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@hank The Director of USSS (secret service). I have long days, too.
Right on. Correction noted. Thanks.
Not a “long day”. Just hard to relate a “buy / sell” to one’s overall positioning, style of investing, risk tolerance, etc. Absent all the other ingredients there’s little to divine from one’s occasional dalliances.
Today I sold some VONG (russell 1000) and split it among AMZN and GOOG. Dang, this trying to stick to indexing is hard. I regret selling them earlier this year and tell myself how can I go wrong with two companies that everyone I know uses.
In recent weeks, we have been buying more intermediate term bonds as some equity was reduced in early summer. Think bonds present better opportunities than those of equities going forward.
PCE and core PCE data reported today indicated inflation continuing to fall by 0.1% from June. The first rate cut is expecting in September this year.
I have been nibbling on bits and pieces of things that I own that are down big that day (recently a share here and there of GOOG, NVDA, LRCX, ASML, etc.). Last two days, bought a handful of shares of EW (it dropped from near $100 to $50’s yesterday), DXCM (similarly almost cut in half today), and SAIA (down $20-50 today). The first two are new positions, and tiny positions because I am a chicken haha. SAIA was an add.
Trimmed LLY down to 2 shares (should have done that $100 ago), as others are jumping on the weight loss bandwagon and will have better drugs (kind of like PFE’s Viagra was first, but later drugs were “better”). Read in a comment section on SA that a retired pharma salesman feels GLP-1s and the like will soon become like statins (basically commoditized and generic) due to their widespread health benefits. Also have added to other semi names over recent days (just a share or two at a time bc of my lack of confidence)—ARM, AMD, NVDA, etc.
In my mutual fund only account (cannot add money to this, but it’s a former 403b with current employer that migrated from Prudential to Fidelity), I have been adding in $100 increments to whatever is down. PRWCX remains my biggest holding in that account at >20%.
I’m probably too “growthy” for this current market, but then days like today happen and balances jump more. But down 5% or more in most of my/family accounts (from July peak).
Bought BIL,TPSC, WDC and am watching NVDA and may just sell and take profits. I have other stocks in the TECH sector. DG, BALL and SQM are big losers for me. Once they get below .5% of portfolio I will sell then watch them go up naturally. Good to see EW bounce back a bit.
Took a bit of "cash" in MMF to buy a handful of ET shares. It's been falling a bit. Earnings release on Aug 7th, '24. Div. ex-date on Aug. 09. Energy Transfer, LP. ... PRCFX is on the radar screen, but in the back seat, still.
I swapped out VHCOX for FPURX. I've held Capital Opportunity for over 20 years, but it just seems to have lost its edge (Similar to why I sold out of POAGX earlier in the year). I think in the current environment FPURX will provide a steadier ride over the next 2 years. At this stage in my investing life steady is good.
"Morningstar’s long-term government-bond category, for example, attracted significant net inflows during 2021, right before the bond market’s historically painful drawdown in 2022. Because of this pattern, investor return gaps (the difference between what investors actually earn and the fund’s reported total returns) are much larger for long-term government-bond funds than for other bond-fund categories."
Bloodbath today. Aug 1, '24. Not the day to do anything. Watching yield on MMF. EDIT TO ADD: Acceptable yield on SNVXX is on "thin ice." Time to sell-out and transfer the $$$ into Weitz Core Plus Bond, WCPNX. I hold big slugs of (junk) bonds in the IRA. I want to begin to create a cash cow in the taxable brokerage account. WCPNX is actually yielding better than the Schwab MMF. SNVXX served its purpose, and I could always use it again in future.
Crash, Not a buying opportunity for your want list?
Actually, yes: WCPNX. In a week's time, I'll sell FALN and merge that $$$ into WCPNX, too.
Other buys: I caught ET at $15.95 just the other day. Feels like I got a great price, considering the stock's steady upward movement--- until TODAY. I have been wanting to include an income-producing bond fund that's "safer" than the junk I hold in the IRA. WCPNX will be held in taxable, and therefore AVAILABLE.
Continued to add to OSTIX, RSIIX, and RCTIX in our T-IRAs. With individual treasury rates slowly dropping, have been shifting money into these 3 as treasuries mature.
@Level5, Soon the 5% yield in money market fund will drop too. We have been adding to our bond funds (including ones you mentioned above) and trimming stocks throughout the year. Think bonds can provide 5-7% total return with minimal risk. Stocks are down significantly today.
Markets tumbling. Change of plan. Not the time to buy into a Core-Plus bond fund. But my fav. regional bank BHB is on sale. Just bought a slug of shares. Money is out of the MMF now. Yields will fall. Just a bit of cash leftover. I'll keep it available, and grow it until it's a useful amount.
BCE replaced PSTL some months ago. By now, I'm rather glad! BCE is the only winner today in the portfolio. 02 Aug '24.
@Sven - Mmkts will be dropping, but I’m not sure they’ll drop so far so fast. If the FOMC drops the short term rates 0.25% what will current MMkt (5.x%) at VG drop to? So I don’t see a reason to bale out of cash; but I could be wrong. Time will tell.
Correct me if I am wrong. If the Fed drops 0.25%, the money market yield would be 5.29% (VMFXX for example) minus 0.25%. Several more rate cuts would bring money market yield below 5%. While I am not suggesting income investors to bale from money market, reinvestment risk has already arrived as 6 and 12 month T bills have fallen below the current Fed fund rate. I expected the trend to continue.
FWIW: For the past week or so the great preponderance of financial news in the Business Section of the WSJ have been negative. Major layoffs, store closings, poor performance, failure to meet analyst expectations, bankruptcies.
Thank you, @Old_Joe. Many companies beside the Mag 7 are having earning challenges. LeAnn Sounders and Kathy Jones of Schwab have provided timely and informative perspectives on the market. Next question is how do investors position themselves with this slowing economy or deteriorating economy?
For now, we are keeping several months of living expense in money market. The rest we will invest in longer duration bonds and tax-exempt bonds. So far we have obtained good results on short term high yield bonds, bank loan/floating rate bonds, stable value, and even total bond market index funds.
Comments
The Director of USSS (secret service). I have long days, too.
Not a “long day”. Just hard to relate a “buy / sell” to one’s overall positioning, style of investing, risk tolerance, etc. Absent all the other ingredients there’s little to divine from one’s occasional dalliances.
PCE and core PCE data reported today indicated inflation continuing to fall by 0.1% from June. The first rate cut is expecting in September this year.
Trimmed LLY down to 2 shares (should have done that $100 ago), as others are jumping on the weight loss bandwagon and will have better drugs (kind of like PFE’s Viagra was first, but later drugs were “better”). Read in a comment section on SA that a retired pharma salesman feels GLP-1s and the like will soon become like statins (basically commoditized and generic) due to their widespread health benefits. Also have added to other semi names over recent days (just a share or two at a time bc of my lack of confidence)—ARM, AMD, NVDA, etc.
In my mutual fund only account (cannot add money to this, but it’s a former 403b with current employer that migrated from Prudential to Fidelity), I have been adding in $100 increments to whatever is down. PRWCX remains my biggest holding in that account at >20%.
I’m probably too “growthy” for this current market, but then days like today happen and balances jump more. But down 5% or more in most of my/family accounts (from July peak).
Does anybody even buy Long-term bond funds anymore?
Because of this pattern, investor return gaps (the difference between what investors actually earn
and the fund’s reported total returns) are much larger for long-term government-bond funds than
for other bond-fund categories."
https://www.morningstar.com/bonds/3-reasons-not-venture-out-too-far-yield-curve
EDIT TO ADD: Acceptable yield on SNVXX is on "thin ice." Time to sell-out and transfer the $$$ into Weitz Core Plus Bond, WCPNX. I hold big slugs of (junk) bonds in the IRA. I want to begin to create a cash cow in the taxable brokerage account. WCPNX is actually yielding better than the Schwab MMF. SNVXX served its purpose, and I could always use it again in future.
Other buys: I caught ET at $15.95 just the other day. Feels like I got a great price, considering the stock's steady upward movement--- until TODAY.
BCE replaced PSTL some months ago. By now, I'm rather glad! BCE is the only winner today in the portfolio. 02 Aug '24.
Just sayin'...
For now, we are keeping several months of living expense in money market. The rest we will invest in longer duration bonds and tax-exempt bonds. So far we have obtained good results on short term high yield bonds, bank loan/floating rate bonds, stable value, and even total bond market index funds.
Thank you.