A mutual fund that replicates the performance or strategy of an existing mutual fund or index through the use of derivatives. Clone funds were very common in Canada, where, until a legislative change in mid-2005, investors were limited in the amount of foreign investment they could have in their Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP). For example, suppose a Canadian investor wanted to buy an S&P 500 index fund (a foreign investment) for his RRSP but had no more room for foreign content. To get around the foreign-content restrictions, he or she would have purchased an S&P 500 clone fund, which replicated the performance of the S&P 500 but was classified as a Canadian security because it was composed of derivatives trading in Canada.
In finance, cash reserves primarily refers to two things. One is a type of short-term, highly liquid investment that earns a low rate of return (perhaps 3% annually) such as investment company Fidelity's mutual fund called Fidelity Cash Reserves. This is where some individuals keep money that they want to have quick access to. The other type of cash reserves refers to the money a company or individual keeps on hand to meet its short-term and emergency funding needs. Watch: Building An Emergency Fund The commonly recommended eight-month emergency fund that individuals are advised to have is a type of cash reserves. Individuals hold their cash reserves in bank accounts or in short-term, stable investments that are not likely to lose value so that they can withdraw these funds or sell these investments at any time without losing money, regardless of how well the stock market is performing. An individual's cash reserves might consist of money in a checking account, savings account, money-market fund or money-market account, and short-term Treasury Bills and CDs. Individuals and businesses that lack sufficient cash reserves can resort to credit, or in extreme cases may be forced into bankruptcy.
An international mutual fund with a portfolio that consists entirely of securities, generally stocks, of companies located exclusively in a given country. Investors should be aware that country funds often show up in performance tables with some spectacular results and, because of this phenomenon, will attract a lot of investor attention. However, along with this type of performance also comes a high level of risk and price volatility, especially in developing countries, which are usually categorized as emerging markets. In this instance, a fund's portfolio may be concentrated in a small number of issues with very low market liquidity.Even in developed markets like Europe, putting investment funds in a single-country fund means that you are subjecting your risk-return expectations to a relatively narrow market environment.
A sector of the economy that consists of businesses that sell nonessential goods and services. Companies in this sector include retailers, media companies, consumer services companies, consumer durables and apparel companies, and automobiles and components companies. It is possible to invest in all the consumer discretionary companies at once by purchasing shares of a consumer discretionary mutual fund or exchange-traded fund such as Vanguard's Consumer Discretionary ETF. This sector performs better when the economy is doing well. Consumer discretionary is the opposite of consumer staples, which consists of businesses that sell necessities like food and drugs.
Distribution stock refers to a large block of a security which is sold into the market gradually in smaller blocks rather than in a single large block. This is typically done to avoid inundating the market with the security and driving down the average selling price of the securities. It is often necessary for large investment funds to employ traders to watch the market and gradually liquidate significant holdings of securities at the best prices possible. These traders employ a number of techniques to sell distribution stock over time. If a trader is successful, he or she can sell a large position over a period of days, weeks or months without depressing prices or tipping off others to the presence of a large seller in the market.
A pricing situation that occurs with a closed-end mutual fund when its market price is currently lower than the net asset value of its components. Discounts can occur in times where the market has a pessimistic future outlook and fund investors have started to sell their holdings. Also known as "discount to NAV". This phenomenon only occurs in closed-end funds. Open-end funds, on the other hand, are not as affected by supply and demand because they are bought and sold at prevailing net asset values.While a discount NAV could be an indication that the underlying assets in a fund will dip in value, it could also be a temporary market over-reaction. Moreover, the fund manager may decide to buy back shares of the fund to remove the discount and restore the fund's value back to its net asset value
A law passed by Congress with the intent of making savings and loan institutions more competitive. The best known of its many provisions was a section that enabled these so-called thrifts to offer money market deposit accounts with no interest rate ceiling, allowing them to compete more effectively with money market mutual funds for capital.The Act also raised the ceiling on their direct investments in nonresidential real estate from 20-40% of assets, and their consumer lending from 20-30% of assets. The Act is more formally known as the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act after its sponsors, Congressman Fernand St. Germain and Senator Jake Garn. Although welcomed at the time, critics say that the Act led to or exacerbated the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s. They argue that - by raising the thrifts' cost of funds and allowing greater diversification in their loan activities - the thrifts were both forced and encouraged to take on more assets with greater risk in relatively unknown areas. Many thrifts were ill-equipped to manage these assets, and a significant portion eventually went sour.
An investment trust that invests in a predefined portfolio of bonds and/or stocks that have been professionally selected by the company. Similar to some classes of mutual funds, these trusts are closed-ended and are not actively managed. The securities in the portfolio are fixed, and units can only be sold after the initial buying phase. These units tend to have a predefined life of a handful of years, after which they are liquidated and the proceeds are returned to the investors. A defined portfolio can trade at different prices throughout the day. Units of a defined portfolio are priced by supply and demand, which can lead to discrepancies in pricing from the net value of its underlying assets. Mutual funds can be out of sync with their net asset values (NAV), but are only priced once a day at the NAV as of the close of trading.