The Financial Planner's Briefcase
Top-Rated Closed-End Funds Buy Bonds
TSC Ratings provides exclusive stock, ETF and mutual fund ratings and commentary based on award-winning, proprietary tools. Its "safety first" approach to investing aims to reduce risk while seeking solid outperformance on a total return basis.
The closed-end funds that won the best grades from TheStreet.com Ratings at the end of April invested in fixed income, especially municipal bonds. We issued grades for 634 closed-end funds that had at least one year of trading history as of April 30. Of them, 311 funds earned "buy"-level ratings of B-minus or better.
The Van Kampen Bond Fund (VBF), one of 23 funds we rated A-plus, has returned 14% in the year through April 30. This fund outperformed its peers by holding the investment-grade debt of Wells Fargo (WFC), General Electric (GE), Goldman Sachs (GS) and AT&T (T).
The MFS Intermediate Income Trust (MIN), which gained 11%, buys debt issued by the governments of the U.S., Japan, the U.K., France, Italy and Germany. It also holds the corporate borrowings of Citigroup (C) and ConocoPhillips (COP).
The MFS Government Markets Income Trust(MGF), another A-plus fund, gained 10.8% on a portfolio comprised mostly of Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE) mortgage pools. Corporate debt from Time Warner Cable (TWC), Kraft Foods (KFT) and other companies made up 6% of assets, revving up returns.
For more information, check out an explanation of our ratings.
|
TheStreet Premium Services
Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS:
Trade right alongside a Wall Street pro — enjoy access to his Charitable Trust portfolio and be sent trade alerts BEFORE he makes a move. Learn More
OptionsProfits:
Get 50+ trade ideas a week from the industry's top options experts. Plus — exclusive commentary on market trends and essential trading tools. Learn More
Real Money:
Our team of professional Wall Street Pros — including Jim Cramer, Doug Kass, and Nicholas Vardy — delivers intelligent analysis, timely trade ideas, and colorful commentary. Learn More
Stocks Under $10:
Break into the market with small- and mid-cap stocks... all $10 or less! David Peltier tells you exactly which low-priced stocks he's buying and selling. Learn MoreTo begin commenting right away, you can log in below using your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID or Yahoo login credentials. Alternatively, you can post a comment as a "guest" just by entering an email address. Your use of the commenting tool is subject to multiple terms of service/use and privacy policies - see here for more details.
blog comments powered by Disqus
| Dow Jones | S&P 500 | NASDAQ | 10-Year Note |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12,454.83 | 1,317.82 | 2,837.53 | 17.45 |
Oil *
107.02
|
|
DOWN
74.92 |
DOWN
2.86 |
DOWN
1.85 |
DOWN
0.14 |
10 Yr
1.74%
SPDR Gold
152.68
|
|
-0.60%
|
-0.22%
|
-0.07%
|
-0.80%
|
Data delayed 20 minutes |
Connect with TheStreet