Author: CLS Investments
505 posts written by CLS Investments
Hiking the Whites
August 15, 2013
Imp Face looking over Pinkham Notch at the Presidential Range Content provided by Rusty Vanneman, CLS Chief Investment Officer Last weekend I traversed most of the Wildcat and Carter ridges in the New Hampshire White Mountains – in one day. Somehow, I convinced some good friends to join me. It was the latest version of…
Dovish FOMC Statement Gives Bond Market a Breather
August 14, 2013
Content provided by Josh Jenkins, CLS Research/Portfolio Analyst For the first time since March, the bond market was not sent into a tailspin upon the release of the FOMC meeting statement. After each statement released between the April and July FOMC meetings, the 10 year Treasury yield jumped at least 10 basis points over the…
Is Mr. Market Still Relevant?
August 8, 2013
Content provided by Sierra Morris, CLS Research/Portfolio Analyst Mr. Market is an analogy that all Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham scholars are familiar with. The analogy helps to explain the volatility of the market and why it is important to ignore the daily fluctuations and focus on a longer time horizon. The story goes that…
ETF vs. Mutual Fund Costs Examined
August 6, 2013
Content provided by Kostya Etus, CLS Research/Portfolio Analyst The general notion that ETFs are more cost efficient because of on their expense ratios, is not always true. There are additional trading related costs that need to be considered, such as commissions and bid/ask spreads. There are actually various explicit and implicit costs associated with both…
Be Patient with Current Strategies
August 5, 2013
Content provided by Rui Wang, CLS Research/Portfolio Analyst Fund investors tend to chase top performers and abandon bottom ones. According to recent research done at CLS, this strategy is myopic and does not serve an investor’s best interest in the long term. Using Morningstar’s mutual fund database, we collected three years of rolling category return…
Going at it Alone isn’t Always Worth it
July 30, 2013
Content provided by Sadie Brewer, CLS Marketing Communications Specialist The past two months have been a blur. I literally couldn’t tell you what I did yesterday, let alone a few days ago. At some point in May, I could find the exact dates but it’s really not that important. I sold my car, sold my…
Partners Aren’t Always Perfect
July 24, 2013
Content provided by Scott Kubie, CLS Senior Portfolio Manager Last week, my wife, son, and I joined my brother-in-law for a friendly golf competition at the Jaycee Golf Course in Cape Girardeau, MO. Given that none of us play enough golf to be good we decided to play a pair of nine hole, two-person scrambles….
In the Market for a New House?
July 19, 2013
Content provided by Paula Wieck, Manager of Investment Research Looking to buy a new house? Holding off because mortgage rates have climbed over a staggering 1 percent since May? Are you checking mortgage rates daily – and cringing, feeling like you dropped the ball on a great buying opportunity? Here’s something to make you feel…
It’s All About the Quality, Baby
July 17, 2013
Content provided by Matt Santini, CLS Portfolio Manager Blind yield buying has come back to haunt those who have never bothered to peek. And, since investors are rarely alone and adhere to crowdsourcing, the impact that has rippled through the markets has impacted our sacred defensive sectors. Utilities, REITS, telecom, high yielding credit, and preferred…
Two Over-Rated Performance Numbers
July 11, 2013
Content provided by Rusty Vanneman, CLS Chief Investment Officer There are a few performance numbers that investors like to examine, which quite frankly, are over-rated in my opinion. The first is the year-to-date (YTD) return. While admittedly a YTD return may provide some valuable context behind a portfolio’s behavior, it’s easy to overemphasize YTD returns…