Bad Haircuts

Two of my stocks got clipped yesterday. I knew it was going to be a long day for NSU when I saw this headline (Nevsun 2012 Outlook Including Production Guidance). They essentially said 2012 gold production would be 50% lower than originally thought. That caused a 30% haircut. I expect we'll see this stock in the top 30 MFI shortly...

Then ASTX, which is a MFI stock I still own and had been on a nice roll got shaved as well, down about 20% Tuesday. The FDA questioned a drug in development (Astex Falls Most Since 2004 as FDA Questions Drug).

So not everyday you get two stocks down more than 20%... thankfully. It was a testament to my diversification that the day wasn't all that bad for my portfolio. My Dividend Portfolio was only down 0.1%.

Return of Capital

I was looking at the distributions of my closed end funds (JQC, BHK, KMF and CSQ). JQC and CSQ occassionally pay a dividend higher than their income and they label this return of capital. I did a little wikipedia research on what exactly return of capital means. In my mind it is kind of like selling some shares. If I sold 5% of my shares in a stock and took the cash, that would be a return of capital. Very different from a dividend. I am not sure I want closed end funds that are returning capital as it suggests to me they are being depleted and the dividend isn't REALLY what I thought it was.

Thoughts?