There's lots of cash still sitting on the sidelines; both investor cash sitting in bank accounts, money markets and what-have-you, plus cash on corporate balance sheets and while investors continue to pour money mainly into bond funds corporate America is ramping up its acquisitiveness. Merger Monday remains a significant force for early-week gains. And we've had a mildly roller-coaster week since then. With tonight's close most major U.S. indexes are in the black for the year with the S&P 500 index up 0.7% and the Dow squeaking in with a 0.2% gain. Small- and mid-cap stocks are running ahead for the year with the S&P MidCap 400 index up 4.5%. More...
Vanguard's Morningstar Analyst Picks 12/31/2009
jerryg 2010-03-10 12:59:24
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/morningstar/advisor_20100203/#/74
Large Value--no Vanguard Funds
Large Blend--Vanguard Dividend, Vanguard Tax Managed Cap App, and Vanguard Tax Managed G&I
Large Growth--Cap Opp, Primecap, Primecap Core, Select Value
Mid Blend---Vang Midcap More...
Are stop losses prohibited for Vanguard mutual funds?
griffim 2010-03-10 11:43:44
I asked Vanguard about the possibility of entering stop loss orders on mutual funds. The reply said not possible because of SEC rules requiring forward More...
No Load Investor is mildly bullish for 2010
mouser 2010-03-09 13:52:20
FWIW the No Load Investor March issue is mildly bullish for 2010.
Interest rates and corporate earnings suggest a recovery in the financial markets.
Current valuations are More...
Sell. This fund of funds tracks the Morgan Stanley EAFE index by investing in European Index (currently about 70% of assets) and Pacific Index (the remaining 30%). It's similar to Tax-Managed International, which tracks the same index, though that fund buys stocks directly and comes with a higher minimum and more onerous back-end loads. Performance for the two has been virtually identical. Yet both ignore the emerging markets component that one finds in Total International or World ex-U.S. Index. And there's the rub. If you buy into the indexers' credo that one should index "all" markets rather than a slice of the pie, then this fund is a non-starter.
February's markets were marked by an outbreak of swine flu as Greece, one of the European Union's so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), was thought to be near default on its sovereign debt. Meanwhile, Spain reported its seventh straight quarter of declining GDP, which doesn't look particularly promising when compared to strong rebounds in, say, the U.S. (where revised figures showed a 5.9% annualized gain in Q4), Japan or even France. In this month's issue, though bonds remain popular, there is plenty of risk ahead. You need to be prepared for the eventuality of the Fed raising rates, and if you're spending your distributions, what can happen to your initial investment. And in this month's Funds Focus I review the Growth and Income category, specifically index funds versus actively managed funds and which options I believe are best for you. Plus I have a tuition tutorial on 529 plans. In the time since I last covered these plans, Vanguard has made some changes to the ones it directly administers, and more states are now offering the company's funds in their plans. More...
Launched to great fanfare in May 2008, Vanguard's three Managed Payout funds are treading water as investors are looking, but not buying into the concept. More...
Daniel P. Wiener is editor of The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, a monthly newsletter that keeps abreast of recent developments at Vanguard, and the annual FFSA Indepedent Guide to the Vanguard Funds. Through his newsletter and guide book, Dan helps tens of thousands of Vanguard investors choose wisely among more than 100 Vanguard mutual funds. The Adviser is a five-time winner of the Newsletter Publishers Foundation's Editorial Excellence Award. More...
| Models | February | YTD |
| Growth | 2.7% | -0.5% |
| Conservative Growth | 2.5% | -0.3% |
| Income | 1.4% | 0.5% |
| Growth Index | 3.6% | -0.1% |
| The average Vanguard investor |
1.6% | -0.2% |
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