Various What Nots

I had a slew of questions come in. The answers are yes, yes, no and 7. Thanks for stopping by.

I guess I'm in a mood today?

I had a few comments about my post on GCS. First, something that no one called me on was the wrong symbol for Exxon. I typed MOB, the old symbol for Mobil Oil, yikes. There was a question on the yield. If you look at Yahoo it says it yields 11% but that includes gains paid out. The actual dividend is about 1% per ETFconnect.

A reader asked for other ideas for commodity access. I would say any of the things I have been writing about all this time. There are various ETFs and common stocks that obviously provide access. Longtime reader George pointed out that for the last year (I looked at two years) GCS has done quite well. I questioned GCS as being the best way to capture the effect. If I wasn't clear, it does capture the effect but I don't think it is the best way to capture it. Of course I may wrong.

I want to learn more about Tek Cominco (TCK). It is not a new company but is new to the NYSE. To be clear, I have not studied the name, know very little and am not a buyer. I have no idea if anyone should buy it or not.

Long time reader Londoner asked for my take on the new ETFs filed for by Powershares. Obviously it is too early to really know anything but a couple of them do look interesting. I have no idea if I am a buyer, it is just too early. The private equity fund proposed gives people a chance to replicate some of what is being done at the Yale endowment fund. I'm not sure if that it necessary or appropriate for the typical retail sized portfolio and per the article I linked to it does seem a little complex.

The problem that some of these rotation ETFs create (read the article to know what I mean) is that holders need to more closely monitor the holdings in these funds. If the one of these has 20% financials today and zero next quarter, you would need to make changes elsewhere to stay diversified. This does not make the new funds bad, it just creates work, IMO.

Another reader asks what foreign bond funds help if the dollar falls. Well they all do. There are plenty of OEFs and CEFs to choose from. I'll hold off on naming names on the off chance someone would buy one without doing proper homework.

A reader asked how I think foreign stocks would do vs. a weak dollar and in a US recession. Foreign, as an asset class, would likely do well for US based investors against a weaker dollar. A recession requires more specific country selection. I would expect countries that are dependent on exporting to the US to feel our recession more than others.

Lastly I made a joke about no other brother combos in the capital market blogosphere. Adam Warner chimed in that his sister will be starting a blog of her own soon.