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AndyJ

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AndyJ
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  • @Crash, I heard that somewhere, I think on a local folk radio program. Yes, hilarious.
  • Good idea on FLOT, @Sven. I didn't realize it's investment grade, primarily corporate, per M* ... a completely different animal from junk loans, a la BKLN, SRLN, and equivalent OEFs (what Yogi was warning about above). FLOT's objective, from the is…
  • Love the John Oliver form of investigative journalism. On the subject of housing dystopia, his HOA show is just as incisive and darkly humorous. HOAs, Last Week Tonight.
    in Sam Zell, RIP Comment by AndyJ June 2023
  • Haven't heard that one in a while. Saw Joan B. sing it in the local cultural center auditorium on her last tour. Encore was the whole audience singing Amazing Grace with her. Magnificent.
  • Fidelity has Monday's 3m and 6m T auctions back up as available, and their yields today look pretty juicy.
    in Done Deal ! Comment by AndyJ June 2023
  • I get those "click this link to restore your account" attempted scams every once in a while. Thing is, the address of the sender never includes the domain name of the company they're claiming to represent.
    in Scammed Comment by AndyJ June 2023
  • Interesting. Fidelity took them off their list of available Treasuries and TD has killed the CUSIP links on the Upcoming Auctions page. If Treasury can't make the call well before 10a on Monday, it might not be all that successful. Depends on the Se…
  • NYT reports this: "The Treasury announced on Thursday that it would delay auctions of three-month and six-month “bills” — short-term debt that the government no longer has room to take on until the borrowing cap is suspended." Presumably that means…
  • Wow. They are really fine-tuning it.
  • 1y Ts are still fairly attractive at a little over 5% yld, but no telling if they'll last at ~ that level till the next auction on the 13th.
  • I saw somewhere they were frantically trying to get every department and bureau to tell them exactly how much they had in obligations to pay out over the very short term. Maybe their earlier estimates fell short that much when they put all that info…
  • A "cash management" bill offering: yup, to put it mildly. Treasury must need the $25B to bridge to the June 5 x-day. It's been added to the TD Upcoming Auctions page. Treasury may need more accounting employees before the next debt ceiling fiasco.
  • Good one; getting four voices into the mix sure seems like a winner, better nearly every week. BB loans - that was a surprise. P.S. I'm watching the 1y and 2y Treasury yields and hoping they last till the next auctions.
  • @larryb, good tip on the Weiss ratings. Very helpful.
  • @Observant1. I paid my Estimated Tax due in June early to help the government delay the default. Hope it helps. My Es-tax won't cover very many SSec checks, but I'm planning on doing the same thing this week.
  • @larryB, all very true. I didn't mean to imply it's an easy choice. But not defaulting at all is the best course.
  • (a) It'd be best to invoke the 14th before a default, as a way of avoiding one ... like the language suggests. (b) The SC-5/6 have shown they can "creatively" justify anything they want, constitution and precedent be damned. Ayatollah Alito may be…
  • WaPo: The FreeDumb caucus calls on McCarthy to "suspend debt negotiations" and focus on getting the House's previously passed bill through the Senate. “There should be no further discussion until the Senate passes the legislation,” a statement fro…
  • If you can do your own fed tax return, there is an existing online free file fillable form option here.
  • WIth the Treasuries, remember that they are state tax exempt. That could mean a lot (around half a percent of net yield) in a high tax state. Right, and there may be more downstream benefits too. In my state, and probably others, there is a ref…
  • Yes, I have some $ in etf's BOND and IEF. I'm not putting $ in OEFs now; I did like you and had some decent $ in Pimco Income in the early part of the year, but decided I was early and sold at ~ breakeven. I have most of the portfolio in T bills now…
  • No one on either side really desires that other than possibly the political extremes. ONE political extreme in the House appears to be comfortable with the idea, and they have McCarthy by the huevos. (There is NO radical left remotely like the radi…
  • I like the new 2+2 format. They might need to parcel out the time more equally between the first and second segments, though. Good focus this time toward expectations out a ways in time, especially for the credit market.
  • What complete rot.
  • Especially, in early November, after the Democrats lost their comfortable majority of the House, they should have made this issue a top priority in the remaining two months of the legislative session. After all, it was well known what the Republica…
  • @Sven, VGSH and SHY, which I track, look to be essentially identical. They could really do well if/when a recession looks imminent and short rates start fo fall.
  • Intermediate duration is doing pretty well recently ... in funds. And, @Sven, if you were responding to my older post, I think my language wasn't clear enough: I realize 5% in a 2y is not happening. The point is that under more normal circumstances,…
  • TNR: "Republicans also want work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Adults without children must fulfill work requirements up to the age of 56, overturning current law that has the threshold at age 49. Not only …
  • There's a 17 week auction tomorrow, and the annualized yield today is about the same as the 3m with a slightly longer maturity, taking it out to August 29. I'm going that way, on the wild guess that even if the fit hits the shan in June/July, the ch…
  • Surprise? Not really: "Republicans’ opening bid to avert economic catastrophe by raising the nation’s borrowing limit focuses more on energy policy than reducing debt." For anyone who's awake, it should be a blow to McCarthy et al.'s credibility, pr…
  • @Sven: "Does anyone follow the debt ceiling debate?" Yes, and I'm not very happy with the MSM "gotta compromise" framing of it -- normalizing hostage-taking behavior -- which is giving the hostage-takers oxygen, and probably making a sane resolutio…
  • I caught that the other day. If I remember correctly one of the justifications floating about was that he had them so everyone would never forget. Yeah, right. His "collections" apparently aren't open to the public, so that rationale (IIRC, it was m…
  • @MikeM, you're right that FMIJX has been less volatile long term than either ARTYX or ARTKX, but keep in mind that all Artisan funds aren't alike. Some basic stats, ARTYX vs. ARTKX: ARTYX: SD 27.7, Avg/Hi return:risk in category, negative alpha. …
  • Good comment, @mrc70; FMIJX is a fairly reasonable alternative, if not as compelling. It is currency hedged. FMI at some point launched an essentially identical version of the fund that doesn't hedge currency (FMIFX), but its AUM is a tiny fraction …
  • Thanks, @Crash, had forgotten to look up this week's show. Interesting stuff -- noted especially the comment about duration ~ 5 as the sweet spot for adding duration per Bory. I'll have to do some figuring on that -- maybe a BND or BOND with a shot …
  • And another example of Thomas-Crow corruption: a real estate "favor" to Thomas, also unreported by CT: ProPublica April 13.
  • The race to the bottom is really competitive.
  • I own ARTKX and like the fund. You might want to look at Causeway International Value, CIVVX. There seems to be similarities between the two funds. Both are managed by a group of good folks. Both are large cap blend. I think CIVVX is more value lean…