@stillers
Those of us who are regular investors have often heard investment professionals state that market volatility presents investment opportunities, and over the course of the past couple weeks you are a perfect example of this, being able to take advantage of market/specific stock volatility....good for you!
I don't have the intestinal fortitude to take those risks, thus my upside may be more limited but also my potential downside.
In the past we have owned a very small piece of PRSCX, and only briefly. The adventuresome part of our portfolio currently is Mastercard which we've built slowly over the past 3+ years to 2.5% of assets and since the inception of TCAF, that is also at 2.5%. If those positions beat the market, great. But, that is not necessarily the goal - mainly to add a little measured spice to our overwhelming position in TRAIX/PRWCX.
Not sure if it has been mentioned on MFO threads, but I read recently in the WSJ that one unnamed NVDA customer accounted for 19% of their previous years sales...could it be META?

This ad-hoc feature returns this week. LINK BarronsLINK
FUNDS. Use active funds to exploit the fire sale in HEALTHCARE stocks. MANY biotech stocks were selling below their cash on the balance sheets in 10/2023 and there has been a good rebound since with XBI +40% (still well below 2/2021 peak). Mentioned are BHCFX (37% SC/MC), JAGLX, PHSTX (value), PRHSX (all-caps with some risky bets), VGHCX (giant/biggest, so LC orientation). (By @LewisBraham at MFO)
ECONOMY. EVERYONE knows that BOGLE/ Vanguard started the first SP500 mutual fund. But who started the first US total market index? That was Wilshire 5000 (W5000) in 1974 by Dennis TITO/ Wilshire Associates (names after a CA blvd) and now several firms/indexers offer total stock market indexes. While a catchy “5000” has always been in the name, W5000 had 7,378 stocks in 1998, and only 3,392 in 01/2024. The number of US stocks has shrunk from M&A, LBOs, bankruptcies, and the new listings haven’t been enough. W5000 has gone through several hands and prefixes – FT-, DJ-, back to None-, and now again FT- (so, FT W5000). Vanguard was probably the 1st to offer a total stock market FUND in 1992 under a license from Wilshire Associates, but Vanguard has changed the underlying index several times – to MSCI, and now CRSP. Wilshire Associates also started the mutual fund WFIVX / WINDX in 02/1999 (current AUM $253.4 million only). Dennis Tito, 84, sold Wilshire Associates in 2021 to two private-equity firms (CEO a former FTSE executive Mark MAKEPEACE) and they spun off Wilshire Indexes to a group that includes themselves, Mark Makepeace, FT, Singapore Exchange. And obviously, Wilshire indexes have gone global. (By Allan SLOAN, an award-winning independent journalist)
Q&A/Interview. Suni HARFORD, President of Asset Management, UBS. She thrives on business challenges and financial crises. She thinks that the US stocks below the highflying mega-caps are fine. Russia-Ukraine war has been a huge setback for Europe. Asia has been dragged down by China that can turn on a dime, but Japan has been rallying. Many countries will have elections in 2024, so that should be a support for economies. Allocation 60-40 is making sense again, but she recommends carving out 20% for alternatives – real estate, private-equity, private-credit, etc. Interest rates are normalizing and aren’t high by historical standards. Customized direct indexing for separately managed accounts (SMAs) is in favor and is a big and growing business for UBS. The ESG is less popular in the US as there is lot of anti-ESG misinformation; even Texas has 30% from renewable energy now. But ESG is growing in Europe and Asia with new twists – nature-based solutions, blended investment-finance combo projects, etc. Women have come a long way in business and finance, but more are needed. This industry offers more flexible schedules but requires hard work and has good rewards. Her husband retired 12 years ago, and her UBS stint in 2017 was to be a short post-retirement job, but she may finally leave after the Credit Suisse integration.
RETIREMENT. Target-Date Funds (TDFs) were thought to be set-and-forget funds, but their short history has revealed some problems. The TDFs have adjusted by offering variations within each TDF 20XX as some wanted slightly more or less equity. So, instead of glide-path, we have glide-band. Many TDFs are passive, but several are active or with active-passive mix; some include both mutual funds and ETFs. Their bond sleeves have been stodgy, often with too much of TIPS, but some are now including HY, EMs, FR/BL, etc. (TDFs benefitted hugely from the laws that allow them to be the default options for 401k/403b/457 plan auto-signups and auto-escalations)

Of the ETF's on the Marketwatch list, three are one of my odder watch lists: WTAI and IRBO were both in the red this week. Both are barely showing a pulse YTD. The water ETF's I have on my list have easily out-performed them. EVX and GRID out-performed them.
BOTZ did ok this week, but it's no SMH.
Of the funds on my watch list that might be included in AI, only TINY and IQM are within site of SMH YTD. IQM looks like a dog's breakfast to me. BOTZ is ahead of the 500 YTD, but looking up at IQM.
I can't remember why FSELX is not on that watch list. I do have it on another more generic sector watch list. And I can see that I went for FSCSX for the relatively low SD and Beta for the tech category. I did add SMH to the taxable. But I'm trying to trim things down in the IRA, so no chip plays for me there.

I for one appreciate your "rambling" as it spurs talk about this topic.
On the history part, per this source, the phrase "AI" was actually coined in 1956.
https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html#:~:text=Artificial intelligence (AI)%20makes%20it,learning%20and%20natural%20language%20processing.
The buzz these days is referenced as AI, but is really more specifically about Generative AI as seen below.
Excerpt (BOLD added):
Artificial Intelligence History
The term artificial intelligence was coined in 1956, but AI has become more popular today thanks to increased data volumes, advanced algorithms, and improvements in computing power and storage.
Early AI research in the 1950s explored topics like problem solving and symbolic methods. In the 1960s, the US Department of Defense took interest in this type of work and began training computers to mimic basic human reasoning. For example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed street mapping projects in the 1970s. And DARPA produced intelligent personal assistants in 2003, long before Siri, Alexa or Cortana were household names.
This early work paved the way for the automation and formal reasoning that we see in computers today, including decision support systems and smart search systems that can be designed to complement and augment human abilities.
While Hollywood movies and science fiction novels depict AI as human-like robots that take over the world, the current evolution of AI technologies isn’t that scary – or quite that smart. Instead, AI has evolved to provide many specific benefits in every industry. Keep reading for modern examples of artificial intelligence in health care, retail and more.
1950s–1970s
Neural Networks
Early work with neural networks stirs excitement for “thinking machines.”
1980s–2010s
Machine Learning
Machine learning becomes popular.
2011–2020s
Deep Learning
Deep learning breakthroughs drive AI boom.
Present Day
Generative AI
Generative AI, a disruptive tech, soars in popularity.
See also
https://www.celonis.com/blog/who-are-the-leaders-in-the-generative-ai-industry/#:~:text=Nvidia: Describing itself as “the,for a variety of applications.
Excerpt (BOLD added):
Nvidia: Describing itself as “the world’s most advanced platform for generative AI”, Nvidia combines accelerated computing, AI software, pre-trained models and AI foundries to enable users to build, customize, and deploy generative AI models for a variety of applications. Nvidia’s own models include StyleGAN, GauGAN and eDiff-I.

@WABAC:
Great comments about "stuff" and NVDA's stuff is clearly different and dominant at this point.
AMD is the other company that I note is being widely identified as the one company that may be the first to truly challenge NVDA's top spot. So we are watching AMD as a possible trade or LT holding.
Here's one of the most recent articles I've read on all that:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nvidia-is-the-magnificent-1-now-but-these-rivals-are-closing-in-3a382a8b?mod=home-page
Excerpt:
The competition isn’t singular either. While Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -2.94% CEO Lisa Su has launched the most direct competition to Nvidia’s high-performance GPUs — citing a forecast of around $4 billion for the AMD’s new MI300 GPU — the competition is coming from an array of places that include a number of Nvidia’s largest and most important customers.
See also:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/magnificent-seven-stock-poised-most-091400084.html
Excerpt:
Nvidia's success is also attracting competition. Advanced Micro Devices, for example, argues that its newest AI chips are as good as Nvidia's. "Magnificent Seven" members Meta and Microsoft are two large customers that plan to use AMD's chips to reduce their reliance on Nvidia. Several of Nvidia's big customers are developing their own AI chips as well.
=====================================
And thanks for the "dinky linky" comparing FSCSX to FSELX, two funds we know very well.
Both funds incepted on 07/29/85.
FWIW, we were enamored with both since their inceptions but at that time somewhat favored FSCSX. But unable to pick one at that time that we thought would be the best LT, we decided to venture into both as Core positions at about 5% each.
That was pretty much my MO for many years - if I couldn't decide between two options, BUY both. That resulted in us owning about 2x (and more) as many funds as we now own! That all began to change for us about a decade or so ago when we started to whittle down our funds to the current baker's dozen.
FSELX began to outpace FSCSX about 10 years ago. We decided to consolidate those two positions, and don't ask me exactly how!, chose FSELX for a 10% Core holding at about that time. In retrospect, truly one of my "blind squirrel" getting lucky moments!
If you adjust your chart for the past 10 and/or 5 years, you will see vastly different TR performance. That said, I was kicking and screaming as we dropped FSCSX, but our methodology/strategy had changed and we parted ways with it and several other old, LT favorite OEFs.
So, for better or worse between the two funds, we chose to ride with FSELX and are continuing that MO currently. When FSELX rises above 10%, we shave it and spread its gains to broader based tech holdings. On the flip side, after it suffers one of its inevitable BIG DROPS, we routinely ADD to it to bring it back to ~10%. The former has been happening a bunch more than the latter over those years!
While the other AI options noted in the OP article are intriguing to us, we just can't muster enough drive to ADD any of them. Really hoping for some more comments/analysis on them to get a better feel for which, if any, are worth venturing into. If/after you examine their holdings, please share your thoughts on them here! TIA!

Hi @stillers Have at it with tech. related. I'm with you in this area of investing. We have remained U.S. centered with our investments for many years and have whatever foreign pieces make a good fit in the tech. area; as with BOTZ (robotics), IHI and FSMEX both being (medical tech), genomics, FTEC (Fidelity tech.), FHLC (Fidelity Health ETF) and the broad based growth of FBCG (Fidelity blue chip companies). We've not been inclined towards value, small cap, international or EM. We held junk bond funds for a period near the bottom of the market melt in 2008 and for several months afterward, and have held IG bond funds and still do; as well as money market now at about 5% yield. We're about 40% equity. Although we've done dollar cost averaging now into funds; not unlike our early days with IRA's and 401k's. Good enough for now, at this house.

FBCG Top holdings
Top 10 holdings AS OF Dec-31-2023
59.72%
of 159 total
MSFT Microsoft Corp 10.15%
NVDA NVIDIA Corp 9.81%
AAPL Apple Inc 9.63%
AMZN Amazon.com Inc 9.10%
GOOGL Alphabet Inc Class A 6.64%
META Meta Platforms Inc Class A 4.99%
UBER Uber Technologies Inc 2.62%
LLY Eli Lilly and Co 2.34%
NFLX Netflix Inc 2.22%
SNAP Snap Inc Class A 2.21%

Dear friends,
If you tried accessing MFO at mid-afternoon on Friday, 23 February, you would have encounter an "account suspended" note. I discovered this thanks to the quick action of three or four board members who reached out by email and phone. (Thanks, guys!)
The short version: your account was not suspended, MFO's was. We're at the start of a big upgrade / update to our server and software. Our software is grievously out-of-date (if you call about it, the folks on the phone seem confused and say things like, "well, maybe Old Bill would be able to help. He's been here forever but he's only coming in three days a week now") and our server does rely on a hand crank to get it started in the morning. (Me, likewise.)
We've put off the upgrades because they're expensive and risk crashing the site. Having found a reliable programmer, we decided that we couldn't wait any longer and authorized our site host to create a second server and to move a copy of the entire content of MFO onto it. The idea is that our programmer can then work on that second, offline version of the site until he's worked out all of the bugs in the software. He and Chip then flip a switch labeled "redirect traffic" and there's near-seamless transition to a safer, more stable home.
Our host promised that creating the duplicate version of the site on the second server would have absolutely no impact on the "live" site. You wouldn't even know we were doing it.
Sadly, one piece of software - MySQL 5, I believe - is old enough that just attempting to move a copy of it set off an alarm. Crashed MFO. And triggered the "account suspended."
Apologies for that. We had a nice conversation with them about what "no impact on the live site" means. We will try to offer clear and timely notice if and when the upgrade requires going offline. In the past, that has been early on a Saturday or Sunday morning after about seven days' notice.
As ever, David

@Graust, remind me, where do I send the check?
All kidding aside, it's great to see that somebody gets it and took the time to (at least attempt to - we'll see) clarify! Yep, definitely NO intended bragging, WAY more about the somewhat unique strategy (for us at least) that worked!
For additional clarity...
We are in our 3rd, 5-yr Retirement Model Portfolio, so our strategy and holdings have changed significantly over our 12 years of retirement, mainly at the 5-yr intervals. (I've posted that a few times but some posters are still stuck on our first one!)
To wit, our (referenced) 5-yr, 5+% APY CD ladder is currently acting as two things:
(1) self-funded LT care bucket and
(2) ballast for our current, moderately(?) aggressive 85/15, stock/bond market portfolio. No dedicated bond funds for us at this point - bonds are only currently being held via PRWCX and FBALX.
I look forward to your post on the Mag 7 thread and intend to get back to it after the NVDA trade dust settles.
Hey, and thanks man!
EDIT: And if it means anything to anybody, on the Fido board (different handle, same photo!) I am relatively high in the all-important "Kudos Received' rankings and have received more Badges there than I know what to do with! I also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but sadly only once!

The only time I regularly watched Wall Street Week was the six months, or so, I was tending bar next to a fifty dollar a month residence hotel in downtown Waterloo, Iowa. Beers were 35 cents, and shots were 90 cents.
PBS was the only thing I allowed on the tube. This must have been about 1976. I vaguely remember the elves, and a beetle-browed gent from Lazard Freres I thought made some sense at the time.

All I see is a beautiful uptrend SP500 in the last 4 months + performance of 20+% + low volatility where the index didn't lose more than 2.5% from any last top = excellent risk/reward.
See the chart https://schrts.co/hTeZtxIG
On Nov 1st I posted..."You can just play it simple: no diversification, no predictions, no narrow range funds, looks like tilting LC growth is here to stay which = SPY/VOO or you can gamble and use some QQQ."
So, you can work a lot harder and do much less, such as diversification, invest in lagging categories (value, SC, international, gold, utilities) since 2010.
Of course, at one point it will change but I have heard and read about it for at least 5-8 years.
Bonds: for several weeks already I posted that for 2024, you can use RPHIX="sub" cash and make about 6%, the next 2 CBLDX, RSIIX can make 7-9%. I'm a trader but I haven't done anything for weeks = smooth charts = 99+% invested.

"I loved that show, but don’t remember that particular one incident. There was one rotating female guest he had on who was, well, hot. Don’t remember her name or what she looks like now."
I loved that show too, watched it every week. I'm thinking it was Liz Ann Sonders. IMHO

Liz Ann is certainly not hard to look at, but I'm thinking it was a brunette. Not sure, the show's been off over 20 years I think, so memory is not so good.

Not sure I understand the ruckus over @Stillers posting above. These boards are all about discussing each of our own investing strategies and I have learned a great deal from each of you. Whether you invest in Mag 7 directly or through funds, one cannot deny that these stocks are critical to the movement of the US market making up nearly 30% of the S&P 500. I value the opportunity to learn how each of you are approaching your strategies on these stocks as well as funds that are heavily invested in them. This makes me a better investor. Going back over the past couple of years, Stillers has made some pretty savvy calls on funds that are tech heavy like FSELX. As I recall he invested in this fund at the end of 2022 when I frankly didn’t have the balls to do so. At any rate I appreciate his contributions.

I don't trust fund managers that goose their funds with stocks that are unrelated to the category, or the thesis. What's the point of owning an "EM fund" if the returns are driven by stocks from North America and Europe?
You say you don't care. OK by me.
What does that have to do with 5% cash, I-Bonds, or losses?
If you need a break, take one.

I have little understanding of what you are talking about here @WABC. If you don’t trust the fund managers you’ve hired there are a great many other choices out there. Depends on age, risk tolerance, needs etc.
I was trying to put the current rage over NVDA and AI into some sort of perspective. I said: “Wait a year” (before passing judgement on other points of view). Than we can look back and see who was stupid and who was smart. If a year is too long a time horizon here for some I’m truly sorry. I like to wager $5 on an NBA game just for fun. But I’m not about to wager a life’s savings - or even a substantial part of it - on the latest greatest investment fad. People will do what they will do. And you are correct that it’s none of my damn business.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318342/000139834424003425/fp0087296-1_497.htm
497 1 fp0087296-1_497.htm
Bernzott U.S. Small Cap Value Fund
(Ticker Symbol: BSCVX)
A series of Investment Managers Series Trust (the “Trust”)
Supplement dated February 22, 2024 to the currently effective
Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a Plan of Liquidation for the Bernzott U.S. Small Cap Value Fund (the “Fund”). The Plan of Liquidation authorizes the termination, liquidation and dissolution of the Fund. In order to perform such liquidation, effective immediately the Fund is closed to all new investment.
The Fund will be liquidated on or about March 28, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”), and shareholders may redeem their shares until the Liquidation Date. Redemptions made on or after the date of this Supplement will not be subject to any redemption fee that would otherwise be applicable. On or promptly after the Liquidation Date, the Fund will make a liquidating distribution to its remaining shareholders equal to each shareholder’s proportionate interest in the net assets of the Fund, in complete redemption and cancellation of the Fund’s shares held by the shareholder, and the Fund will be dissolved. Any liquidation proceeds paid to a shareholder should generally be treated as received in exchange for shares and will therefore generally give rise to a capital gain or loss depending on the shareholder’s tax basis. Shareholders (including but not limited to shareholders holding shares through tax-deferred accounts) should contact their tax advisers to discuss the income tax consequences of the liquidation. Under certain circumstances, liquidation proceeds may be subject to withholding taxes.
In anticipation of the liquidation of the Fund, Bernzott Capital Advisors, the Fund’s advisor, may manage the Fund in a manner intended to facilitate its orderly liquidation, such as by raising cash or making investments in other highly liquid assets. As a result, during this time, all or a portion of the Fund may not be invested in a manner consistent with its stated investment strategies, which may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective.
Please contact the Fund at 1-877-998-9880 if you have any questions or need assistance.
Please file this Supplement with your records.

"I'm happy to let my funds hold MAG-7s in controlled quantities. I don't need more of them!" indeed, and they pop up in unexpected places. They are a top holding in Rajiv Jain's international and EM funds for reasons I've yet to hear an explanation.

I trust the

fund managers I’ve hired to make those buy / sell / hold decisions for me! If there are some “babies” being thrown out with the “bathwater” today those managers are grabbing them up. Wait one year. A little over a year ago the hoopla here was all about 5% cash - greatest thing since sliced bread. A mere 18-months ago folks were were crying in their beer over double-digit portfolio losses. And 2-3 years ago the noise was all about I-Bonds!. Give me a break!

I think @PRESSmUP raised an interesting point worth kicking around an investment forum.
Speaking for myself only, I don't trust fund managers that goose their funds with stocks that are unrelated to the category, or the thesis. What's the point of owning an "EM fund" if the returns are driven by stocks from North America and Europe?
You say you don't care. OK by me.
What does that have to do with 5% cash, I-Bonds, or losses?
If you need a break, take one.

I figured I'd follow-up at the end of today, after a jump upward of +7.7% in TS shares. There is a still rather brand new-ish Morningstar analysis of the company, dated just more than a week ago. Yes, M* is less and less useful, but some might find this item helpful, I figure:
Tenaris is the largest provider of oil country tubular goods, the steel tubing used to construct oil and gas wells. It controls nearly half the global OCTG market, providing premium and nonpremium solutions for offshore and onshore applications.
The firm manages low-cost, high-quality manufacturing operations on nearly every continent, enabling it to reap the benefits of a globalized supply chain while maintaining a localized presence. It continues pursuing capacity expansions in North America and the Middle East.

Tenaris aims to optimize its supply chain through the expansion of Rig Direct, a just-in-time inventory-management program that maximizes production efficiency through improved demand planning. Tenaris can manage the entirety of well operators’ tubular supply chains, from steel procurement to well installation.
Rig Direct helps Tenaris maintain customer relationships through collaborative product development and, to a broader extent, customers’ production plans moving forward. Better demand visibility leads to a more agile supply chain, as Tenaris can more easily optimize its inventory on hand, reducing raw material costs and storage costs. As of November 2023, 85% of Tenaris' North American customers use Rig Direct in some capacity.
The OCTG industry at large remains oversupplied and highly competitive. Generalist steel manufacturers now produce nonpremium OCTG products, since these don’t require specialization. The premium market, where Tenaris maintains substantial share, focuses on more-complex projects, such as offshore deep-water production. Premium products require more specialized manufacturing processes that, while not impossible to replicate, would require substantial investment by a new competitor to enter.
Brand reputation and customer trust are factors too, as complex projects typically involve a higher cost of failure. However, the premium space has seen new entrants over time, and we expect heightened competition in this once-concentrated market will persist, especially as revitalized offshore investment pushes the industry toward a multiyear upcycle.
---END---

a number of other parameters ...
... phase of the moon, which sign you were born under, etc.
Ain't AI great?

Yes, it sure sounds "canned." Like talking on the phone with Customer Service. Words which convey no information. I once was on a call. Finally got to a Superv. After 25 minutes, he finally said: "That information is proprietary." In other words, they just refuse to tell me that stuff. And the WONDERFUL agent could not tell me that, 35 minutes ago????? Of course she couldn't, because she knows feces about nothing. The only training they give her is to make sure she knows how to talk on the phone, while dodging actual responses. I've come lately to start using this reply: "That's the answer to a different question than the one I asked."
Anyhow, it sucks that you can't get in Try OJ's suggestions, maybe.

"I'm happy to let my funds hold MAG-7s in controlled quantities. I don't need more of them!" indeed, and they pop up in unexpected places. They are a top holding in Rajiv Jain's international and EM funds for reasons I've yet to hear an explanation.

I trust the fund managers I’ve hired to make those buy / sell / hold decisions for me! If there are some “babies” being thrown out with the “bathwater” today those managers are grabbing them up. Wait one year. A little over a year ago the hoopla here was all about 5% cash - greatest thing since sliced bread. A mere 18-months ago folks were were crying in their beer over double-digit portfolio losses. And 2-3 years ago the noise was all about I-Bonds!. Give me a break!

I appreciate anyone's reasonable, well thought out views and investing ideas, but I would hope that folks will not assume that other people do not have just as reasonable and well thought out ideas for their own investments, if they do not match your own choices.
A few years ago the general buzz was CDs, bond ladders etc. I don't remember many people telling us to back up the truck for NVDA then, much less posts describing their business model, valuation etc.
I hope that your personal style and choice of investments works for you, @stillers, but I assume many people here would be very uncomfortable 36% tech and 25% Mag 7 ( I know I would)
I sat in MSFT for ten years when it went nowhere. At a P/S ratio of 40 to 60 I believe NVDA will at some point flatten out for a long time, if not crash, just as TSLA and META have done. If you can figure out when this is and get out, good luck! If you are prepared for the consequences of missing that exit, more power to you. Me, I would rather sleep at night!