BPSPX Bullish Index Looks Overbought

This post is about the S&P 500 Bullish % Index ($BPSPX). The chart is looking overbought. You can find more information inside.

Looks like thing is very overextended.

$BPSPX

Top Five Popular Mutual Funds

Most people think popularity is one of the most important things in investing. On Bloomberg article on August 16^th week, these top five popular mutual funds are unveil. With the stock market and financial economy in chaos for the past 2 years especially during the period of end of 2008 until early 2009, investors and/or traders have tried to invest in most popular mutual funds as well the cost effective mutual funds.

With the stock market drop around 50-80% of value, most bond mutual fund has increase in value. To no one surprise, the most popular mutual fund is Pimco Total Return. Also, two of index funds from Vanguard also landed in the top five of this list. For complete list the following is top five popular mutual funds.

1. Pimco Total Return
2. American Growth Fund of America
3. Vanguard Total Stock Market
4. American Europacific Growth-A
5. Vanguard 500 Index Fund

PIMCO Total Return Fund

To no one surprise Pimco is number 1 in top 5 popular mutual funds. Pimco Total Return has continuously the leader in bond fund. The mutual fund objective is to seek maximum total return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management. There are various classes for this bond fund whether it is for individual investor or institutional investors. Some may provide better expense ratio and or no load etc. The lead manager is William H Gross also known as Bill Gross since 1987. Bill Gross is a well known bond guru in investing world.
The bond performance is as follows (PTTRX):

• 1 Year: 12.02% per year
• 3 Year: 11.27% per year
• 5 Year: 7.96% per year
• 10 Year: 7.88% per year

The primary portfolio consist of intermediate term investment grade bond either government bond / treasury, mortgage bond, investment grade corporate bond, high yield corporate bond, emerging markets, municipal bond and other instrument. If you choose this fund, please note that some fund classes have a front end sales load of 3.75%.

This fund is also offered in most 401K fund selection. In my 401k account, I can choose Pimco Total Return with PTTRX ticker. This class of fund doesn’t have any load Front End Sales Load. Other tickers of Pimco Total Return fund are: PTTAX, PTTBX, PTTCX, PTTDX, PMBIX, PTSAX, and PRFAX.

Note: PIMCO is an acronym for The Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC.

American Growth Fund of America

As one of the biggest asset mutual fund, no one will surprise with the popular of this American Fund. The fund objective is to provide growth of capital. It also can invest wherever the best growth opportunities may be (about >65% in common stocks & < 25% foreign stocks). This fund also is being offered in various classes for individual investor or institutional. If you choose this fund, please note that some fund classes have a front end sales load of 5.75%.

The fund is managed by James E. Drasdo, lead manager and by portfolio counselor such as Donnalisa P. Barnum, Gordon Crawford, James F. Rothenberg, Gregg E. Ireland et all.
The primary portfolio consists of growth stocks. The top 3 sectors of fund as June 2010 are Oil & Gas energy sector, software technology sector and Metal & mining sector. Top 10 largest equity holdings for this fund include Google, Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, JP Morgan Chase, Barrick Gold, Cisco systems, Union Pacific, Apache, and Suncor.

Vanguard Total Stock Market

The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of the overall stock market in US stock market (MSCI US Broad Market Index). The fund Invests in more than 3,000 stocks representative of the whole U.S. market. As Typical Vanguard fund, Vanguard Total Stock Market also has a low expense ratio.

As a conscious investor, low expense ratio can be a good thing in a long term investment strategy; this means more return for us the investor. The fund is being managed passively by Gerard C. O’Reilly. As typical vanguard fund, this fund is classified as index fund.

The primary portfolio consists of large cap blend stocks. The top 3 sectors of fund as August 2010 are Technology, Financial and Healthcare sector. Top 10 largest equity holdings for this fund include Exxon Mobil, Apple, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, AT&T and Chevron.

American Europacific Growth-A

The fund’s investment objective is to provide long-term growth of capital.  The fund invests primarily in common stocks of issuers in Europe and the Pacific Basin that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in securities of issuers in Europe and the Pacific Basin. If you choose this fund, please note that some fund classes have a front end sales load of 5.75%. The fund is managed by a lead manager, Stephen E. Bepler as well as portfolio counselors.

This fund is also offered in most 401K fund selection. In my 401k account, I can choose American Europacific Fund with REREX ticker. There is no front end load for this fund class. Other tickers of American Europacific Growth fund are: AEPGX, AEPCX, AEGBX, CEUFX, CEUCX, RERCX, RERFX, CEUEX, AEGFX, RERAX, CEUBX, REREX, RERGX, CEUAX, and AEPFX.

The primary portfolio consists of large cap foreign growth stocks. As of August 2010, the top 3 sectors of fund as August 2010 are Financial, Healthcare and Energy sector. Top 10 largest equity holdings for this fund include America Movil, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Bayer, UBS, Daimler, Nestle, Roche, and Softbank.

Vanguard 500 Index Fund - VFINX

This is another vanguard mutual fund offering which tracks S&P 500 index. The investment objective is to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of large-capitalization stocks (i.e. large company). As typical vanguard fund, this mutual fund is also a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is a widely recognized benchmark of U.S. stock market performance that is dominated by the stocks of large U.S. companies. The fund is being managed passively by Michael H. Buek.

The primary portfolio consists of large cap blend stocks. The top 3 sectors of fund as August 2010 are Technology, Financial and Healthcare sector. Top 10 largest equity holdings for this fund include Exxon Mobil, Apple, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, AT&T and Chevron.

Where can I purchase these mutual funds?

Usually you will need mutual fund providers as well as brokerage to buy these mutual funds. Please check the following providers:

1. Fidelity – one stop shop for mutual fund or ETF as well as cash management banking
2. Vanguard – offer various mutual funds that track indexes as well as ETF for free
3. T. Rowe Price – only offer their fund
4. Scottrade – Offer various mutual funds. 3,000 No load & No Transaction Fees (NTF) fund for free and 15,000 mutual funds as well as trading account for $7.00 per trade. You can buy the American Fund family for free and please select no load fund.
5. Etrade – Offer various mutual funds as well as trading account
6. Zecco – Offer various no load mutual funds for $10.00 as well as broker trading account with free 10 trades per month with >$25k balance.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any of these mutual funds. I also have no position in any of these funds. Please do your own research for additional details. Please trade and invest responsibly. Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results.

Other Best Mutual Funds:

• The 10 Best Balanced Funds for the Past Decade (2012)
• Top 40 Popular Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) 2011

Other Charts: BPSPX S&P Bullish % index on September 2010

Looking at the $BPSPX index, the market is back to overbought territory. We should see whether it will stay overbought in couple days especially on RSI and Stochastics.

Nikon S6000 Silver Digital Camera 14.2 MP

Walmart has Nikon S6000 Silver 14.2MP 7X Wide Angle Zoom Digital Camera with Camera Case and 2GB Memory Card for $169 with free shipping. Next lowest on Google Products is $199. Thanks for slickdeals posting.

Specifications:

• Resolution: 14.2 Megapixel
• Light Sensitivity: ISO 100, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO auto (100-400), ISO auto (100-800), ISO auto (100-1600)
• Shooting Modes: Frame movie mode
• Special Effects: Black & White, Sepia, Vivid, Cyanotype, Normal
• Exposure Modes: Program, automatic
• White Balance: Automatic, presets
• Still Image Format: JPEG
• Continuous Shooting Speed: 3 frames per second
• Digital Zoom: 2 x

 Note: It may last long though.

Intraday Observation on Bullish Index BPSPX

This post is about Intraday Observation on Bullish Index (BPSPX) on August 16, 2010. You will find the $BPSPX chart as well.

Currently at 11:46am EST, I observed some interesting phenomena. Stock market wants to go higher and Bond also wants to go higher. This is interesting. Usually, one will go up and the other will go down.

Pros & Cons of Using Vanguard Brokerage

In my previous article, I have described my experience using Vanguard Brokerage Services (VBS) in details. If you want to buy ETFs, you should consider opening a Vanguard Brokerage account.  Opening Vanguard account is fast and easy. Setting up an electronic transfer between my bank checking account and vanguard account is also quick. Buying and selling Vanguard ETF using VBS is free, though there is a limit of 25 trades per year for each ETF. Also there is

So why and why not do you open the Vanguard Brokerage account. The following article will go in depth on advantages & disadvantages opening a Vanguard Brokerage account:

PROS

• Free trades on 46 Vanguard ETFs as well as Vanguard mutual funds.

I can select various selections of ETFs whether it is a bond ETF or stock ETF. Bond ETFs selections include treasury bonds, corporate bonds, and hybrid bonds. For equity ETFs, Vanguard also offers international ETF such as European ETF, Emerging Market ETF as well as Domestic ETF.

• Easy to open an account

I opened my account 2 months ago. It only took me 10 minutes to fill the account application as Vanguard website described. ACH transfer setup is also easy and quick.

• Low expense ratio ETFs and mutual funds

As described above, there is very low expense ratio for most ETFs. Compare to other ETF provider, Vanguard ETFs are very competitive in term of expense ratio. Low expense ratio is very important especially for small investor like me. The highest expense ratio ETF is FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap (ticker: VSS) with 0.40% expense ratio.

• Friendly customer service

I haven’t really deal with any issue with my account. I called the customer service when I just opened my account asking about my electronic transfer. The customer service is very friendly and knowledgeable.

• No limit balance to buy ETF shares.

I can buy the ETF with $150 as long as the stock/ ETF lot is not fractional. For example, VTI costs $57.27. With $150, I can only buy 2 shares of VTI for $114.54 or I can buy 3 shares of VTI for $171.81.

CONS

• $20 account service fees

There is a $20 per year maintenance fees for less than $50,000 account balance. This is more me being picky. If you look at the big picture, $20 is very little. With low expense ratio of each ETF, this fee can take care by itself. However if you are a small investor (<$500), this fee do hurt your bottom line.

• Very difficult to navigate the hidden trading system

I find vanguard trading system is complicated to navigate. Although I’m computer savvy, I find it is difficult to trade through the Brokerage system. The trading system is hidden somewhere in the website. The trade was done through Buy & Sell dropdown menu under Vanguard Brokerage Services > Trade ETFs and stocks. Most stock broker trading system is easily accessible, while Vanguard trading system is more hidden. Unless you notice it early, you will miss the trading system.

• Only Vanguard ETF is free & limitation of 25 trades per ETF

For most people, 25 trades per ETF a year is more than enough. However if you are actively trade (buy and sell) the ETFs, 25 limitation can limit the trade activity.

• Long hold for money transfer

I believe this is due to my account is cash account. Any money ACH transfer from my bank will be held for 10 business days. This can be a hassle if one needs to trade right away. Compare to my fidelity brokerage account, this is almost twice longer. In my Fidelity account, the holding period is only 5 business days.

• Difficult to get a margin account with low account balance

It is not easy to get a Margin account. I applied for a Margin account and rejected due to low balance and low income. I thought this is very strange. I applied margin accounts with various brokerages such as fidelity, just2trade, zecco, and lightspeed; I never get any rejection at all. My thought is Vanguard might not want people to have a margin account to actively using their brokerage to trade their ETFs or other stocks. As you know, with margin account anyone can just trade with just sell fund. So VBS is more suitable to long term investor or buy and hold investor.

• No after hour trading

If you prefer to trade after hour, vanguard doesn’t offer any AH account currently. You might need to choose other brokerage such as just2trade

Vanguard ETFs

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Vanguard other than I use their brokerage to trade ETFs. Please do your own research for additional details. All information is as updated as August 9, 2010. Please trade responsibly.

Vanguard Brokerage Services Review (VBS)

This is my third article about brokerage review. In my previous article, I have provided reviews about Just2Trade and Zecco brokerage. In this article, I’ll review Vanguard Brokerage Services also known as VBS. Vanguard is known for low cost mutual fund since the expense ratio is usually lower than most mutual fund provider. Not until recently, Vanguard will not be my first choice to trade. The commission for trading is $7.00 per trade for first 25 trades and $20 for subsequent trades. However trading Vanguard ETFs is free, for any account balance. This is a great choice for most passive investor.

Background

Vanguard Research

Vanguard was established on 1975 by John Bogle. John Bogle is known for his creation of index fund for investor. The current headquarter is located at Malvern Pennsylvania USA. It currently uses its own clearing Vanguard Brokerage Services as their clearing / asset custodial. Vanguard Brokerage Services, member of FINRA & SIPC, holds and clears all Vanguard client assets. All Vanguard accounts are insured under SIPC (up to $500,000 / $250,000 cash balance) and supplemental Lloyd’s of London coverage (up to $250 million) provided by its own clearing firm. What are the details?

Vanguard type of accounts

Vanguard Brokerage Services offer Stock, ETF, Bond, Mutual Fund, and CD. As mentioned above, the commission fees for trading is $7.00 per trade up to 25 trades and $20 for subsequent trades. The best deal of using Vanguard is their offering of ETF and Mutual fund. You get free trade to buy or sell vanguard ETF up to 25 trades per year for each ETF. The following is the details fees related to Vanguard brokerage Services:

• Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, foreign securities, insurance, commercial paper
• Market Orders: Free & $7.00 up to 25 trades per year, subsequent $20.00.
• Limit Orders: Free & $7.00 up to 25 trades per year, subsequent $20.00
• Mutual Funds: $35.00 for transaction-fee funds. NTF funds available.
• Options: $30.00/trade+$1.50/contract
• Minimum to Open: $3000 ($0 VBS)
• Account Inactivity Fee: $0.00 though $20.00/yr for maintenance
• Account Maintenance fee: $20.00/year (balance < $50K)
• ACAT In/Out: $0.00
• Maximum Margin Rate: Unknown

How to open Vanguard Brokerage Services account?

Opening account is very straight forward by filling its online application. Most people will get their account information within 10 minutes after application submission. To apply for margin account, option trading account and Money Market Sweep Account, you will need to fill separate form. You need to mail in the forms for this application. For foreigner, you might need to check with Vanguard customer services. It is possible to open an account with filling the application form manually.

My Experience

Main account page

Opening Vanguard account is fast and easy. It took me 10 minutes to fill the application online and open my account. ACH electronic transfer also can be setup through online easily. Vanguard also offers various mutual funds as well as ETF for my account. One of the most famous things with vanguard is the low expense ratio of the funds. This can be very significant for long term investor most of the funds have lower than 0.50% expense ratio. For example Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) only has 0.07% expense ratio. This means if you have invested $10,000 in this ETF, your expense for holding this ETF is only $7.00. There are currently 46 ETFs are offered by Vanguard.

Pros

• Free trades on 46 Vanguard ETFs as well as Vanguard mutual funds.
• Easy to open an account
• Low expense ratio ETFs and mutual funds
• Friendly customer service
• No limit balance to buy ETF shares.

Cons

• $20 account service fees
• Very difficult to navigate the hidden trading system
• Only Vanguard ETF is free & limitation of 25 trades per ETF
• Long hold for money transfer
• Difficult to get a margin account with low account balance
• No after hour trading

If you need more details about the advantage & disadvantage of opening Vanguard brokerage account, please check my next article. I think using Vanguard Brokerage account is suitable for people who will do buy and hold of Vanguard ETFs. If you look to trade ETFs actively, I will advise to use other brokerage such as fidelity or Zecco (10 free trades per month with $25,000 balance).

Other people complaints from research 

Other complaints about Vanguard are:

• Long wait time for customer service to buy corporate bond through their Fixed Income desk
• Vanguard doesn't let you cancel mutual fund orders.
• Difficult to navigate through their website
• No mobile app for trading

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Vanguard other than I use their brokerage to trade ETFs. Please do your own research for additional details. All information is as updated as August 9, 2010. Please trade responsibly.