Big Discounts in Several Closed-End Funds

The stock market selloff in March 2000 proved to be the start of a long decline. The final slump in March 2003 turned out to be the bottom of the bear market and a great time to invest.

So far the jury's still out on the selloff of March 2006. But if you see the recent falls as a buying opportunity, you might as well grab, say, 10% off, instead of 5%.

A week ago, I predicted that market turmoil would throw out some great discounts in the closed-end funds, and so far this has proved correct.

To recap: Closed-end funds are professionally managed investment vehicles, much like open-end mutual funds, except that they issue only a fixed number of shares. People who want to put money in, or take it out, have to buy or sell those shares on the market as they would stock in a company.

The bottom line: When the market tanks, those shares can fall well below their investment value and give you a bargain.

Looking to put some money into the China region following the turmoil of the last two weeks? Take a look at the (CHN Quote)China Fund (CHN), which is independently managed and one of the longest-established U.S. vehicles for investing in the area. Since the end of January, the net asset value per share -- in other words, the underlying value of its investments -- has actually risen 55 cents to $35.14, as of Thursday's close, according to calculations from Nuveen Investments(JNC Quote).