Templeton Global Total Return Fund (TGTRX) Class A

Templeton Global Total Return Fund (TGTRX) is a popular world bond mutual fund. It invests in fixed and floating rate debt securities and debt obligations (including convertible bonds) of governments, government-related or corporate issuers worldwide. This fund has a high yield for income.

This bond fund is managed by Michael J. Hasenstab and Sonal Desai. The current yield is 7.86%. It has an expense fee of 1.01%. This class A fund has a sales load of 4.25%. It has $8.3 billion of assets. You can invest in this fund with $1,000 initial investment.

TGTRX Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: 09/30/2008
• Ticker Symbol: TGTRX
• CUSIP: 880208889
• Beta (3yr): 0.65
• Rank in category (YTD): 15%
• Category: World Bond
• Distribution Yield: 7.86%
• Capital Gains: -
• Expense Ratio: 1.01%
• Net Assets: $ 8.3 billion
• Number of Years Up: 5 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 year

Top 8 Preferred Stock ETFs in 2015

Find top 8 preferred stock ETFs in 2015. These best exchange traded funds are First Trust Preferred Securities and Income ETF, PowerShares Financial Preferred fund.

Best Preferred Equity Funds

Preferred stock funds invest mainly in preferred stocks and perpetual bonds. These portfolios tend to have more credit risk than government or agency backed bonds. The fund has an effective duration longer than other bond portfolios. These portfolios hold more than 65% of assets in preferred stocks and perpetual bonds.

These top ETFs are sorted based on its year to date return performance (up to July 19, 2015). You can find this best ETF funds review from this article. Other fund information can be found below such as expense ratio, Morningstar rating, fund’s NAV, holdings, yield, etc.

Top 8 preferred stock ETFs in 2015 are:

1. First Trust Preferred Securities and Income ETF (FPE)
2. PowerShares Financial Preferred ETF (PGF)
3. PowerShares Variable Rate Preferred ETF (VRP)
4. PowerShares Preferred ETF (PGX)
5. SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock ETF (PSK)
6. iShares US Preferred Stock ETF (PFF)
7. Market Vectors Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF (PFXF)

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

• 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

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%.

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.	Name	Perf Week	Perf Month	Perf Quart
1	Silver	11.43%	-6.36%	-30.43%
2	Metal Fabrication	10.66%	6.98%	-6.85%
3	Basic Materials Wholesale	8.81%	-0.67%	-18.09%
4	Food Wholesale	8.40%	6.24%	7.08%
5	Gold	8.02%	-10.86%	-30.60%
6	Electronics Stores	6.03%	-4.80%	0.26%
7	Auto Parts Stores	5.22%	8.06%	13.51%
8	Residential Construction	4.95%	2.31%	8.39%
9	Aluminum	4.68%	-6.91%	-36.40%
10	Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing	4.61%	-1.15%	1.71%
11	Building Materials Wholesale	4.48%	4.20%	-5.47%
12	Rubber & Plastics	4.10%	3.78%	4.10%
13	Appliances	4.06%	3.87%	-5.46%
14	Oil & Gas Pipelines	3.91%	-7.66%	-16.47%
15	Independent Oil & Gas	3.54%	-7.47%	-20.70%
16	Rental & Leasing Services	3.28%	-2.48%	-12.93%
17	Pollution & Treatment Controls	3.11%	-3.23%	-8.77%
18	Diversified Utilities	2.99%	-0.50%	-3.74%
19	Toys & Games	2.93%	-1.81%	-0.12%
20	Home Furnishings & Fixtures	2.90%	4.50%	11.46%
21	Drug Related Products	2.90%	5.75%	2.36%
22	Technical & System Software	2.85%	5.67%	5.35%
23	Home Improvement Stores	2.81%	4.78%	3.78%
24	Networking & Communication Devices	2.72%	2.21%	0.22%
25	General Building Materials	2.64%	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.	Company	Ticker	Perf Week	Perf Month
1	Coeur Mining, Inc.	CDE	35.66%	-22.96%
2	Endeavour Silver Corp.	EXK	27.01%	0.58%
3	First Majestic Silver Corp.	AG	24.09%	-18.08%
4	Great Panther Silver Ltd	GPL	20.03%	5.32%
5	Silver Standard Resources Inc.	SSRI	19.44%	1.91%
6	Hecla Mining Co.	HL	17.30%	-9.21%
7	Pan American Silver Corp.	PAAS	15.33%	-9.66%
8	Silvercorp Metals Inc.	SVM	15.23%	-4.56%
9	MAG Silver Corp.	MVG	7.73%	9.86%
10	Silver Wheaton Corp.	SLW	7.01%	-4.09%
11	Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.	FSM	2.97%	-14.77%

The 14 best metal fabrication stocks in 2015 are:

No.	Company	Ticker	Perf Week	Perf Month
1	Precision Castparts Corp.	PCP	18.89%	19.69%
2	Highway Holdings Limited	HIHO	14.32%	2.36%
3	Constellium N.V	CSTM	7.34%	-32.24%
4	SIFCO Industries Inc.	SIF	7.30%	-12.28%
5	ARC Group Worldwide, Inc.	ARCW	6.30%	-23.03%
6	Shiloh Industries Inc.	SHLO	4.66%	-3.66%
7	Tenaris S.A.	TS	4.16%	2.55%
8	Metalico Inc.	MEA	4.08%	2.00%
9	A. M. Castle & Co.	CAS	4.08%	-41.24%
10	Carpenter Technology Corp.	CRS	2.87%	2.20%
11	Haynes International, Inc.	HAYN	1.81%	-10.89%
12	Mueller Industries Inc.	MLI	1.17%	-7.39%
13	Valmont Industries, Inc.	VMI	0.68%	-6.30%
14	Graham Corporation	GHM	0.17%	-6.03%

Top 20 gold stocks in 2015 are:

No.	Company	Ticker	Perf Week	Perf Month
1	McEwen Mining Inc.	MUX	32.48%	12.80%
2	Seabridge Gold, Inc.	SA	24.61%	4.66%
3	Rubicon Minerals Corporation	RBY	20.67%	-4.67%
4	Silvercrest Mines Inc.	SVLC	20.00%	15.91%
5	Eldorado Gold Corporation	EGO	18.31%	5.58%
6	Alamos Gold, Inc.	AGI	18.30%	-17.91%
7	Yamana Gold, Inc.	AUY	17.65%	-13.04%
8	Sandstorm Gold Ltd.	SAND	15.51%	-9.58%
9	Entree Gold Inc.	EGI	15.38%	-3.81%
10	IAMGOLD Corp.	IAG	14.10%	4.71%
11	Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp.	XPL	12.22%	-1.79%
12	Lake Shore Gold Corp.	LSG	12.00%	-9.86%
13	Comstock Mining, Inc.	LODE	11.61%	22.55%
14	NovaGold Resources Inc.	NG	11.58%	12.66%
15	New Gold, Inc.	NGD	11.33%	-17.22%
16	Exeter Resource Corporation	XRA	9.60%	4.38%
17	Barrick Gold Corporation	ABX	9.09%	-16.88%
18	AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.	AU	9.08%	-21.58%
19	B2Gold Corp.	BTG	8.57%	-17.99%
20	Franco-Nevada Corporation	FNV	8.54%	-0.94%

Top stock issues are:

• Indices are going up.
• Oil is down.

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.

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)

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:

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)

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

• 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