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.
AAII Journal has a good article (subscription required) on Budget 2025 tax implications. But it has 2 summary tables that are open.
https://www.aaii.com/journal/article/336923-what-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-means-for-your-taxes
https://www.aa…
History is interesting.
Bogle was rushing to launch no-load Vanguard in 1974/75 because he was afraid that Capital Group/AF may beat him to that.
But Capital Group did nothing of the sort. In fact, it became the class champion - tapping all channe…
There are now brand new Vanguard/Wellington ETFs (active): VDIG (ER 40 bps), VUSG (35 bps), VUSV (30 bps).
Subscription link https://www.barrons.com/articles/vanguard-active-funds-38f74fcb
For QUOTES for less traded or illiquid securities, funds can use matrix pricing (i.e. use something similar that traded recently) or 3rd party quote services. So, for better or worse, traded/listed funds will have daily NAV. As such, illiquid securi…
The current SEC rule for funds is to restrict illiquid securities to 15%. But the rule hasn't been tested in the courts.
There was one case where SEC fined a firm for violation of this rule, but the firm countersued that the SEC wasn't authorized t…
Unfortunately, only portfolio position % can be entered in Portfolio Visualizer (PV) and TestFol.
Broker sites may show %, or if the data can be downloaded into Excel, % can be calculated easily.
Prospectus revisions may be sufficient notifications. Many mutual funds are already investing in private-equity. There is boilerplate language on what funds are doing now or may do in future.
DOL only affects 401k/403b, not regular funds. And priva…
In Europe and Asia, where government stakes, golden-shares or board seats are common, companies are also restricted from acting quickly on labor or old plant shutdowns.
US companies are much quicker in taking labor or plant/capital decisions. This …
One concern has been what if the Gov provide all this "assistance" to INTC for its chip foundries & then INTC just sells majority stake or all of its foundries.
After all, INTC efforts to become contract manufacturer for others failed miserably…
FOMC is a public-private entity.
Public part is the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) with 7 Governors that include 1 Chair & 2VCs. All are nominated by the President & confirmed by the Senate.
Private part is 12 Federal Reserve Banks with gover…
Lisa COOK & her lawyer Abbe LOWELL are suing. Fed doesn't seem in a rush to update its website (last update 8/9/25).
https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/default.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbe_Lowell
July 7, 2025 issue of Barron's had a cover story on this deluge of ETFs.
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/board/12/weekly-business-digests
My summary from Weekend Business Digest 1:
"COVER STORY, “ETFs Are Eating the World. The Right – and…
Interesting.
While funds cannot hold cryptos directly unless specifically approved by SEC (e.g. the new ETPs approved in 2024), indirect crypto exposures may come from individual companies that may hold cryptos in their corporate treasuries – MSTR …
Several names mentioned are not really multisector bond funds. Some are core-plus, ST-HY, global HY, nontraditional bond funds. So, keep this in mind when comparing Drawdowns, SD, Sharpe Ratios.
Multisector category includes sovereign bonds, corpor…
Pimco PYLD is a cousin of OEF PONAX / PIMIX and more aggressive and leveraged CEFs PDI, PDO, PAXS.
BINC is in iShares/BlackRock universe and there are also similar cousins.
Vanguard has VGMS and cousin VMSIX / VMSAX.
Fido has rather tame FADMX.
In the past, I have discussed SWRM - SWR modified so that the inflation-adjusted initial lump-sum is recovered at the end of the withdrawal period.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/169522/#Comment_169522
OP link has interviews with several advisors. Suggestions are typical - foreign stocks and bonds, US multinationals with overseas revenues and alternatives.
When dollar is weak, foreign investments and profits get a boost on currency conversions. S…
@Mona, that won't be a reason, although there may be others.
It's because a fund with several classes is treated as a single pool. If it has an etf class, it will have the same CG distribution as the OEF classes. This has been pointed out as a prob…
Nothing is mentioned in the filing about tax-free conversion from active OEFs to active ETFs. These seem self-standing active ETFs, not the ETF classes of active OEFs.
I am not aware of Vanguard going beyond the ETF classes of its indexed OEFs.
I look at bid-ask spreads that can be 25c-30c for some small ETFs.
If I want to buy right away, I enter the limit price at ask, or in the middle of the spread.
If I can wait a while, I would just enter limit price GTC few cents below the bid. Ofte…
IMO, Fido warning was good for a CEF that trades only about 5,000 shares/day and bid-ask spread is 9c (not that bad). Fido probably has a trigger based on low trading volume.
I haven't run into such situations a lot but I think Schwab did the same …
MEME STOCKS
The list of meme stocks is growing – KSS, DNUT, GPRO, OPEMN, GME, etc. They start rallying without any reason or rationale.
The term meme stock captures a lot of sophisticated trading strategies underneath. It’s a heavily shorted, low-…
Get options approval & buy some puts.
Sell puts to collect premiums on stuff you want to buy at lower prices - you will be obligated to buy at/below trigger prices. It's better than limit-sell orders.
But hedging all the time is quite expensi…
Well, Musk is something. He tried to push Lutnick for Treasury, but wasn't happy when Lutnick got Commerce, and Bessent got Treasury.
Musk and Bessent got into shouting matches - it's reported that they came to blows within the earshot of Trump.
…
I remember Forbes Honor Roll. It graded funds for bull & bear markets and Honor Roll was for funds that were graded A or B for both.
Then, the Honor Roll stopped working:
Rankings were annual, so the time lag became a problem.
Genuine be…
2 things happened.
1. Surprising resignation of Kugler and also surprising nomination of Miran as Fed Governor (he wasn't on any list before). He will have to be re-nominated or replaced in 01/2026.
2. Bessent is running the Fed Chair search and h…
Morningstar Alt Categories
https://pdfhost.io/v/Tb3lMEngT_MStar_Fund_Categories_042024
Alts, short for Alternatives, is a name that stuck for anything beyond stocks and bonds, the mainstay of investments for decades. Hedge funds and pension funds w…
Executive Order (EO) to clarify gold tariffs or non-tariffs was first mentioned on Thursday LAST week, but the WH website showed no such EO/post on Friday, weekend, Monday, Tuesday (so far). But the matter is important enough for President to person…
Bloomberg article via MSN points out that this "chip-tax" may weaken Administration's defense of tariffs under a national emergency in the other lawsuit. Other countries may not play this game or respond similarly. This is beyond the legal aspects …
Start of a new License Raj.
Raj means to rule or govern.
This was common in old India but they never went beyond low official fees supplemented by high under-the-table gifts or considerations.
But % cut of revenues is fantastic!
Edit/Add. It may al…
I remember that Gabelli Funds were fined because they just posted some reports online and skipped mailing.
This dumbing down of prospectuses began many years ago when some info was moved to SAIs. Now, we have Summary Prospectuses (dumbest), Prospe…
The new bond sleeve of OAKBX may be attractive to some.
Chicago-based Harris is basically a boutique equity shop. It didn't have much analytical capability in bonds. But the old OAKBX with about 60% stocks and 40% in Treasuries/Agencies and investm…
