September 12, 2015

10 Best ETFs for 2016 & 2017

Find top 10 ETFs for 2016 & 2017. Best exchange traded funds are Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend ETF, etc.

Top Funds

Investing in exchange traded funds is easy and popular due to its low cost. For 2016 & 2017, I still think we need to diversify our assets in stock and bond funds. Whether it is an up year or a down year, both stock and bond funds can provide a balance approach.

If you invest in brokerage or retirement account, please check the fund review below. You may find the expense fee, fund’s return, holdings, yield, etc. If you want to find best mutual fund, you can check my previous article as well.

The 10 best ETFs for 2016 & 2017 are:
    10 Best ETFs for 2016 & 2017
  1. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)
  2. iShares Core Total U.S. Bond Market ETF (AGG)
  3. WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend ETF (DES)
  4. PIMCO Total Return Active ETF (BOND)
  5. WisdomTree International LargeCap Dividend ETF (DOL)
  6. First Trust US IPO ETF (FPX)
  7. iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB)
  8. Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VNQ)
  9. WisdomTree Total Dividend ETF (DTD)
  10. PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ)

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF objective is to track the performance of CRSP US Total Market Index. It has dividend yield of 1.84%.

September 10, 2015

AllianzGI NFJ Dividend, Interest & Premium Strategy Fund (NFJ)

AllianzGI NFJ Dividend, Interest & Premium Strategy Fund (NFJ) is a popular closed end fund. It invests in common stocks, convertible and using option to enhance its returns. This fund has a high dividend yield of 12.74%.

The fund managers are Benno J. Fischer and Douglas Forsyth. This fund has $1.5 billion of assets. The fund sponsor is Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. The expense fee is 0.95% per year. The current share price is $14.21. The market price is trading 12.77% discount from its NAV (Net Asset Value).

NFJ Fund Profile

    AllianzGI NFJ Dividend, Interest & Premium Strategy Fund (NFJ)
  • Fund Inception Date: 02/28/2005
  • Ticker Symbol: NFJ
  • CUSIP: 01883A107
  • Rank in category (YTD): 26%
  • Category: US Equity-Covered Call
  • Yield: 12.74%
  • Effective Leverage: -
  • Capital Gains: -
  • Premium/ Discount: -12.77%
  • Base Expense Ratio: 0.90%
  • Net Assets: $ 1.5 billion

September 9, 2015

Top 10 Large Growth ETFs in 2015

Find 20 best large growth ETFs in 2015. These large growth exchange traded funds are investing in big U.S. companies with high growth potential.

Best Large Growth Funds

These large growth funds invest in large U.S. companies that tend to grow faster than other large cap companies. These funds are aiming to invest on companies in rapidly expanding industries in term of earning, sales, book value, and cash flow. These companies also provide little to no dividend yield and have high price ratios.

These best large growth ETFs in 2015 are sorted based on its year to date performance in 2015 (up to August 16, 2015). 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.

Top 10 large growth ETFs in 2015 are:
    Top 10 Large Growth ETFs in 2015
  1. UBS AG FI Enhanced Large Cap Growth ETN (FBGX)
  2. Credit Suisse FI Large Cap Growth Enhanced ETN (FLGE)
  3. First Trust US IPO ETF (FPX)
  4. Columbia Large Cap Growth ETF (RPX)
  5. SPDR MFS Systematic Growth Equity ETF (SYG)
  6. Columbia Select Large Cap Growth ETF (RWG)
  7. iShares Morningstar Large-Cap Growth ETF (JKE)
  8. iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM)

September 8, 2015

Janus Triton Fund (JANIX)

Janus Triton Fund (JANIX) is a popular US stock mutual fund. This fund invests its assets in common stocks selected for their growth potential. This investment fund uses its assets to purchase stocks of small- and medium-sized companies have a market capitalization of less than $10 billion. The fund may also invest in foreign securities, which may include investments in emerging markets.

This fund has $6.9 billion of assets. The fund manager is Jonathan D. Coleman. Its expense fee is 0.84%. The portfolio turnover rate is 30%. The fund has a yield of 0.08%. This class D fund has no sales load. The current share price is $25.29.

JANIX Fund Profile

    Janus Triton Fund | JANIX
  • Fund Inception Date: 02/25/2005
  • Ticker Symbol: JANIX
  • CUSIP: 47103E692
  • Beta (3yr): 0.95
  • Rank in category (YTD): 27%
  • Category: Small Growth
  • Yield: 0.08%
  • Capital Gains: -
  • Expense Ratio: 0.84%
  • Net Assets: $ 17.74 billion
  • Number of Years Up: 8 years
  • Number of Years Down: 1 year

September 6, 2015

Stock Market is in Turmoil for 2015

Is the stock market dead? During week 36, 2015, top stock market industries are memory chips semiconductor, and regional airlines stocks.

Top Equity Industries

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of -3.36%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of -2.99%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of -1.59%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of -2.28%.

Stock market highlights for week 36 are:
    Stock Market is in Turmoil for 2015
  • Stocks are dropping to near low again. Stocks reverse course again and close in negative territory for 2015.
  • China’s slowdown can be felt regionally
  • Fed uncertain to raise or hold interest rates in near term
  • Technology sector may have little impact to China
  • Oil is stabilizing
Top 15 stock industries in week 36, 2015 (August 31, 2015 to September 6, 2015) are:

No.NamePerf WeekPerf MonthPerf YTD
1Semiconductor- Memory Chips4.67%-8.99%-48.18%
2Basic Materials Wholesale2.82%4.92%2.55%
3Regional Airlines1.83%-2.68%-4.27%
4Sporting Activities1.24%-2.01%7.25%
5Tobacco Products, Other0.91%-11.30%19.94%
6Internet Service Providers0.83%0.53%-59.90%
7Apparel Stores0.56%-3.39%1.97%
8Home Health Care0.54%-8.84%23.91%
9Electronics Stores0.37%8.02%4.09%
10Residential Construction0.14%1.42%8.05%
11Paper & Paper Products0.10%-2.38%-7.86%
12General Building Materials-0.06%-2.11%19.25%
13Drug Stores-0.06%-6.74%14.83%
14Textile Industrial-0.10%-7.01%12.52%
15Home Furnishing Stores-0.10%-6.00%-9.89%

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 4 memory chips semiconductor stocks in 2015 are:

No.CompanyTickerPerf WeekPerf MonthPerf Year
1Micron Technology, Inc.MU5.39%-10.15%-48.94%
2SunEdison Semiconductor LimitedSEMI1.27%-6.54%-27.23%
3Rambus Inc.RMBS0.45%1.27%10.11%
4Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc.ISSI0.09%0.87%49.15%
The 8 best regional airlines stocks in 2015 are:

No.CompanyTickerPerf WeekPerf MonthPerf Year
1Republic Airways Holdings Inc.RJET23.02%-13.98%-68.13%
2SkyWest Inc.SKYW7.26%-1.22%90.05%
3JetBlue Airways CorporationJBLU6.37%1.93%89.15%
4Alaska Air Group, Inc.ALK3.65%1.32%68.52%
5Ryanair Holdings plcRYAAY3.21%0.87%36.81%
6Hawaiian Holdings Inc.HA2.79%-1.30%53.52%
7Virgin America Inc.VA2.32%-3.90%-
8Southwest Airlines Co.LUV0.35%-1.35%14.16%
Top stock issues are:
  • Indices are bouncing lower again.
  • Oil is finally catching a bid.
  • Is China in trouble?
  • Bearish Divergence on stock charts gives warning to investors to skip stock markets for a while.

September 5, 2015

Top 8 Tax Advantaged Stock Closed End Funds in 2015

Find best tax advantaged stock closed funds in 2015. Top 8 funds are EV Tax Advantaged Global Dividend Income fund, Nuveen Tax-Advantaged Total Return fund. Investing in these funds may lower your tax bill.

Tax Advantaged Equity Funds

Tax advantaged equity funds invest mainly in dividend stocks. The fund objective is to maximize after-tax returns by investing in dividend stocks. The fund may use active tax management to maximize their return or yield.

While many stock closed end funds distribute a portion of qualified dividends to investors, few focus on these preferential dividends as an integral part of the strategy. Some of these equity funds also manage capital gains and losses in an attempt to make the portfolio tax-neutral from a capital gains perspective.

Best Performing CEFs

Top 8 Tax Advantaged Stock Closed End Funds in 2015The top performing list is sorted based on its 1 year performance (up to 02/25/2015). You can find the fund review, performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, fund’s NAV, management, leverage, fund’s sponsor, premium/discount info, etc.

Top 8 tax advantaged stock closed end funds in 2015 are:
  1. EV Tax Advantaged Global Dividend Income Fund (ETG)
  2. EV Tax Advantaged Global Dividend Opportunities Fund (ETO)
  3. Nuveen Tax-Advantaged Total Return Fund (JTA)
  4. Nuveen Tax- Advantaged Dividend Growth Fund (JTD)
  5. EV Tax Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (EVT)
  6. JH Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (HTD)

September 4, 2015

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) is an Intermediate-Term Bond ETF. The objective is to keep pace with U.S. bond market returns.

This bond fund utilizes its assets to purchase U.S. investment-grade bonds including US Treasuries, and corporate bonds. It offers relatively high potential for investment income. The total net assets are $26.48 billion. The 12-month yield is 2.47%. This top fund also has 0.07% annual expense ratio. The market price is currently traded at 0.03% discount of its NAV.

BND Fund Profile

    Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)
  • Fund Inception Date: 04/03/2007
  • Ticker Symbol: BND
  • CUSIP: 921937835
  • Rank in category (YTD): 93% (YTD)
  • Category: Intermediate-Term Bond
  • Yield: 2.43%
  • Capital Gains: -
  • Expense Ratio: 0.05%
  • Total Assets: $ 33.82 billion
  • Annual Turnover Rate: 0%
Updated May 2017
Morningstar analysts rank this fund with 3-stars rating. The benchmark is Spliced Barclays US Aggregate float Adjusted Index.

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