Word: trackers
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...least 19 dividend-oriented funds have been launched since last December, enlarging that universe by a third, reports fund tracker Morningstar. On the radar of these funds are companies like Citigroup and Microsoft, which are dramatically raising dividends. Citi boosted its payout 75%; Microsoft paid its first-ever dividend in March and then doubled it on Sept. 12. Eventually, fund investors will want to seize on this trend. The fund industry isn't exactly making things simple. Even some of the new dividend funds invest in REITs. Others trade actively and could saddle you with a tax liability. Some managers...
...fewer assets perform better, since managers can quickly buy and sell securities. Others say large funds, which have more resources for research and lower expense ratios, are best. Well, here's a conversation stopper: size doesn't matter. A new study by Andrew Clark, senior research analyst at fund tracker Lipper, finds that while small U.S. stock funds sometimes outperform large ones (and vice versa), the bursts of superior returns last only for short periods, then disappear and often aren't statistically relevant--that is, they could happen by chance. So you still need to evaluate a fund by risk...
Want to take advantage of the lower tax rate on stock dividends but don't know what stocks to buy? Mutual-fund firms have created a batch of new funds focused on dividend-paying companies. Fund tracker Morningstar Inc. estimates that a dozen or so such funds, among them Schwab Dividend Equity Fund and Waddell & Reed Advisors Dividend Income Fund, either recently opened or are set to open. These so-called equity income funds, which pay returns to investors through both dividends and (it is hoped) share-price appreciation, have been around for years, although the investment style was eclipsed...
...been a good idea--to get a sense of what the fund manager likes to own. Yet with the typical stock-fund-turnover rate of 105%, that information gets stale fast. "There's no substitute for proven management and low expenses," argues Russ Kinnel, director of research at fund tracker Morningstar...
...dollar--it's down 19% against the euro in the past 12 months--is another driver behind the recent exceptional returns of international-bond funds. These funds on average have returned 16% in the past 12 months, vs. 9% for the average U.S. government--bond fund, according to fund tracker Morningstar. In response, investors have shifted $1.5 billion into international-bond funds this year. Even if the buck stabilizes, the foreign yield advantage makes diversifying this way worthwhile, and funds are the way to do it. The relative attractiveness of any one country's bonds can shift quickly as interest...