August 17, 2015

Vanguard Balanced Index Fund (VBINX) Investor Shares

Vanguard Balanced Index Fund (VBINX) is a popular balanced mutual fund. This investor shares fund invests in stocks and bonds. It also provides dividend yield for income.

The fund objective is to track the performance of a broad, market-weighted bond index and a benchmark index that measures the investment return of the overall U.S. stock market. This mutual fund is using 60% of its assets to track the investment performance of the CRSP U.S. Total Market Index and approximately 40% of its assets to track the investment performance of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index.

VBINX Fund Profile

    Vanguard Balanced Index Fund (VBINX) Investor Shares
  • Fund Inception Date: November 9, 1992
  • Ticker Symbol: VBINX (Investor Shares)
  • CUSIP: 921931101
  • Beta (3yr): 0.92
  • Rank in category (YTD): 48%
  • Category: Moderate Allocation
  • Yield: 1.81%
  • Capital Gains: 0%
  • Expense Ratio: 0.23%  
  • Net Assets: $ 26.50 billion
  • Number of Years Up: 17 years
  • Number of Years Down: 5 years

August 15, 2015

Silver & Gold Stocks are making a comeback in 2015

Silver & gold stocks are making a comeback in 2015. Should you invest in them now? Top stock market industries during week 33, 2015 are silver, metal fabrication, gold, etc.

Top Stock Industries

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 0.73%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 0.09%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 0.67%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 0.52%.
Gold & Silver Stocks are Going Up
Stock market highlights for week 33 are:
  • Google creates a new holding company, “Alphabet”.
  • Oil is still going lower. WTI was closed at $42.23.
  • Berkshire Hathaway will buy Precision Castparts for $32 billion.
Top 25 stock industries in week 33, 2015 (August 10, 2015 to August 16, 2015) are:

No.NamePerf WeekPerf MonthPerf Quart
1Silver11.43%-6.36%-30.43%
2Metal Fabrication10.66%6.98%-6.85%
3Basic Materials Wholesale8.81%-0.67%-18.09%
4Food Wholesale8.40%6.24%7.08%
5Gold8.02%-10.86%-30.60%
6Electronics Stores6.03%-4.80%0.26%
7Auto Parts Stores5.22%8.06%13.51%
8Residential Construction4.95%2.31%8.39%
9Aluminum4.68%-6.91%-36.40%
10Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing4.61%-1.15%1.71%
11Building Materials Wholesale4.48%4.20%-5.47%
12Rubber & Plastics4.10%3.78%4.10%
13Appliances4.06%3.87%-5.46%
14Oil & Gas Pipelines3.91%-7.66%-16.47%
15Independent Oil & Gas3.54%-7.47%-20.70%
16Rental & Leasing Services3.28%-2.48%-12.93%
17Pollution & Treatment Controls3.11%-3.23%-8.77%
18Diversified Utilities2.99%-0.50%-3.74%
19Toys & Games2.93%-1.81%-0.12%
20Home Furnishings & Fixtures2.90%4.50%11.46%
21Drug Related Products2.90%5.75%2.36%
22Technical & System Software2.85%5.67%5.35%
23Home Improvement Stores2.81%4.78%3.78%
24Networking & Communication Devices2.72%2.21%0.22%
25General Building Materials2.64%6.68%6.34%

Best Stocks Return

Looking into best weekly stocks can provide an insight what stock market will bring for the next session. Retail or institutional investors may want to rotate to this sector to avoid bad returns. Can growth stocks finally make the comeback? Will value stocks continue to be the winner? Some great sectors in 2015 are drug, health care, grocery, consumer, etc.

Top 11 silver stocks in 2015 are:

No.CompanyTickerPerf WeekPerf Month
1Coeur Mining, Inc.CDE35.66%-22.96%
2Endeavour Silver Corp.EXK27.01%0.58%
3First Majestic Silver Corp.AG24.09%-18.08%
4Great Panther Silver LtdGPL20.03%5.32%
5Silver Standard Resources Inc.SSRI19.44%1.91%
6Hecla Mining Co.HL17.30%-9.21%
7Pan American Silver Corp.PAAS15.33%-9.66%
8Silvercorp Metals Inc.SVM15.23%-4.56%
9MAG Silver Corp.MVG7.73%9.86%
10Silver Wheaton Corp.SLW7.01%-4.09%
11Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.FSM2.97%-14.77%
The 14 best metal fabrication stocks in 2015 are:

No.CompanyTickerPerf WeekPerf Month
1Precision Castparts Corp.PCP18.89%19.69%
2Highway Holdings LimitedHIHO14.32%2.36%
3Constellium N.VCSTM7.34%-32.24%
4SIFCO Industries Inc.SIF7.30%-12.28%
5ARC Group Worldwide, Inc.ARCW6.30%-23.03%
6Shiloh Industries Inc.SHLO4.66%-3.66%
7Tenaris S.A.TS4.16%2.55%
8Metalico Inc.MEA4.08%2.00%
9A. M. Castle & Co.CAS4.08%-41.24%
10Carpenter Technology Corp.CRS2.87%2.20%
11Haynes International, Inc.HAYN1.81%-10.89%
12Mueller Industries Inc.MLI1.17%-7.39%
13Valmont Industries, Inc.VMI0.68%-6.30%
14Graham CorporationGHM0.17%-6.03%
Top 20 gold stocks in 2015 are:

No.CompanyTickerPerf WeekPerf Month
1McEwen Mining Inc.MUX32.48%12.80%
2Seabridge Gold, Inc.SA24.61%4.66%
3Rubicon Minerals CorporationRBY20.67%-4.67%
4Silvercrest Mines Inc.SVLC20.00%15.91%
5Eldorado Gold CorporationEGO18.31%5.58%
6Alamos Gold, Inc.AGI18.30%-17.91%
7Yamana Gold, Inc.AUY17.65%-13.04%
8Sandstorm Gold Ltd.SAND15.51%-9.58%
9Entree Gold Inc.EGI15.38%-3.81%
10IAMGOLD Corp.IAG14.10%4.71%
11Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp.XPL12.22%-1.79%
12Lake Shore Gold Corp.LSG12.00%-9.86%
13Comstock Mining, Inc.LODE11.61%22.55%
14NovaGold Resources Inc.NG11.58%12.66%
15New Gold, Inc.NGD11.33%-17.22%
16Exeter Resource CorporationXRA9.60%4.38%
17Barrick Gold CorporationABX9.09%-16.88%
18AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.AU9.08%-21.58%
19B2Gold Corp.BTG8.57%-17.99%
20Franco-Nevada CorporationFNV8.54%-0.94%
Top stock issues are:
  • Indices are going up.
  • Oil is down.

August 14, 2015

Top 10 Equity Precious Metals Mutual Funds in 2015

Find best equity precious metals mutual funds in 2015. The top funds are U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund, First Eagle Gold Fund.

Gold & Silver Funds

Precious metals sector has been performing poorly for the past 4 years. In 2015, this sector has been lagging other sectors. Whether it is a bear market again, investors need to observe this sector more closely. As one of the precious metals, gold is among the top investment for most investors. The other precious metals include silver, palladium, and platinum.
Top 10 Equity Precious Metals Mutual Funds in 2015

The following top performing gold mutual funds are sorted based on its year to date performance in 2015. You can buy these funds for your investment brokerage account or retirement account (traditional IRA or Roth IRA). You may also invest in 401k plan if this gold fund is available for investing.

Top 10 equity precious metals mutual funds in 2015 are:
  1. U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX)
  2. U.S. Global Investors World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX)
  3. First Eagle Gold Fund Class A (SGGDX)
  4. Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio Fund (FSAGX)
  5. Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund Class A (FKRCX)
  6. Vanguard Precious Metals And Mining Fund (VGPMX)
  7. Gabelli Gold Fund Class AAA (GOLDX)
  8. Gabelli Gold Fund Class A (GLDAX)

August 13, 2015

Agricultural Chemicals Stocks

Agricultural chemicals stocks are part of basic materials stock sector. Agricultural chemical companies develop and sell agricultural fertilizers, nutrients, and pesticides. They also sell others industrial products. Agricultural chemical companies are usually structured as big corporation.

These agricultural chemical companies may provide dividend yields. The yield may vary widely and can be volatile due to changing commodity prices. The sector offers slightly above-average dividend yields.

Agricultural Chemicals Companies List

An agricultural chemical is any chemical or supplement that is applied to agricultural land to enhance crop yields. Farmers can maximize their production by enhancing soil with fertilizers or preventing disease using fungicides. Some companies have taken this development so far as to genetically alter seeds to prevent disease and resist insects.

Agricultural chemicals companies are:
    Agricultural Chemicals Stocks
  1. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DD)
  2. Monsanto Company (MON)
  3. Syngenta AG (SYT)
  4. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (POT)
  5. The Mosaic Company (MOS)
  6. Agrium Inc. (AGU)
  7. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF)
  8. Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL)
  9. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG)
  10. Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. (TNH)

August 12, 2015

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG)

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) is a popular stock exchange trade fund. This equity ETF invests in large-capitalization growth stocks. This fund is tracking the performance of the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index.

This Vanguard fund has a low expense fee of 0.09%. With assets of $18.96 billion, it has a dividend yield of 1.21%. This investment fund also has a low annual holdings turnover rate of 9%. This index fund is passively managed by Vanguard Equity Investment Group.

VUG Fund Profile

    Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG)
  • Fund Inception Date: 01/26/2004
  • Ticker Symbol: VUG
  • CUSIP: 922908736
  • Rank in category (YTD): 70%
  • Category: Large Growth
  • Yield: 1.21%
  • Capital Gains: -
  • Expense Ratio: 0.09%
  • Total Assets: $ 18.96 Billion
  • Average Volume: 682k

August 11, 2015

Top 6 High Yield Municipal Bond Closed End Funds 2015

Find top 6 high yield municipal bond closed end funds 2015. These best muni bond funds are Nuveen Muni High Income Opportunity Fund, MFS High Yield Municipal Trust.

Best High Yield Muni Funds

High yield municipal bond funds invest mainly in low quality municipal debts. These bond funds may provide high yield income for you. The yield may be tax free from federal income tax and possibly state income tax.

Whether you should invest in these top performing municipal bond closed end funds, you need to do details research. You can buy these CEF funds using your brokerage for your investment account, retirement account, etc.

These investment funds are managed actively by the fund manager(s). Find the fund review below. The funds are sorted based on its performance in 2015 (up to August 7, 2015).

Top 6 high yield municipal bond closed end funds 2015 are:
    High Yield Municipal Bond Closed End Funds
  1. Nuveen Muni High Income Opportunity Fund (NMZ)
  2. MFS High Yield Municipal Trust (CMU)
  3. MFS Municipal Income Fund (MFM)
  4. MFS High Income Municipal Fund (CXE)
  5. Pioneer Municipal High Income Fund (MHI)

August 9, 2015

Oil is down, what stocks are up during week 32, 2015?

Oil is still going down. What stocks are moving up then during week 32, 2015? Top stock market industries are home health care, multimedia & graphics software, etc.

Top Stock Industries

Stocks CrashThis post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of -1.18%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of -1.65%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of -1.65%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of -2.54%.

More: Rotate To Banks And Hospitals Stocks

Top 25 stock industries in week 32, 2015 (August 3, 2015 to August 9, 2015) are:

No.NamePerf WeekPerf MonthPerf Quart
1Home Health Care7.73%17.46%33.66%
2Building Materials Wholesale7.05%-1.43%-6.91%
3Multimedia & Graphics Software4.88%5.83%10.04%
4Rubber & Plastics3.07%3.96%2.76%
5Major Airlines3.06%7.19%-3.13%
6Internet Software & Services2.39%4.20%5.62%
7Diversified Investments2.32%2.78%0.28%
8Housewares & Accessories2.24%7.25%8.04%
9Regional Airlines1.98%8.68%-2.71%
10Specialized Health Services1.97%3.33%4.99%
11Beverages - Soft Drinks1.71%5.33%4.21%
12Steel & Iron1.66%-1.90%-19.77%
13Photographic Equipment & Supplies1.46%20.86%25.25%
14Diversified Communication Services1.43%6.43%5.55%
15Staffing & Outsourcing Services1.35%0.02%1.10%
16Resorts & Casinos1.32%6.87%9.51%
17Confectioners1.19%9.23%13.02%
18Personal Services1.17%7.50%9.88%
19Beverages - Wineries & Distillers1.15%2.35%7.25%
20Diagnostic Substances1.11%12.98%17.42%
21Personal Products1.09%2.88%0.63%
22Food Wholesale0.89%-0.64%0.45%
23Business Equipment0.87%1.26%-7.26%
24Electronics Wholesale0.84%5.88%-2.67%
25Auto Parts Stores0.82%5.65%9.48%

Best Equities Performance

Looking into best weekly stocks can provide an insight what stock market will bring for the next session.

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