Closed-End Funds Still Scary-Cheap

Is the recovery in closed-end funds a trick or a treat?

This summer's credit crisis severely spooked closed-end fund investors, frightening many right out of their holdings and into the relative safety of Treasury bonds. Discounts were stretched during the selling storm, as fund managers unceasingly unloaded their CEFs until the Federal Reserve saved the day with a surprise 50 basis point reduction of its discount rate.

The market has steadied since then, but TheStreet.com checked in with Dr. Richard Shaker, portfolio manager of Shaker Financial Services and former chief of mathematical research for the National Security Agency, to see if the rebound is for real and not merely a Halloween prank. ...