The Dodd-Frank Financial reform bill is the political response to the financial crisis that began in the fall of 2008. Remember all those sub-prime mortgages designed to get people mortgages who couldn’t qualify under reasonable circumstances? How about the interest-only loans or adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s) designed to get home buyers into a far bigger mortgage than they could afford? Well this bill does little to address that issue.
The bill doesn’t address Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Freddie and Fannie were placed in conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008. At the precipice of the crisis, the Congressional Finance Committee encouraged Freddie and Fannie to absorb most of the subprime mortgages, at one point holding over half of all mortgages, and including all sub-primes. Freddie and Fannie deserve a considerable share of the blame for the crisis, but they continue to have strong political support by the snakes on both sides of the gutter.
Then there is the consumer. When the market went against consumers holding ARM’s and foreclosures skyrocketed, everyone was held accountable. Everyone that is, except the three most culpable parties, Fannie, Freddie, and the consumer.
Politicians became the worst opportunists leveraging their constituents’ personal crisis for political gain. Shame on you, they barked to everyone associated with the mortgage industry, except Freddie and Fannie, for predatory lending practices.
As far as consumers, you know there is no law for reading the fine print or even crazier, living within your means. While no reasonable person wants to see someone suffer or go through the personal pain of a foreclosure, at some point consumers should accept responsibility and stop blaming financial institutions for all their problems. Maybe, just maybe, we can then get the Federal Government to stay out things they don’t do well. But then what would they do with all that free time?
Today’s Markets
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday the central bank is not prepared to consider further stimulus in the near term despite what he called an “unusually uncertain” outlook. These comments led to broad declines in U.S. financial markets as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell in the last two hours of trading to end down 109.43 points, or 1.07%, closing at 10120.53. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.58% to 2187.33.
Instead, Mr. Bernanke didn’t announce any new measures, offering instead a pessimistic outlook. He remained focused on how the central bank will need to tighten conditions to prevent inflation “at some point.”
Worries about the economic outlook outweighed better-than-expected second-quarter earnings from a number of companies, which extended a generally upbeat picture from the U.S. corporate world.
The euro was trading recently at $1.2766, down from $1.2893 late Tuesday in New York, while the dollar slipped against the yen. The 10-year Treasury note was up, pushing its yield down to a recent low of 2.866%. Crude-oil prices slipped below $77 a barrel after a government report showed across-the-board gains in oil and fuel inventories, a reversal after two weeks of tightening supplies.
Today’s Top Performers on the OTCBB
| Company | Symbol | Last | Chg | %Chg | Open | High | Low | Vol | |
| Northport Network | NNWS | 0.50 |  |
0.45 | 900.00% | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 100 |
| CardioGenics Holdi | CGNH | 0.32 | |
0.2801 | 702.01% | 0.30 | 0.60 | 0.30 | 101.38 k |
| Power Air Corp.. N | PWAZ | 0.51 | |
0.43 | 537.50% | 0.089 | 0.51 | 0.089 | 1.99 k |
| Pacific Copper Cor | PPFP | 0.03 | |
0.018 | 150.00% | 0.025 | 0.03 | 0.025 | 55 k |
| Globalink Ltd. | GOBK | 0.05 | |
0.03 | 150.00% | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 65.82 k |
| Mobile Star Corp. | MBST | 0.0049 | |
0.0027 | 122.73% | 0.0049 | 0.0049 | 0.0049 | 94.81 k |
| TBC Global News Ne | TGLN | 0.0002 | |
0.0001 | 100.00% | 0.0001 | 0.0002 | 0.0001 | 5.77 m |
| Encompass Group Af | ECGA | 0.0002 | |
0.0001 | 100.00% | 0.0002 | 0.0002 | 0.0002 | 600 k |
| Capital Resource A | CRRA | 0.006 | |
0.003 | 100.00% | 0.004 | 0.006 | 0.004 | 33 k |
| BlackHawk Fund | BHWF | 0.0002 | |
0.0001 | 100.00% | 0.0002 | 0.0002 | 0.0002 | 1.38 m |
Wednesday’s Newsmakers:
Fund.com’s Majority-Owned Subsidiary, AdvisorShares, Launches First Actively Managed International Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR)
Jul. 21, 2010 (PR Newswire)
NEW YORK, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Fund.com, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: FNDM) said today that its majority-owned subsidiary, AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, a leading sponsor of actively managed ETFs, began trading in the industry’s first actively managed international ETF, the WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF AADR today.
AADR is sub-advised by institutional money manager WCM Investment Management (WCM). BNY Mellon is the world’s largest depositary for American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and will provide the primary benchmark to the Fund as well as expertise within the ADR industry to the portfolio management team. WCM will implement its investment strategy through the use of ADRs. ADRs may be attractive to U.S. investors for accessing international markets and also provide convenience from a trading and settlement perspective.
“WCM Investment Management has experience with this strategy within other investment vehicles that follow this very thoughtful fundamental investment process to construct their portfolios. We are excited to bring investors special access to this unique, first-of-its-kind strategy as well as to this institutional quality investment advisory firm,” said Noah Hamman, CEO and founder of AdvisorShares.
The investment objective of AADR is long-term capital appreciation above international benchmarks such as the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index and the MSCI EAFE Index. AADR strives to provide a high-quality, large-cap growth portfolio for the non-U.S. universe. The portfolio, which includes developed and emerging markets, is purposely very different from international benchmarks and other international funds. WCM achieves this differentiation by concentration (20–to-30 holdings) and an emphasis on traditional growth sectors such as technology, healthcare and consumer staples/discretionary. The AADR portfolio management team seeks to invest in businesses that appear likely to benefit from long-lasting global trends, growing competitive advantages and a superior corporate culture. Finally, WCM recognizes the role valuation plays in investment returns and therefore seeks to pay a reasonable price for companies.
WCM Investment Management President and Co-CEO Paul R. Black said, “At WCM, our investment strategy is driven by timeless principles that we believe are poised to outperform extremely inefficient international benchmarks.”
Black added, “In bringing AADR to market with AdvisorShares, we can now offer our investment philosophy via an exchange traded vehicle, which will be available to those institutional as well as retail investors who ordinarily would not have access to our firm.”
Before investing you should carefully consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting the Funds’ website at www.AdvisorShares.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.
An investment in the AADR ETF is subject to risks, which include concentration risk, foreign securities and currency risk, emerging markets risk, large-cap risk, early closing risk, counterparty risk and trading risk, which can increase Fund expenses and may decrease Fund performance. The Fund is, also, subject to the same risks associated with the underlying ETFs, which can result in higher volatility.
An investment in ETFs is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. The risks associated with each Fund include the risks associated with the underlying ETFs, which can result in higher volatility, and are detailed in each Fund’s prospectus and on each Fund’s webpage. Newly organized, actively managed Funds have no trading history and there can be no assurance that active trading markets will be developed or maintained. The Funds may not be suitable for all investors.
BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index combines the over the counter (OTC) traded ADRs with exchange-listed ADRs bringing transparency to the available universe of American Depositary Receipts, including those issued by many of the world’s premier companies. They are capitalization-weighted and adjusted for free-float utilizing Dow Jones’ current methodology. The MSCI EAFE Index is an unmanaged free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the US & Canada. One cannot invest directly in an index.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the distributor of the AdvisorShares ETFs.
About Fund.com
Fund.com’s subsidiary, AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, creates actively managed ETFs for investment advisers, earning its revenue from a share in the investment advisors’ management fees.
Fund.com also is an online content provider and lead generation platform for investment funds and other financial services providers. Its objective is to engage individual investors and to match their needs with interested fund product providers. The www.fund.com website is approachable to everyday investors and is an educational and research resource. Fund.com also is an education provider.
About AdvisorShares
AdvisorShares is a turnkey platform for investment managers seeking to offer their investment strategy in an actively managed ETF. AdvisorShares works with some best-of-breed money managers to combine their money management expertise with the benefits the ETF structure provides. AdvisorShares provides sales, marketing and educational support to help financial advisors use AdvisorShares ETFs to help them achieve their clients’ investment goals and objectives. AdvisorShares is a leader in actively managed ETFs and is dedicated to investor education. Visit our website at www.advisorshares.com to learn more about us.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Statements in this press release regarding future performance and the potential advantages of the products and services provided by Fund.com, and any other statements about future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words “will,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates,” and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual performance or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements including the Company’s limited operating history and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect results and other significant risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in Fund.com’s periodic reports, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and other forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
PR/Media Relations for Fund.com:
Stern & Co.
Richard Stern
212-888-0044
richstern@sternco.com
SOURCE Fund.com, Inc. Source: PR Newswire (July 21, 2010 – 4:08 PM EDT)
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