Choosing a Closed-End Emerging Market Debt Fund

I have been very impressed recently by a stock blog called "Where Is The Yield" (WITY). The writer doesn't tell us his real name but he does claim to be male, 26 years old and living in Israel. Recently, he recommended the newly renamed "Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund". (ESD) He's right to note the discount of 15% being historically high. You can buy this fund for 85 cents for each dollar of assets. Now the fund does have a hefty 1.8% expense ratio which means to me that it better trade at a discount. That's a pretty high fee for a bond fund. I hold an emerging market bond fund as a nice diversifying aspect of my portfolio.

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Index Fund Weighting Problems.

I wrote this as a comment on Phil's World, in response to a very fair critisism of the weighting structure of the Dow Jones Industrial Average called Doubting The Dow. The author, Phil Davis, has it right; price weighting is a silly way to weight an index. His factoids make for interesting reading and good conversation while bored out of your mind watching stock price numbers flash on computer screens. I suppose you could always pull out those factoids at a market geek party. You'd be a hit.

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The Joy of Watching the Dodgers Lose: An Afternoon of Baseball at Shae Stadium

Met's vs. Dodgers. October 4th 2006. One of my best friend since Mr. Kennedy's in the 4th grade, Jennifer Bradley, married Victor Cavallero earlier this year (wedding photos here). Maybe he was trying to get on my good graces but I suspect he's just a nice person. Anyway, he managed to get tickets during his visit to New York and since he probably didn't know anyone else in New York he took me to a playoff game. Loved to watch them Dodgers lose.

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Online Gambling Sites and The United States Remind Me of Google and China

I heard the screams of holders of the publically traded online gambling sites in Europe when the US Congress passed a bill making it a crime to assist in the transfer of funds in the US used for gambling purposes. I have an online gambling account that I had not used in a very long time. I used to live in the UK. I have/had UK bank accounts. The site is actually a betting exchange - like a stock exchange for bets where you don't bet against a bookie but instead other bettors. I was able to bet legally and treated it as a hobby not unlike an online game like World of Warcraft.

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Floating Rate Closed-End Funds at Full Value. (PHD)

Today, I sold all my shares of Pioneer Floating Rate Trust (PHD) at $19.21. According to the closed-end fund association this is just 1.2% below the net Asset value (NAV) of $19.46. It is rare that a closed end fund focused on fixed income trades anywhere near NAV.Pioneer Floating Rate Trust holds mainly floating rate bank loans and bonds. Recently both the yields (due to increase in short term rates) and the prices of these loans have increased. In other words, these loans are priced for a good economy. Additionally, the normal discount on this fund (I bought it at a 10% discount to NAV) have decreased. Since closed end funds usually have high fees (PHD fees are 1.23%), I only see the point in buying closed-end funds at significant discounts.

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Buying Index Options Straddles: October Will Be Volatile

Today is quarter end.   So many things are happenning. 

1. Fund managers are getting new money.
2. I'm guessing some funds of hedge funds are getting notifications of liquidations (on the back of the Ameranth losses).
3. Dow is near new highs
4. Long Term Interest Rates just dropped huge. (ouch - I'm short bonds - whose prices went up)
5. Oil has dropped
6. Commodities have dropped
7. The market has forgotten completely about China and emerging markets

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Seeking Alpha Network and Other Ideas for Offbeat Financial Information and Research

I've been impressed with Seeking Alpha network of many financial bloggers. I often find off beat and well researched and edited information While I'll check the Yahoo Finance message boards (example message board for DELL) for offbeat information they can also be full of spam and non-financial types promoting stocks.I know several of my readers are avid followers of Jim Cramer's Mad Money. Several of the bloggers there summarize and follow his picks.

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Imperial Sugar (IPSU) - Not Just for Sweets Anymore: Ethanol and Energy

My grandmother, an inspiration to me who has been investing and trading stocks since the 1940's, recently bought Imperial Sugar (IPSU). She asked me what I thought, here is my reply.The stock looks cheap at a p/e of 12. Though forward earnings predictions (according to First Call) look much lower - likely based on lower predicitons for sugar prices. So why have sugar prices been going up and why are they expected to decline? Sugar prices have been going up because of ethanol. Sugar is the best thing to make ethonol out of. The only reason the US is making it from corn is because of subsidies. Oh yeah, and the state with the largest influence on presidential election produces huge amounts of corn. And it's farmers receive massive government handouts. Grandma is a very astute stock picker, I hate to go against her. But watch out for sugar prices to drop as oil prices drop. If I were betting on energy prices to increase, I'd rather own an oil company - they are so much cheaper.

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More Conoco-Phillips (COP) All the Way Down

I couldn't help myself. I had to add a little to my Conoco-Phillips position. As oil drops and oil stocks get killed I keep reminding myself that even if Conoco's earnings get cut in half at this price I will own a stock with a p/e of 10. If oil stops falling and stops in the mid 50's then I'll own a stock I bought at a p/e of 7.

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Good Magazine Launch Party New York

Good Magazine New York launch party. This magazine started by Ben Goldhirsh was described by party guest Emily Davidow, “It's like George[magazine] for people who are too young to remember JFK Jr.

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