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The 20y is a pretty interesting outlier at 5%. Bought at that rate, could be a future cap gain opportunity.
I doubt if I will live 20 more years, but it’s good to be optimistic.
20y is almost for sure past my expiry date, but I wouldn't be buying i…
Long Jap. equity, short yen has been a good combo for a while. DXJ is a simple way to play it, but how much more juice does that trade have? YTD: EWJ = +11.5%, DXJ = +39.9%.
Maybe not the same coal plant you invested in, @Old_Joe, but the mammoth Navajo plant at Page (AZ) was demolished in 2020. Went by it a few times in the '90s, and it was truly a belcher, the belchin'-est one in the entire West. VOX article.
This most recent PK piece David links has excellent explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of the various inflation measures. Highly recommended ...
Same here in still staying almost entirely out of risk assets, with a twist in the last couple of months: trying to extend maturity in Treasuries I own to 1-2y at 5% or greater, and if 3y ever hits 5%, I'll be there too. For ultrashort maturity, it'…
Racq: "We're going to mine and refine regardless ..."
Of course. But the point is we don't have to mine the amount of metals we can reuse by recycling them. Recycling reduces the level of mining needed to supply the next use. Of course it would be …
First, If you burn stuff to make solar cells, it takes a year or so of their operation to zero out the CO2 impact of the manufacturing. After that, it's all benefit, in terms of limiting GHGs, which is the point. I looked into that aspect before ins…
I am curious of whether lithium-based batteries can be recycled or is it economical?
Hi @Sven, the site Electrek has a few articles on recycling Li and other EV battery metals. Here's one: "North America’s first battery-grade recycling hub just sc…
There's a decent takedown in WaPo today - four Pinocchios of the email pseudonym-Ukraine prosecutor firing-Hunter Biden etc. "issue" House Rs are rattling on about, in the current Kessler fact-check column.
Main problem: the actual timeline of eve…
Turley's rep was shot a few years ago. Like you, @Crash, I can't remember the context, but he went way over the edge the last time I heard him interviewed on NPR. He was at one time a regularly interviewed NPR "expert," but they dropped him, and the…
RIP, Jimmy B. There was a pic in one article, can't find it now, of a woman placing a salt shaker in what looked like an impromptu shrine to him. Get it?
JB Philosophy: Life is just a tire swing.
The generally low IG muni yields with my lower marginal tax rate is why for several years, my only muni investments have been in high yield, and only when they're good buys with a fresh spot of momentum. (And after a good run slows/stops, it's good-…
Maybe Lynn's article "this month" means September, coming up on Friday? Looking forward to it ...
The Columbia piece: It seems to be industry standard, given that they're trying to sell something, but the maximum tax-equivalent yield of a muni is m…
We'll be damned lucky to get even a CR, given what the Republican Party has become.
True dat. It will prob'ly take something like the debt ceiling resolution in the House, with enough Rs and Ds voting for it, and McCarthy willing to even bring it up…
@Anna
Hook 'em Horns!!!
I graduated UT in 73, then left Texas after being born and raised there
I don't recognize the place now! Austin is a nightmare
Pretty much the same story here; graduated 1971, took off for the West afterwards. I look back …
We aren't going to get any of that with the current Congress. Not. Even. Close. Holding the line, which is what a CR does unless it's loaded with poison pills, etc., is a pretty good outcome for now. Then there's an election.
A CR would be terrific. There have been years (only in recent times, of course) when that was the only budget action of the year for many domestic programs. This budget debacle includes a new list of demands from the House crazies.
He had an earlier column with the same theme, and nothing's happened since that would change the math and logic of it. It's just not far enough from 2% to zero for a recession response, and there was never a solid rationale for 2% in the first place.
Finally, with short term T-bills currently yielding more than CDs of similar maturity, with their state tax exemption, and with their ease of selling (whether of necessity or by a trader), I agree that for savers and traders alike this is an easy ca…
T-Bills are currently very compelling.
Owning longer duration government bonds may be more profitable in the not-too-distant future.
Agreed. 2y and 3y notes are getting more interesting, especially assuming rates will peak in 2024.
After many bad experiences with Vanguard from top to bottom, I left a dozen years ago for Fidelity and have not regretted the choice once.
Literally or figuratively a dozen years ago? The reason for the question is that around 14 years ago (2009) …
Ben: "My experience with (with Vanguard Brokerage) was different."
Maybe that's where the problem is: the brokerage you've been with. After many bad experiences with Vanguard from top to bottom, I left a dozen years ago for Fidelity and have not re…
538.org regularly publishes polling averages along with individual polls, as they've done reliably for years. Here's the current R prez primary poll page.
The death toll is awful. It's more now than the entire loss of life in the Great Fire (Big Burn) of 1910 (N. Idaho & W. Montana, 3 million acres) that destroyed seven small towns and severely burned another half-dozen.
"The Brady organization argued that their (the legislators in the story) fiduciary duty to the N.R.A. conflicted with their government roles." Change the word "government" to "nonprofit organization," and those actions would be a clear conflict of i…
Yep, happy days are here again may be the theme song looking ahead for the bond universe if the inflation + rate hike story is really fading as the numbers show now. Which is the story Pimco was telling in their last outlook.
For me, Dan Ivascyn is the most crucial for me to understand bonds and what to do. For many years, Dan Ivascyn has been saying the same thing which is "I can still find opportunities in MBS that I like".
Same here. Dan and Richard Clarida, back at P…
Marketplace Morning Report (David Brancaccio et al.) is a quick take in the, yes, fairly early morning, which I like too. It's on my not-so-wealthy NPR station (as well as the website) so may be pretty widespread on public radio.
Jinxes aside, I seriously doubt that two brief observations will lead to a run on a fund like SEMPX, with its lousy downmarket record and a CEF-like yield that would make investors with any sense of risk aversion think twice. Then multiply those fac…
Then I will just note that SEMMX/SEMPX is having an excellent year in the nontraditional category--focusing on junk mortgages. I know this fund scares investors because of its recent downmarket performance, but it sure seems to be doing well this …
