PowerShares Insured National Municipal Bond Portfolio (PZA)

All Comments on PZA

  • commenter
    Xyrus
    Sep 05 02:04 PM
    ETF Update: Healthcare Has a Heartbeat; A Good Time for Muni-Bond ETFs? [view article]
    You missed PVI, which I happen to like because it's less volatile and has a better yield than a MMA.

    ~X~     Reply
  • commenter
    DaleT
    Sep 01 05:46 PM
    My Website
    Municipal Bond ETFs and Closed-End Funds [view article]
    Closed end usually sell at a discount to net asset value, and may come into favor as tax rates go higher. Anyone know a good AMT free closed end intermediate to short maturity closed end fund? Reply
  • commenter
    yourgoldteet
    h
    Jun 02 01:15 AM
    Bond ETFs: Time to Stock Up, As Munis Yield More Than Treasuries [view article]
    Post busted CDOs I'm not sure I'd count on munis always being made good. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but the city of Birmingham almost went into default a few months ago. What was striking about it was not that they ran into trouble, it was that when the bondholders started making threatening noises, Birmingham told them, hey, back off. We're not going to cut staff just to make our bond payments.

    There was actually a quote along those lines from some city official. Maybe he was just the only one running for re-election

    I don't keep up with munis, but what's the plan for keeping credit ratings high now that two major insurers are gone? If their business had been viable seems like they'd still be around.

    Without somebody to take over that role munis yields might not be coming down as far or as fast as people think.

    In fact, if we get a few more Birminghams, and if they can't be bailed, they muni yields may be going up. If one of these cities actually defaults, maybe way up.

    In the brave new world created by the bankers munis may not look quite as attractive side to side with treasuries. At least you know, so far, that you're going to get your money back with treasuries.

    Did I miss something or did somebody come up with a plan on restoring bond insurance for munis? Without it risk premiums may start heading up if we start getting a few defaults.

    And Birmingham may not be the last in line to try that out.

    There's the matter of tax assessments. Anybody who walked away from his house isn't going to be paying taxes on it. And there are going to be plenty of people who had their assessments raised who won't be able to pay either - either because they lost, or will lose a job in the coming months, or because interest rates went up, or because it's time to make more than just interest only payments.

    The cities and states are going to have a hard time just delivering essential services

    We haven't seen the end of write offs from the banks, or any kind of real fallout from the end of the credit party. Just for the heck of it I'll accept the assumption that the U.S. isn't going to go into recession.

    There's still going to be fallout from the steadily increasing total on all those bank write offs and the tightening that's set in.

    Then there's inflation. The Fed seems to have figured out that there is inflation out there - and they're now making noises about no more cuts to stave it off. So there's no help for the hapless homeowner with his adjustable rate, or with stimulus to help him get reemployed if he loses his job. Hope he's got plenty socked away for house payments.

    Just because the Fed has decided that it is not going to acknowledge the contribution of the price of oil to the inflation rate doesn't mean that it is going to change the dynamics of what oil at current levels will do to the economy.

    If the price of oil doesn't come down and stay down soon the mood is going to get a little dark out in those subdivisions that take an hour to drive to work from.

    Maybe they can help move the houses out there by giving away one of those SUVs nobody wants to buy with each one purchased, and keep defaults down, so the folks'll still pay their taxes and the cities can make those bond payments.

    Maybe I've got this wrong, but I thought that the fundamental assumption behind mean reversion was that the world hasn't fundamentally changed. If the variables that affect price are essentially unchanged, then mean reversion should kick in.

    Maybe things haven't changed permanently, but the financial factors that caused the cracks that were heard round the world in the CDO business haven't gone away. Just because the Saudis aren' shovelling money into the banks this week and no major brokerage houses have imploded so far this quarter, I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet.

    I think we may end up wandering around in here for a while     Reply
  • commenter
    Alvin
    May 21 10:25 AM
    Our Run-In With Auction Rate Securities - And What It Taught Me About Markets [view article]
    Hi Fred,
    Who's your broker and does he have any more AA / AAA rated ARS yielding 7-15% for sale? I would be quite happy to hold illiquid bonds for a few months while the issuer tries to rfinance (even years if the yield is 15%!).     Reply
  • commenter
    User 30121
    May 05 03:30 PM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    WHEN DONKEY'S FLY! WHAT THE HELL, BUY THEM, THAT WAY THERE WILL BE MORE SILVER AND GOLD FOR ME! Reply
  • commenter
    Bingo 2
    May 05 01:29 PM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    Muni bonds scare me totally. The basis of their return is local taxation and with the problem in housing, I can not see Muni's as being very secure. Please tell me otherwise so i can jump back into Muni bonds. Reply
  • commenter
    Jake2
    May 05 12:38 PM
    My Website
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    Article plus comments on the article enough to make anyone gun-shy of the whole mess. Reply
  • commenter
    SA Editor
    Eli Hoffmann
    May 05 11:43 AM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    From Dave M.: ""Impending lawsuits"? That makes no sense. The MSA has nothing to do with future lawsuits. In faxt, the MSA protects existing tobacco companies from any possible future competition. Are you reading the article wrong or is their analysis wrong?"

    Thanks for your comment. In a quest for brevity, I misstated the issue. To quote Barron's: "Tax-exempt tobacco bonds are tied to master settlement agreements, which stem from lawsuits against the tobacco companies. And when you have a bond that is backed by an MSA, you basically are only getting the revenue from the domestic tobacco sales, which are diminishing. And you never know about another lawsuit against one of the tobacco companies."

    I have corrected the article to reflect this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!     Reply
  • commenter
    EE
    May 05 11:13 AM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    With M3 growing at over 15% the last 5 years and inflation starting to catch up and then make up for lost time. how can any paper promise including the $ make sense for anyone thinking longer than 90 day trades? The dollar will lose another 50% in less than 5 years. Read Butler and Hommel. investmentrarities.com & silverstockreport.com Butlers April comments and Jan 15...Hommels Feb 6th. There is where wisdom rests. Sell all bonds,notes, and get hard stuff people and industry use. Reply
  • commenter
    Dave M.
    May 05 11:05 AM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    Their analysis of tobacco bonds is suspect. "Impending lawsuits"? That makes no sense. The MSA has nothing to do with future lawsuits. In faxt, the MSA protects existing tobacco companies from any possible future competition. Are you reading the article wrong or is their analysis wrong? Reply
  • commenter
    Richard
    Schweitzer
    May 05 09:43 AM
    Bond ETFs: Time to Stock Up, As Munis Yield More Than Treasuries [view article]
    One must keep in mind that in these articles, Tom Lydon is being INFORMATIVE, not advisory. If you want his (or his firm's) advice, it is available in a different format on other terms.

    If one looks at the technical charts on these securities, it is obvious that they have been and are being accumulated at steady rate, which generally exceeds their pricing trends. Thus, "assets" are building within the holdings of the funds.

    Tom is not saying the info indicates that these will provide good parking places every week, just that more people are parking here.

    Reply
  • commenter
    Egg
    May 04 04:25 PM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    What's the point of buying Munis over Treasury bonds if you're getting less than the rate of inflation in both?

    You are losing real dollars in both year over year, plus paying taxes on your "gains."     Reply
  • commenter
    SA Editor
    Eli Hoffmann
    May 04 12:55 PM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    Thanks Richard, glad you enjoy! Reply
  • commenter
    Richard
    Schweitzer
    May 04 12:28 PM
    Muni Bonds Will Outperform - Barron's Interview [view article]
    You do a great job in summarizing the wheat in many chaff-laden pieces from Barrons, plus the occassional worthwhile side comment Reply
  • commenter
    JohnT
    Apr 24 01:33 PM
    Municipal Bond ETFs and Closed-End Funds [view article]
    I own shares in MIY. I called Blackrock and they told me that 12.32% of the income from the fund is subject to AMT. I have had to pay AMT they last two years and it look like I will have to for some time to come. With Michigan's income tax rate at 4.35%, is it better to put the money in a national AMT-free muni bond fund and pay the Michigan income tax or leave it as is? Reply
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