This “Cheap” China-Focused Fund Yields 6.6% (Is It a Trap?)

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This “Cheap” China-Focused Fund Yields 6.6% (Is It a Trap?)

Chinese stocks have cratered, and that might have you wondering if there are bargains to be had.

If you invest in closed-end funds (CEFs), which regularly offer yields north of 7%, you may also be wondering if CEFs that focus on China might be worth a look now, too—especially as these funds’ yields have popped as their prices have faded.

Let’s dive into the current state of play in China and answer these questions. Further on, I’ll give you my verdict on a China-based CEF throwing off an outsized 6.6% yield today.

Chinese Stocks Plunge: Value or Trap?

If you’re wondering where the pull some value investors are feeling toward China is coming from, this chart explains it.… Read more

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These 2 Dividends (Yielding Up to 9.3%) Are Your Best Overseas Buys Today

If you’re not holding at least some of your portfolio in international dividend stocks, you’re missing out.

Stocks (and funds) in some overseas markets pay higher dividends than US companies. The 60 biggest stocks on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange yield 2.5% right now, for example, compared to a 1.3% average yield for the S&P 500.

What’s more, plenty of US investors are (in many cases unintentionally) biased toward their home country, with more than three-quarters of their portfolios, on average, invested in the US, according to recent numbers from Franklin Templeton.

To a degree, that’s understandable—after all, America has the world’s biggest and most dynamic stock markets, boasting dominant big cap firms such as Pfizer (PFE), Ford Motor Co.… Read more

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An “America First” CEF With a 7.7% Yield (and upside in 2020)

Let’s dive straight into a trap I’ve seen many investors make in the past. And falling into this pitfall again today could cost you a 7.7% dividend in 2020, and considerable upside, too.

It involves China’s stock market, which gives all indications of being a bargain today. Too bad it’s anything but!

China Equities Get a Beatdown

Truth is, there do seem to be some screaming bargains in China-focused closed-end funds (CEFs) these days—like the Templeton Dragon Fund (TDF), which trades at a 12.1% discount to NAV. Or the Morgan Stanley China Fund (CAF), which sports the same 12.1% deal.

But many Americans have been lured into the China story in the past decade, when it looked like the Red Dragon would finally lurch ahead of the US … only to have it end in tears.… Read more

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