George Spritzer

30 High Yielding Option Write Ideas for November Option Expiration Friday

Marco~
Are commissions and bid-asked spread included in your calculations?

George

Why Central Securities Corporation Looks Attractive

Eric-
I've listed below some of the CEF's issued in 1929 during the new issue boom.

I know Tri-Continental (ticker:TY) is still around, but I don't think any of the others have survived aside from CET.

Chicago Corp
Mayflower Associates
Tri-Continental Corp.
Shenandoah Corp
Interstate Equities
Central Securities
Blue Ridge Corp
American Equities


On Nov 04 09:21 AM Eric Fox wrote:

> George...it's interesting that CET was probably one of the Closed
> end funds that were part of the 1929 mania that you wrote about here:
>
>
> quantinvestor.wordpres.../
>
>
> I wonder how many others besides CET are still around.

Why Central Securities Corporation Looks Attractive

Last week, CET declared a year-end distribution of $0.55 per share. The dividend is payable December 23, 2009 and shareholders may elect to receive the distribution in stock or cash. The "default" choice if you make no election is to receive more stock.

As CET makes these distributions every year, Plymouth Rock gradually becomes a larger percentage of the NAV. As time passes, CET will trade more and more like Plymouth Rock and less like a diversified fund. The CET management team should consider applying the management fee only to the non-Plymouth Rock assets.

H&Q Healthcare Investors Closed-End Fund Decently Valued

sp1100-
What does this have to do with HQH? They do not invest in banks.


On Nov 16 02:31 PM SP1100 wrote:

> Over 120 banks went bust since 2008 and this is only 8% of all what's
> to come. 99% of this banks went bust on Saturdays and Sundays ( look
> at the dates here: www.fdic.gov/bank/indi...
> ) when markets were closed, because FDIC don't want you to know about
> it's biggest secret: your bank will be next to go bust.
> The problem is that most US banks are dead and FDIC tries to close
> the smallest banks first, leaving big crème de la crème for the desert.
>
> The more banks will go bust the less your deposits will be insured,
> that's why check our RUN ON A BANK list if your bank is there.<br/>shorl.com/frofrujostet...
>
>
> S&amp;P at 1100 is the thing of the moment, biggest runs on a bank
> is more than real.

Advisors Are Hesitant to Jump on ETF Bandwagon

The problem with most ETFs is lack of liquidity. Let's say you are an advisor who wants to invest $2 million of your clients money, and you have a choice between buying a no-load mutual fund or a similar ETF. Here are some reasons why the mutual fund is the better choice for most advisors.
1) The ETF has a bid-asked spread, the mutual fund does not.
2) The ETF has commissions, the no load mutual fund does not.
3) There is no market impact when you buy the mutual fund, but your market orders to buy $2 million of the ETF will move the price against you.
4) With the mutual fund, all of your customers get the same execution price. This may not be possible with the ETF.
5) Some ETFs that are "too" transparent are subject to front running. This is normally not possible with no-load mutual funds.

PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income Fund Looks Overvalued

GlobalTrekker-
At Interactive Brokers, you would have to pay 20% interest for the privilege of selling short PGP. That is too high for me to consider it.
It may be available for shorting at other brokers without paying interest, but you would have to be careful about forced buy-ins at an inopportune time.


On Nov 13 01:02 PM GlobalTrekker wrote:

> Good, straightforward article. PGP is, indeed, over-valued but is
> not that hard to short. It's just not for the faint-hearted. Pimco
> is not all-knowing, the fund just has a perhaps overly loyal following
> that is seduced by the high distribution (I wouldn't call it a dividend)
> and the current mania for commodities/natural resources.
>
> Were I long, I'd sell. Otherwise, I'd look at the recent (one year
> or so) discount/premium profile and see where it is now. If it's
> particularly high by *that* measure, and you have the stomach for
> it, it could be a good short. I am short it now.

PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income Fund Looks Overvalued

Mavericks- I owned AOD for awhile when it sold at a discount to NAV in 2008, but I almost always sell a closed-end fund once it goes to a premium. Some closed-end funds with low expense ratio and low turnover ratio can be good buy and hold investments, but I view the dividend capture funds with high turnover ratios as trading vehicles, and I would only purchase them at above average discounts to NAV.


On Nov 13 09:26 AM mavericks wrote:

> Hmm, seems I missed that last article on overpriced dividend capture
> CEF's. Wondering what your thoughts on AOD are now that it has reversed
> its 20%+ discount into a 20%+ premium one year after you first wrote
> about it.

CEF Weekly Review: Ping Pong, Anyone?

I agree that ADX management should offer voluntary tender offers if the discount stays over 10%. That is a win-win solution for all shareholders.

CEF Weekly Review: Ping Pong, Anyone?

Great review, Joe!

I think there are a few things that would make it hard for an activist to try to close ADX:
- ADX has about $1 billion in assets. The activist would need very deep pockets
- ADX has a long history and some shareholders have a very low cost basis and do not want any taxable events to occur.
- ADX is well managed and has a low expense ratio and low turnover ratio. They do not use gimmicks like managed distributions and they only pay out what the fund actually earns.

I currently own ADX in an IRA account, so I'd get a one time benefit if it were liquidated, but I don't mind if it stays the way it is. That way it keeps on providing opportunities to swing trade it based on mean reversion of the discount.

CEF Weekly Review: Death of a Friend

Joe-
I also miss etfconnect, but let's be fair. CEFconnect does offer some improvements- for example daily price histories of CEF discount/premiums. etfconnect only had monthly series.

Natural Gas ETF Anomaly - Is It Time to Exploit?

There are two problems with UNG. There are three components of return when you invest in commodity futures.
1) Collateral yield: Near zero T-Bill rates do not even cover management fees.
2) Roll yield: Currently about negative 50% a year due to large contango.
3) Projected change in spot price: I expect this to be positive, but maybe not enough to make up for the negative roll yield and low T-Bill rates.

5 Reasons Nokia Is a Good Value

Sher-
You're right. A settlement was reached in late July, but specific financial details were not disclosed. So there is still uncertainty caused in the stock price until we can see the impact of the settlement terms.

Interdependence and This Crisis

Here's an idea that might make sense now- Instead of trying to just regulate Wall street compensation, how about just adding a new income tax bracket of 60% that applies to all income over $1 million.

Some benefits:
1) Reduces compensation of the Wall street bigwigs without affecting lower level employees.
2) It would sharply lower municipal bond interest rates. State and local governments are in dire straits and need all the help they can.
3) It would help real estate prices, since for people in the highest tax bracket the after-tax mortgage rate would be substantially reduced.
4) Help even out the L-curve and stabilize the system. The top 0.1% has been rapidly taking over an enormous share of national income and wealth to the point where the system has become unstable.

RMK Advantage Closed End Fund is Worth a Look

Ben-

1) Much of their portfolio is inactively traded. So they use the bid price for valuation purposes. If you were a vulture investor and tried to buy the bonds in their portfolio directly, you would have to pay the asked price.

2) Look at the NAV values (XRMAX) the first three days after they took over the fund on July 29-
July 29- 2.36
July 30- 2.31
July 31- 2.14
Aug 1 - 2.06

3) They have also been selling off illiquid stuff and buying more liquid stuff whiich has also caused a further haircut in NAV.

WaMu on the Brink

What would a Wamu failure mean to senior debt holders?

With BSC, FRE and FNM the senior debt holders benefited.

George