Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
From Markets A.M. newsletter by Spencer Jakab.
On this day in 1935, the Social Security Act was signed into law,
ensuring some retirement income for all working Americans.
Payroll taxes were set at 1%, for both workers and employers,
on the first $…
"The reporting over the past few weeks indicated that retail investors were still fully all-in with stocks,
while the institutional guys were sitting on the sidelines."
This is also what I've heard more or less.
"A record 91% of institutional inv…
U.S. large caps are the most scrutinized stock market segment.
It's extremely difficult to add alpha here—especially when a select few companies
are responsible for much of an index's overall performance.
Investors seeking actively-managed funds may…
"Academic studies say all that is a fools errand and long term buy and hold cheap index funds wins.
But how much fun would that be?"
Many academics/industry professionals/writers suggest buying cheap, broad-based index funds
and holding them for a…
I recall Forbes' The Honor Roll.
Active Fund Strategies researched funds' subsequent performance
after inclusion on Forbes' list from 1990 through 2010 (highlighted below).
I wonder if anyone has conducted similar research for the M* list?
While …
@DrVenture,
The fact that DHS chose to reference William Gayley Simpson's book is very troubling.
It's no surprise that white supremist groups have flourished under Trump's current regime!
This annual M* list usually includes more mutual funds from American Funds and Vanguard than that
of other fund families. The only fund on the list that I personally own is Dodge & Cox Income (Class I).
I've previously owned several others—Ameri…
"Some funds have exploited an accounting loophole by buying stakes in other private-equity funds at big
discounts on the secondary market and then marking them up immediately to their official net asset values.
Sometimes the technique has resulted i…
From Spencer Jakab's Markets A.M. newsletter.
"New car prices are at a record.
People looking for a deal on a used car in the U.S. are having to pay up too.
The average price of a 3-year-old used car rose above the $30,000 mark
again earlier this y…
Here's a link to the referenced New Yorker story which describes Trump's plutocracy in much greater detail.
Warning—it's a very long story!
https://archive.ph/drmM0
"In response to the report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast:
'The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible
and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read.
Neither the P…
@FD1000,
I have to give credit where credit is due.
You have been very consistent in propagating nonsense to bolster Donald J. Trump's standing.
Are you seeking a position within the president's administration?
It does seem that you would fit in we…
From Markets A.M. newsletter by Spencer Jakab.
On this day in 1920, Charles Ponzi was arrested for financial fraud in Boston
after taking in more than $6 million from thousands of investors he was repaying
with other investors' money. Such pyramid …
Donald J. Trump is once again boasting that he "ACED" a cognitive exam.
The actual exam results should be publicly released since this is undoubtedly in the national interest.
I suspect that the president's cognitive functions are severely impaired.…
There are no executive orders regarding gold tariffs listed on the whitehouse.gov website as of this evening.
But President Trump did post the following concise statement on Truth Social.
@realDonaldTrump 12h
A Statement from Donald J. Trump, Presi…
@FD1000,
Did you read my post regarding the rise of white nationalism that coincides with Trump's election?
This is hardly a peaceful movement!
Matter of fact, many of these "very fine people" despise Jews.
Are you not concerned at all about the gr…
"But if so, the latest tariffs won’t incentivize them to keep adding to their U.S. operations.
If anything, the incentive will be to make just enough U.S. investment to appease politicians,
then import whatever else is needed, especially considering…
"I worked with a fellow who was always parroting right wing talking points about Obamacare.
Until both his son and daughter needed affordable coverage."
It seems like quite a few of these right-wing "fellows" are absolute hypocrites.
FYI...
The following informational message was displayed at the top of the www.morningstar.com webpage today.
"We've resolved the issue with Morningstar Investor tools and features not working as expected.
If you are still noticing issues, please…
"The U.S. official said the Trump administration did not feel the sale of H20
and equivalent chips was compromising national security."
"It's wild," said Geoff Gertz, a senior fellow at Center for New American Security,
an independent think tank in…
From Markets A.M. newsletter by Spencer Jakab.
On this day in 1928, presidential candidate Herbert Hoover declared:
“We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.”
Just over one year l…
"What creeps me out is that nobody is calling out the overreach of the new regime."
Many members of Congress have abdicated their responsibilities to check the executive branch.
They either don't have the decency or the courage to challenge the "fa…
"In a recent article, author @JPtak has come to the conclusion that holding
individual TIPS to maturity may be better than TIPS funds."
FWIW, I agree with Mr. Ptak.
"I’ve looked at QDSNX before and decided it’s not for me.
Too short a track record for my comfort level.
But the numbers are amazing since the fund opened in 2020."
I've taken a brief look at QDSNX.
The fund has performed very well since inception.…
"Looks to me like a great candidate for the Nobel Prize for Peace."
The only Nobel "prize" that Trump truly deserves is a stick of dynamite—invented by Alfred Nobel
who established the Nobel Prizes—inserted into his anus and subsequently detonated!
Coincidently, I just read the following Reuters article regarding the recent rise of white nationalist groups.
Doesn't president Trump have a solemn responsibility to encourage peace and civility in our own country?
American Nazis: The Aryan Freedo…
Someone referenced the following information on another forum.
Aerospace Engineer Richard Godfrey provides a hypothesis for the AI 171 crash.
I haven't heard this from anyone else and have no idea how accurate his thesis may be.
“The most likely …
The U.S. has historically been the gold standard for economic data.
However, this doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement.
Since the 1980s, "owner's equivalent rent" has been used to gauge home prices.
To obtain this data, homeowners g…
“Since the early 2000s, pension funds have increasingly added private assets to their investments.”
“Private assets didn’t measurably improve pensions’ returns, says JP Aubry, associate director
of research at the Center for Retirement Research at…
The Week in Charts (08/08/25)
The State of the Markets, including...
00:00 Intro
00:32 Stocks
13:00 Bonds/Fed
20:55 Real Estate/Housing
27:29 Commodities
29:29 Currencies
31:58 Crypto
34:28 Intermarket
37:45 Economy
Video
Blog
"When going beyond the obvious winners, are too new, too small or too expensive deal killers?"
1) I like to see funds which have experienced several market downturns (preferably going back to GFC).
If the manager(s) ran similar strategies this data…
Well, isn't that special!
The administration has already started making up its own numbers.
The next CPI report released on Aug. 12 will be interesting to watch.
It wouldn't be too surprising if inflation dropped sharply all of a sudden.
The proposed settlement amount seems rather excessive.
For a point of reference, Trump University defrauded¹ thousands of students but was fined only $25M.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-approves-25-million-trump-university-fraud-settlement-149…
