CHICAGO----Nuveen Investments, a leading global provider of investment services to institutions and high-net-worth investors, today announced that 124 Nuveen closed-end funds had declared regular monthly distributions.
Much has been made about the paralysis of lending by banks in both Great Britain and the United States. Balance sheet repair is certainly a significant part of the credit smackdown that is dominating financial news and creating in some a sense of desperation. The other half of this bitter pill is that..well..no one trusts anyone else. I have the feeling that long after people have forgotten what TARP represented the name Bernie Madoff will stand as a testament to investment fear, gullibility and anger. There are two schools of thought (at least) on the lending issue.
The historic occurrence of closed-end fund discounts reaching lows during year-end proved extremely opportunistic once again. In fact, investors who normally wait for year-end to purchase funds at 15% discounts, the traditional approximate discount floor, were met with levels significantly cheaper numerous times throughout the year.
Interestingly but not surprising, discount levels of funds were blind to asset class, NAV movement, etc. While there was great concern on funds that use leverage, funds that didn’t use leverage were equally as discriminated against. Even funds whose NAV held up incredibly well (for example, the Eaton Vance Risk Managed Diversified...
Stockerblog submits: Time for the quarterly update of the list of stocks, including exchange-listed closed end funds [CEFs], that pay their dividends monthly.
Many income investors are looking for monthly dividend payments to support their income during retirement. Other pre-retirement investors want monthly dividend stocks for their IRAs for faster compounding.
Stockerblog submits: During the last few months, I have provided articles on the stocks, including exchange-listed closed end funds [CEFs], that pay their dividends monthly. Many income investors are looking for monthly payers to support their income during retirement. Some investors want monthly dividend stocks for their IRAs for faster compounding.
This list is now up to 150 different stocks, CEFs, REITs, floating rate funds, and oil income funds [such as Canadian royalty trusts], all of which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange or the American Stock Exchange. I've added over twenty new securities since the year-end update,...
Stockerblog submits: I have added over 25 additional stocks to my list of stocks [including closed end funds] that pay dividends monthly. The list now totals over 125 different monthly dividend payers. Monthly dividend stocks are useful for investors looking for regular periodic retirement income and they are useful for retirement plans due to faster compounding of money. This list includes closed end bond funds, Canadian royalty trusts, real estate investment trusts, oil income trusts, and other income trusts.
Due to requests from readers, I have sorted the list by yield, from highest to lowest. In addition, I...
I visited the Van Kampen website today and noticed that they are offering an open end fund that uses a covered call strategy, the Van Kampen Equity Premium Income Fund. This is the only recently launched open end fund I know of that utilizes a covered call strategy. It will be interesting to see how the performance of this fund compares with that of similar closed-end funds.
For anyone who researches their own investments, the closed-end funds would probably be preferable because they won?t have the big sales charge and the recurring 12b-1 fees of the Van Kampen fund. Plus,...
Geoff Considine (Quantext) submits: After a recent article that I wrote here on Closed-End Funds (CEF?s) that apply the strategy of writing covered calls against their portfolio holdings, I received a number of interesting responses, comments, and questions. My overall impression is that many investors (and potential investors) are somewhat confused about the nature of this strategy. I also note that this strategy is one that a number of wealth managers are suggesting for their clients. I recently listened to a couple of pitches that emphasized the value...
Geoff Considine (Quantext) submits: There has been considerable discussion about closed-end funds that apply the strategy of writing covered calls. Roger Nusbaum has valuable insight into the features and challenges associated with these CEF?s (see articles on call-writing CEFs). The basic idea here is that you have a fund with two sources of income: premiums that you receive for selling call options and the dividend stream that you receive from owning the underlying stocks.
As you start to look at these funds, it seems that there are two...
Jack Willoughby in Barron's(sub. req.) asks why covered call CEFs aren't providing the returns promised to investors who put billions of dollars into these vehicles in the past 18 months (see table below). The four main explanations proffered by Willoughby:
Nature of the beast:Closed-end funds are offered at a premium to NAV at their IPOs; the premium represents the compensation to the underwriters, although few retail buyers understand this. Afterward, closed-ends frequently fall to discounts in the aftermarket.
Lack of investor understanding:Wachovia Securities analyst Mariana Bush says, "We think investors are selling their funds regardless of their NAV performance, to...
The Businessweek dated July 4 has an article (I don't know if I utilized my subscription to access the article) about closed end funds that sell call options to create income, writes Roger Nusbaum. I have written about this product numerous times because I think it can be useful in a properly diversified portfolio.
By Chip Brian Nuveen Equity Premium Opportunity Fund (NYSE:JSN) traded in a range yesterday that spanned from a low of $12.02 to a high of $12.23. Yesterday, the shares fell 1.39%, which took the ...
By Chip Brian SmarTrend's candlestick pattern scanner has detected a bearish harami candle pattern for shares of Nuveen Equity Premium Opportunity Fund (NYSE:JSN). Yesterday's real body is within ...
Nuveen Investments, a leading provider of diversified investment services, today announced the availability of the Nuveen Santa Barbara International Equity Fund (NBQAX). The new fund is Nuveen's ...
By Chip Brian Nuveen Equity Premium Opportunity Fund (NYSE:JSN) traded in a range yesterday that spanned from a low of $13.11 to a high of $13.30. Yesterday's low of the day pierced the 3-day low ...
By Chip Brian SmarTrend's candlestick pattern scanner has detected a bearish engulfing pattern for shares of Nuveen Equity Premium Opportunity Fund (NYSE:JSN) since the stock closed below $13.56 ...
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