The Conservative Portfolio climbed 0.64% in August.
August was a good month for U.S. stocks and bonds, a crummy month for …well just about everything else around the world. So far, September is not turning out as peachy.
The S&P 500 was up 1.45% in August, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.81% and the small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 3.61%. Unfortunately for many fund investors these days, foreign stocks fell about 4%, with emerging market stocks falling around 8% (although much of this was just the U.S. dollar staging a comeback). For much of the last two years, fund investors have been piling into foreign funds. Longer-term government bonds performed well, climbing 2.3% as investors ran from higher-risk investments. The total bond market as measured by now barely breathing Lehman Brothers was up around 0.95%.
Our Powerfund Portfolios returns ranged from 0.22% to 1.59% for the month. Our main performance drags in August were foreign and global funds. They were generally down except for newly added Artisan Global Value (ARTGX), which posted a 2.88% gain. We’ve been running our portfolio light in foreign stocks and bonds lately. That move has been helping our returns; however, our recent move back in to Japan has proved to be a little early so far.
In addition to the ongoing collapse in all things lending-related, the big story recently in the market is the sharp drop in any investment that could be categorized as “alternative.” In fact, if it was an investment touted for its diversification benefits, it was probably down in August. At the top of the list would be oil, which now seems to be dropping in price almost every day regardless of OPEC cuts or hurricane activity. Bubbles…they just have a mind of their own.
Harbor Bond (HABDX) climbed 0.85%, a move more in line with the overall bond market in August. Bill Gross' move into higher-yield bonds has hurt the fund recently, but his large stake in Fannie and Freddie debt performed well when the government stepped in and saved the troubled agencies. (But that’s looking ahead to September).
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) seems to need the market to go down for it to go up. While the flat return over the last twelve months certainly beats the 11% loss to the S&P 500 during the same time period, we’re not seeing that steady climb we’d like to see in any fund that is short and long. Nevertheless, this fund is among the best long short mutual funds around. The fund was down 1.67% for the month.
Healthcare is finally on a winning streak. The Healthcare Select SPDR (XLV) was up 2.02% in August and 1.66% over the last three months compared to an almost 8% drop in stocks. Apparently investors like the fact that big healthcare names don’t have to worry about ‘rolling over’ their short-term commercial paper or their CDO portfolio…
The Aggressive Portfolio climbed 1.18% in August.
August was a good month for U.S. stocks and bonds, a crummy month for …well just about everything else around the world. So far, September is not turning out as peachy.
The S&P 500 was up 1.45% in August, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.81% and the small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 3.61%. Unfortunately for many fund investors these days, foreign stocks fell about 4%, with emerging market stocks falling around 8% (although much of this was just the U.S. dollar staging a comeback). For much of the last two years, fund investors have been piling into foreign funds. Longer-term government bonds performed well, climbing 2.3% as investors ran from higher-risk investments. The total bond market as measured by now barely breathing Lehman Brothers was up around 0.95%.
Our Powerfund Portfolios returns ranged from 0.22% to 1.59% for the month. Our main performance drags in August were foreign and global funds. They were generally down except for newly added Artisan Global Value (ARTGX), which posted a 2.88% gain. We’ve been running our portfolio light in foreign stocks and bonds lately. That move has been helping our returns; however, our recent move back in to Japan has proved to be a little early so far.
In addition to the ongoing collapse in all things lending-related, the big story recently in the market is the sharp drop in any investment that could be categorized as “alternative.” In fact, if it was an investment touted for its diversification benefits, it was probably down in August. At the top of the list would be oil, which now seems to be dropping in price almost every day regardless of OPEC cuts or hurricane activity. Bubbles…they just have a mind of their own.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) seems to need the market to go down for it to go up. While the flat return over the last twelve months certainly beats the 11% loss to the S&P 500 during the same time period, we’re not seeing that steady climb we’d like to see in any fund that is short and long. Nevertheless, this fund is among the best long short mutual funds around. The fund was down 1.67% for the month.
Healthcare is finally on a winning streak. The Healthcare Select SPDR (XLV) was up 2.02% in August and 1.66% over the last three months compared to an almost 8% drop in stocks. Apparently investors like the fact that big healthcare names don’t have to worry about ‘rolling over’ their short-term commercial paper or their CDO portfolio…
Harbor Bond (HABDX) climbed 0.85%, a move more in line with the overall bond market in August. Bill Gross' move into higher-yield bonds has hurt the fund recently, but his large stake in Fannie and Freddie debt performed well when the government stepped in and saved the troubled agencies. (But that’s looking ahead to September).
After July’s monumental 20.14% jump, SPDR Biotech (XBI) lost 6.18% in August. We’re definitely watching for a sale here, but investors are in generally favoring anything a country mile from the financial services highway pileup. And that means healthcare.
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The Conservative Portfolio climbed 0.64% in August.
August was a good month for U.S. stocks and bonds, a crummy month for …well just about everything else around the world. So far, September is not turning out as peachy.
The S&P 500 was up 1.45% in August, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.81% and the small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 3.61%. Unfortunately for many fund investors these days, foreign stocks fell about 4%, with emerging market stocks falling around 8% (although much of this was just the U.S. dollar staging a comeback). For much of the last two years, fund investors have been piling into foreign funds. Longer-term government bonds performed well, climbing 2.3% as investors ran from higher-risk investments. The total bond market as measured by now barely breathing Lehman Brothers was up around 0.95%.
Our Powerfund Portfolios returns ranged from 0.22% to 1.59% for the month. Our main performance drags in August were foreign and global funds. They were generally down except for newly added Artisan Global Value (ARTGX), which posted a 2.88% gain. We’ve been running our portfolio light in foreign stocks and bonds lately. That move has been helping our returns; however, our recent move back in to Japan has proved to be a little early so far.
In addition to the ongoing collapse in all things lending-related, the big story recently in the market is the sharp drop in any investment that could be categorized as “alternative.” In fact, if it was an investment touted for its diversification benefits, it was probably down in August. At the top of the list would be oil, which now seems to be dropping in price almost every day regardless of OPEC cuts or hurricane activity. Bubbles…they just have a mind of their own.
Harbor Bond (HABDX) climbed 0.85%, a move more in line with the overall bond market in August. Bill Gross' move into higher-yield bonds has hurt the fund recently, but his large stake in Fannie and Freddie debt performed well when the government stepped in and saved the troubled agencies. (But that’s looking ahead to September).
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) seems to need the market to go down for it to go up. While the flat return over the last twelve months certainly beats the 11% loss to the S&P 500 during the same time period, we’re not seeing that steady climb we’d like to see in any fund that is short and long. Nevertheless, this fund is among the best long short mutual funds around. The fund was down 1.67% for the month.
Healthcare is finally on a winning streak. The Healthcare Select SPDR (XLV) was up 2.02% in August and 1.66% over the last three months compared to an almost 8% drop in stocks. Apparently investors like the fact that big healthcare names don’t have to worry about ‘rolling over’ their short-term commercial paper or their CDO portfolio…
The Aggressive Portfolio climbed 1.18% in August.
August was a good month for U.S. stocks and bonds, a crummy month for …well just about everything else around the world. So far, September is not turning out as peachy.
The S&P 500 was up 1.45% in August, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.81% and the small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 3.61%. Unfortunately for many fund investors these days, foreign stocks fell about 4%, with emerging market stocks falling around 8% (although much of this was just the U.S. dollar staging a comeback). For much of the last two years, fund investors have been piling into foreign funds. Longer-term government bonds performed well, climbing 2.3% as investors ran from higher-risk investments. The total bond market as measured by now barely breathing Lehman Brothers was up around 0.95%.
Our Powerfund Portfolios returns ranged from 0.22% to 1.59% for the month. Our main performance drags in August were foreign and global funds. They were generally down except for newly added Artisan Global Value (ARTGX), which posted a 2.88% gain. We’ve been running our portfolio light in foreign stocks and bonds lately. That move has been helping our returns; however, our recent move back in to Japan has proved to be a little early so far.
In addition to the ongoing collapse in all things lending-related, the big story recently in the market is the sharp drop in any investment that could be categorized as “alternative.” In fact, if it was an investment touted for its diversification benefits, it was probably down in August. At the top of the list would be oil, which now seems to be dropping in price almost every day regardless of OPEC cuts or hurricane activity. Bubbles…they just have a mind of their own.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) seems to need the market to go down for it to go up. While the flat return over the last twelve months certainly beats the 11% loss to the S&P 500 during the same time period, we’re not seeing that steady climb we’d like to see in any fund that is short and long. Nevertheless, this fund is among the best long short mutual funds around. The fund was down 1.67% for the month.
Healthcare is finally on a winning streak. The Healthcare Select SPDR (XLV) was up 2.02% in August and 1.66% over the last three months compared to an almost 8% drop in stocks. Apparently investors like the fact that big healthcare names don’t have to worry about ‘rolling over’ their short-term commercial paper or their CDO portfolio…
Harbor Bond (HABDX) climbed 0.85%, a move more in line with the overall bond market in August. Bill Gross' move into higher-yield bonds has hurt the fund recently, but his large stake in Fannie and Freddie debt performed well when the government stepped in and saved the troubled agencies. (But that’s looking ahead to September).
After July’s monumental 20.14% jump, SPDR Biotech (XBI) lost 6.18% in August. We’re definitely watching for a sale here, but investors are in generally favoring anything a country mile from the financial services highway pileup. And that means healthcare.