope you don't mind me asking an off topic question. I own TIP, Lehman inflation protected bonds etf. It has been going down and not hasn't paid distributions the past two months. I don't understand either situation. Thanks in advance for any comments, Sharon Masker
...going down because bonds are going down and it owns bonds.
Don't know why it hasn't paid a dividend.
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I checked with ishares and they said there has not beeen enough inflation in the last two months to pay a dividend.
I need to fax over my bills to ishares so that they can see the inflation.
LOL, TIP pays dividends quarterly. Honestly I think TIP is more useful thing for a portfolio than gold etf's. TIP really isn't volatile and it coughs out a small amount of real income each year.
Inflation bonds are even less correlated with the broader markets than normal bonds are.
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