Sucking Wind

MFI Continues to Struggle

What a terrible day in the markets. It was much better when I was there on Tuesday. The NYSE was pretty neat. We did get a little history. We got to see an elaborate Faberge Urn presented to the NYSE by Nichols the 2nd when he was the Tsar of Russia in 1902. It was in thanks for JP Morgan and the exchange raising the funds through a bond auction to allow the first transcontinental railroad to be built across Russia. But then when the Communists over-threw the Tsar, Russia defaulted on the bonds. In the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev visited the NYSE and saw the urn, he said it had to be returned to Russia as it had such historical significance. The president of the NYSE said he would send it to Russia if they paid off the bonds. We also saw the stained glass ceiling in the main boardroom. But it has had a cement roof placed over it to prevent terrorist attacks.

My average open MFI tracking portfolio is down 9.2% versus 2.5% for the Russell 3000. Of the past 22 portfolios, 10 closed and 12 open... MFI has only won once. It is a bloodbath right now. My other measure is my MFI Index that goes back to 2006. It is also trailing the Russell 3000, the graph below kind of tells it all: