YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE:

Recent columns have dealt with Closed-End Bond Funds, especially munis, that sell off at year-end and are bought back after the new year. Last Friday, on the Nightly Business Report, the CEF guru - Thomas Herzfeld - was interviewed about these and, although he echoed my comments, he did have different funds to recommend: symbols JQC,HTD,PIF,SCD,PBF,EVG, and HIX. Also, in Barron's over the holiday weekend, Bill Gross of PIMCO also made mention of this tax-loss occurrence, citing his own funds (which are not at a discount) and VKA, which is.This anomaly occurs again , usually in the March/April timeframe, so one should use their Technical tools for entry and exits, although 6% tax-free isn't a bad hold.
Not much changed in the Sentiment picture during the quiet week, with some improvement by the CBOE put/call ratio to 62, the McClellan Oscillator moving up through the zero line to 16; the AAII Bears improved a bunch up to 28.2, as the Bulls pulled back to 41.
The real standout was Public to Specialist shorting which shot up to a 12-month, even 5-year high of 5.68 - unless this is some kind of glitch number by IBD. It could also reflect yearend window dressing, but it shares the caution with the CBOE number.
Happy New Year - here's hoping for the Santa Claus rally this week and into next.

With record numbers of dollars coming out of Money Market Funds, mostly into the crowded trade of short term bonds, anyone who has a minimal knowledge of covered call options and/or an interest in hedging stock market exposure might want to check out: brentleonard.com for an alternative strategy that is low-risk as well as highly rewarding. For those of you wanting more details and actual trading results, a new book is available for $14.95 at Amazon.com: Zero (IN)Tolerance

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YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE: