In everyday language, we use “chaos” to mean complete disorder or randomness – like a toddler’s playroom after a long afternoon or a desk buried under scattered papers. This kind of chaos implies there’s no underlying order or pattern at all. It suggests a temporary state of disarray that can be resolved or brought back to order.
There is, however, a second use of the term. In chaos theory, “chaos” has a precise and quite different Continue reading
FundAlarm (1996-2011), for which I penned a monthly column, was the site that gave rise to MFO. I was drawn to Fund Alarm long ago by the voice of its founder, Roy Weitz. During the lunatic optimism and opportunism of the 1990s (who now remembers Alberto Vilar, the NetNet and Nothing-but-Net funds, or mutual funds that clocked 200-300% annual returns?), Mr. Weitz and Morningstar’s John Rekenthaler spent a lot of time kicking over piles of trash – often piles that had Continue reading
It’s November!
Had you noticed?
That means so many things, so many changes. It’s the onset of The Golden Quarter, aka Fourth Quarter Holiday Retail Season when an inexplicable sense of panic and social obligation separates consumers from Continue reading
On November 1, 2024, the former AlphaCentric Strategic Income Fund was rebranded as AlphaCentric Real Income Fund with a new sub-advisor, broader strategy, and new expense ratio to accompany its new name.
CrossingBridge Advisors will manage the investment strategy by employing a team approach. Portfolio managers are T. Kirk Whitney, CFA, who joined the firm as an analyst in 2013, Spencer Rolfe, who first joined in 2017, and David Sherman, CIO. CrossingBridge, with over $3.2 billion in assets as of 8/31/24 was Continue reading
On October 15, 2024, Bridgeway Capital launched Bridgeway Global Opportunities Fund (BRGOX), a long/short equity fund that will pursue long-term positive absolute returns while limiting exposure to general stock market risk. Using advanced quantitative modeling, the fund will hold 250-300 long positions and 250-300 short positions. The portfolio is designed with a bias toward quality, value, and sentiment. It will otherwise be neutral as to country, size, sector, and beta. That is, it will shoot for a beta of zero, a net China exposure of zero, and so on.
The fund will be managed by a Bridgeway team led by Co-Chief Investment Officer Jacob Pozharny, PhD. He joined Continue reading
Dear friends,
Welcome to the Samhain / the coming of the dark edition of the Mutual Fund Observer!
October is an interesting month. Traditionally perilous for the financial markets. It begins with the sullen remnants of summer and ends with festivals of the harvest (even for those of us in cities) and of the coming season when nature slips into dormancy. Halloween, whose sales now begin in August and whose iconic ghouls now Continue reading
On October 1, 2024, CrossingBridge Advisors launched CrossingBridge Nordic High Income Bond Fund (NRDCX). The fund will invest in high-income bonds issued, originated, or underwritten out of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Those might be fixed or floating rate bonds, zero-coupon bonds and convertible bonds, and bonds issued by corporations and governments. It will be solely managed by CrossingBridge Advisors.
The managers will seek high current income, and the prospect of some capital growth, within the Nordic bond universe. Within that space, they operate with few externally imposed constraints beyond Continue reading
Dear friends,
Welcome to the September (aka “back to school”) issue of the Mutual Fund Observer. The joyful tumult of which has slightly delayed our launch.
Despair is easy. If you ever want an antidote, drop by Augie at the beginning of September. As many of you know, in my day job, I am a professor of communication studies and director of the Austin E Knowlton Honors Program at Augustana College. I am also an advisor to first-year students. I’ve spent much of the last week meeting with and learning about my new charges. I am amazed by them, defying as they do all of the hysterical media headlines about Continue reading
An indolent portfolio is an investor’s best friend. It is a portfolio designed to be ignored for a year at a time. Why is that a good idea? Two reasons, really. First, almost everything you do with your portfolio will be a mistake. Morningstar’s long-running series of “Mind the Gap” studies looks at the difference between investor’s actual returns and the returns of the funds in which they are invested.
Those annuals routinely show that investors’ returns Continue reading
On September 10, 2024, Research Affiliates will launch its first ETF. Research Affiliates was founded in 2002 by Rob Arnott to provide professional and institutional investors with innovative research and product development. Mr. Arnott is iconic, having published 150 or so research articles that received both attention and rewards. His most extensive work is The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest (2008). Most traditional indexes are capitalization-weighted, so they lock in a large/growth/momentum bias. Arnott notes that the bias may Continue reading