The use of commodities to hedge inflation risk and diversify portfolios is generally considered to be an important consideration for portfolio management. Direct investment in commodities or commodity derivatives requires that investors have significant assets and/or expertise in these...

Alternative Mutual Funds (AMFs) follow strategies similar to those of hedge funds and seek returns uncorrelated with the market. We analyze the performance of AMFs for the period January, 1998 through December, 2011 using the Carhart four-factor model and the Fung-Hsieh seven-factor model. Our...

“In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable ‘Moats'.” Warren BuffettCompanies that have sustainable competitive advantages should be able to create a barrier (Moat) to prevent or lessen competition from other firms. The wider the Moat the greater the barrier and the...

This study investigates the performance of Dividend Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) during both bull and bear markets. We compare their performance to a proxy for the U.S. market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (IVV). Using data from Morningstar Direct we construct equally weighted portfolios of...