January 24, 2015

Will Oil Stocks Outperform Airlines Stocks in 2015?

Will oil stocks outperform airlines stocks in 2015? No one knows this answer. However based on probability, oil stocks should outperform airlines stocks in 2015 due to their value. Top performing stocks in week 4 of 2015 are Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, Major Airlines, etc.

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 1.62%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 2.66%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 0.94%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 1.05%.

Oil vs. Airline Stocks

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 4, 2015 (January 19, 2015 – January 25, 2015) are:
    Airline vs Oil Stocks
  1. Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing 11.45%
  2. Major Airlines 11.32%
  3. Regional Airlines 10.10%
  4. Diversified Communication Services 9.96%
  5. Publishing – Books 9.43%
  6. Specialty Eateries 8.88%
  7. Photographic Equipment & Supplies 7.99%
  8. Catalog & Mail Order Houses 7.73%
  9. Synthetics 7.44%
  10. Internet Information Providers 6.74%

January 23, 2015

Top Performing Bank Loan Mutual Funds 2015

Bank loan mutual funds invest mainly in floating rate bank loan taken on by corporations or companies. Bank loan funds typically have little interest rate risk due to its shorter duration. These funds may provide high yield income for investors.

Floating Rate Funds

The top performing list is sorted based on the 3 month performance up until Jan 22, 2015. Investors can find the review and other fund information such as expense ratio, fund manager, yield, turnover rate, sales load, top holdings, top sectors, etc.

Top performing bank loan mutual funds 2015 are:
    top bank loan funds
  1. Highland Floating Rate Opportunities Fund (HFRAX)
  2. DoubleLine Floating Rate Fund (DLFRX)
  3. First Trust Short Duration High Income Fund (FDHAX)
  4. Sound Point Floating Rate Income Fund (SPFRX)
  5. Transamerica Floating Rate Fund (TFLAX)
  6. PIMCO Senior Floating Rate Fund (PSRPX)

January 22, 2015

Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK)

Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) is an international stock exchange traded fund. This index ETF uses its assets to purchase stocks of companies located in major markets of Europe. This fund will invest in companies located in Austria France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and more.


This equity fund is tracking the return of the FTSE Developed Europe Index since 2013, before it is tracking MSCI Europe Index. This equity fund has high potential for growth, but also high risk.

VGK Fund Profile

    Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK)
  • Fund Inception Date: 03/04/2005
  • Ticker Symbol: VGK
  • CUSIP: 922042874
  • Rank in category (YTD): 37%
  • Category: Europe Stock
  • Yield: 3.16%
  • Capital Gains: -
  • Expense Ratio: 0.10%
  • Total Assets: $ 14.0 billion
  • Annual Turnover Rate: 28%
Updated May 2017

The fund manager is Gerard C. O'Reilly since 2008. It has a low expense fee of 0.10%. The current dividend yield is 4.28%. The share price is valued at $53.68. This popular ETF has large assets of $18 billion.

January 21, 2015

Best Performing Short Term Government Bond ETFs 2015

Short term government bond ETFs are investing in high quality U.S. treasury bonds with short duration such as 1-3 years. These taxable exchange traded funds are less volatile than long duration bond funds. The yield from this fund is also smaller than other bond funds due to its shorter duration.

Popular Bond ETFs

These top short government ETFs in 2014 are sorted based on its 1 year return. You can find the fund details and review below. Some of these ETFs can be bought for free from variety of brokerages such as Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and Vanguard.

Best performing short term government bond ETFs 2015 are:
    Government Bond ETFs
  1. SPDR Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (SST)
  2. Vanguard Short-Term Government Bond ETF (VGSH)
  3. iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)
  4. Schwab Short-Term US Treasury ETF (SCHO)
  5. PIMCO 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury ETF (TUZ)

January 20, 2015

Top American Funds Mutual Funds 2015

American funds are part of Capital Group. It is a private firm with offices throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. American funds provide actively managed stock and bond mutual funds. As one of the largest investment companies in the world, the firm offer varieties of products such as mutual funds, retirement account, 529 plan, etc.

We review rankings from Morningstar, Lipper, Zacks, TheStreet.com, U.S. News, and Standard & Poor’s. You can learn from our methodology from variety of our previous articles.

Popular American Funds

You can find these popular American Funds for different sectors such as U.S. stock fund, international stock fund, municipal bond fund, balanced fund, target date fund, taxable bond fund. Depend on your risk tolerance; you may pick and choose from this best mutual funds list.

Top American Funds mutual funds 2015 are:

January 19, 2015

Best Performing US Equity Closed End Funds

Find the best performing US equity closed end funds in 2015. This list is sorted based on its 1 year total return up to January 18, 2015.

US Stock Funds

The US equity funds are investing in U.S. companies’ stocks. These funds are typically less volatile than international stock funds. You can find the fund review below.

Best performing US general equity closed end funds in 2015 are:
    Top US Stock Closed End Funds
  1. Denali Fund (DNY)
  2. Boulder Total Return Fund (BTF)
  3. Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund (JCE)
  4. Boulder Growth & Income Fund (BIF)
  5. Adams Express (ADX)
  6. Guggenheim EW Enhanced Equity Fund (GEQ)
  7. Tri-Continental Corporation (TY)
  8. Source Capital Inc (SOR)

January 18, 2015

Top Precious Metals, REIT, Utilities Stocks

The gold & silver stocks are still out performing in week 3 of 2015. Other top performing sector stocks of weeks 3, 2015 are healthcare REIT, utilities, etc.

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of -1.22%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of -1.48%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of -1.25%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of -0.75%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 3, 2015 (January 12, 2015 – January 18, 2015) are:
    top gold & value stocks 2015
  1. Gold 8.12%
  2. Long Distance Carriers 8.07%
  3. Silver 5.53%
  4. Publishing - Books 4.14%
  5. REIT - Healthcare Facilities 3.99%
  6. Beverages - Brewers 3.44%
  7. Basic Materials Wholesale 3.35%
  8. Processing Systems & Products 3.26%
  9. Consumer Services 3.18%
  10. Diagnostic Substances 2.96%

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