Today we are about to dine on pizza because I am getting bored with Chinese food, however cheap and good. Before the lunch I update the Global-Investing.com model portfolios. Closed positions may be viewed by all who will note that despite the flat US market YTD our closed positions are up over 25%. To learn the current positions you need to be a paid subscriber. To view the spreadsheets more easily, please click the “printer-friendly button.”
The proof of the global investing edge is not only with our portfolio selections. It is even shown by our started portfolio of closed-end and exchange-traded funds. If outside the USA they are mostly doing well, but because they are an investment vehicle for trigger-happy Americans, many funds are now at an unusual double-digit discount from their net asset value, marking fear of foreigners and panic over Putin. No, the Russians are not about to march into Germany, which is where we are best prepared to counter an offensive. They are not letting young Kim restart the Korean War even if South Koreans mock his hairstyle (while northerners try to copy it.)
So it’s a good time to buy European closed-end funds.
The is a change in the advice column from last week. I have withdrawn my sell on speculative DeNA, DNACF or JP:2432. The reason is an article I read in yesterday’s New York Times Business Section about its founder, Tamoko Namba, who still sits on the board and used to be the CEO. She is expected to resume being head of the company soon. Ms. Namba, who resigned as CEO when her husband developed terminal cancer in 2011, is that unheard of rarity in Japan, a female former CEO. She is also the largest shareholder of DeNA and sits on its board.
There is a bit of female solidarity involved. Ms. Namba, a Harvard MBA , worked as a  McKinsey partner until 2009 when she jumped ship to help start DeNA, a sign of entrepreneurial zeal if there ever was one. I am not sticking with the share because I sympathize.
