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Fund Allocations (Cumulative), 01/31/23
There were minor shifts due to market rebound. The changes for OEFs + ETFs were based on a total AUM of about $28.59 trillion in the previous month, so +/- 1% change was about +/- $285.9 billion. Also note th…
@dstone42, it is better to buy Treasuries at brokerages for several reasons. There are NO FEES or commissions (auctions or secondaries). Transactions are EASY. If you have to sell before maturity (not recommended), you CAN - if you held them at Trea…
Just put paper I-Bond in your bank locker. Cashing them at banks should be possible even far down the road, while getting them into the TD account is a hassle - if the Post Office delivers. Definitely use at least the Certified Mail (if not Register…
While longer-term record (2020- ) is better, JEPI has been struggling since 2022 (like most other things) with a cumulative TR -3.85% and price-return -14.78%. I don't want to start another debate on yield vs TR, BUT for JEPI, HIGH distributions hav…
@hank, I am looking at NOTIONAL amounts that are the total positions controlled and gains/losses experienced are (almost) on those. For options, the option-delta also comes into play. Amounts invested or current values are smaller as these are lever…
DODBX Annual Report: Pg 13 has details on short positions. The notional amounts seem high considering the fund AUM of $13.51 billion. Related explanations/descriptions are on pg 18.
What is the story here?
State Street was a pioneer and first mover in the ETFs (SPY was the 1st ever ETF in 01/1993).
For many years, the SEC had approved the ETFs as exceptions to mutual funds, and over time, these exceptions created ETFs with sl…
Modern AWD are really FWD much of the time. But if any slippage is detected (e.g. by differences in wheel RPMs), the RWD portion kicks in. Some call this part-time 4WD or auto-4WD. The AWD designs vary too - some normally have front, rear split of 1…
Annualized CPI, PPI, PCE were ALL higher than expected. That is BAD.
However, the (wholesale) PPI was LESS than the (retail) CPI and that is good.
The AAII Sentiment Indicator collapsed (see a nearby thread). Don't sell much when the Sentiment is …
This filing affects 45 funds with "USAA" in their names and those will now have "Victory" instead. Other funds with Victory or franchisee names will not be affected. Example,
USAA Tax Exempt Long-Term Fund ==> Victory Tax Exempt Long-Term Fund
There is an interesting background story.
When USAA went back to its core business of serving military personnel and veterans, it sold its fund operations to Victory Capital/VCTR in 2018, & brokerage + wealth management operations to Schwab/SCH…
FRED has many data series for debt/GDP. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series?t=debt;usa
I think that federal debt/GDP (as %) is mentioned more often because it may indicate the taxing power or burden of the economy. It is available for most coun…
This live StockCharts shows all of the major averages (max 5). Default to post is 1 yr, but change timeframe to YTD and click Update. I could also post screenshot if there is some issue.
https://stockcharts.com/h-perf/ui?s=$INDU&compare=$COMPQ,$…
To @msf's good list, I may add that within retirement accounts (401k, 403b, TSP, etc), Stable-Value (SV) Funds.
There are also Money Market ACCOUNTS by banks that are FDIC insured.
First, recall Janus in the dot.com era. It even had an ad of a dog chasing its tail.
Then, the go-go growth era boom had a spectacular bust.
There were scandals.
Many swore off Janus.
A calmer Janus, now Janus Henderson, emerged from the ashes.…
In absence of Congressional action(s), cryptos are now being choked by the US regulations/investigations/enforcements. They are also being starved of oxygen/US-banking-ties. These stopgap measures will just lead to further haphazard crypto growth ov…
While there are several ways to achieve absolute-return strategies, NOPE uses long-short strategies as noted in the Yahoo Finance Profile before, and in its prospectus below. Noble-Impact is a subadvisor under Toroso, so the next news may be that th…
The initial working name for George Mason U Law School was formal sounding "Antonin Scalia School of Law" until Twitter went wild with its possible abbreviation as xyz Law. Later, the name was changed to less typical/formal/common Antonin Scalia Law…
I have maintained that strategies such as absolute-return, long-short (with tilt) and market-neutral (50-50 L-S) sound appealing, but the manager(s) can make mistakes twice, on the long side AND on the short side. Then, it is like candle burning fro…
Anyone can come up with a model.
The SEC is only concerned with listed funds and no game playing is allowed with those.
So, if a model is based on listed funds, I am not sure if much tinkering with performance is possible. There is some wiggle roo…
@ravitz, broad-based ETFs like VOO, VTI are fine. But smaller and specialized VG ETFs may have the same CG distribution issues as its mutual funds (if heavy redemptions).
Vanguard made the mistake of not licensing its "ETF class of funds" patents to anyone. By now, this idea is quite stale. Vanguard itself has launched some self-standing ETFs in the US, and in Europe, most of its ETFs are self-standing. The Australia…
No access to NYT.
But hybrid annuity + LTCI and life insurance + LTCI are interesting newer developments. Unfortunately, the LTCI riders cannot be just added to existing annuities and/or insurance. And that may be a problem for those with existing c…
Most firms send their advice/alerts to their preferred clients first, and then excerpts to media/public a few days later.
BTW, many think-tanks and research firms (technical, social, political) do the same. At many firms, nothing can go out until …
Wholesale inflation PPI came in hotter than expected. See that "wrong way" tick? In general, what happens for wholesale inflation eventually trickles down to retail inflation CPI (and Fed's favorite PCE). On this unexpected bad news, futures turned …
BTW, Apple/AAPL doesn't seem to be a holding of Schwab ETF SCHD. So, don't buy it for checks from Tim Cook. https://www.schwab.wallst.com/Prospect/Research/etfs/portfolio.asp?symbol=schd
The bull case for TIPS goes something like this. Max real rate ranges have been,
5-Yr TIPS -1.87% to +4.24%, current +1.49%
10-Yr TIPS -1.10% to +3.06%, current +1.41%
So, IF one assumes that in the current environment the real rates are peaking …
M* Instant X-Ray with a portfolio of 50% SCHD, 50% SPY will also show overlaps/nonoverlaps for larger holdings. https://www.morningstar.com/instant-x-ray
https://i.ibb.co/VtFSfBv/Screenshot-2023-02-15-10-02-14.png
@Crash. I have been favoring only 5-yr TIPS, not TIPS funds (ST or IT/LT). The idea is to capture CPI approximately, see chart below - I don't know why the StockCharts hasn't updated CPI for January in comparison charts (it has in separate CPI chart…
Thanks for the FinViz VIX chart. But mine from StockCharts looks different. It shows 1/24/22 high of 38.94.
https://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$VIX&p=D&yr=1&mn=3&dy=0&id=p89899821759
SP500 daily volatility is +/- 1% (VIX/19). IMO, people have just become comfortable with high VIX. It peaked at 39 in early-2022 but crash-watchers have been looking for VIX of 45. It may not reach that level in this cycle.
BAD news!
VPGDX has already gone through major changes. I thought that its current multi-sector form was a stable competitor to Fido multi-sector FMSDX. But VG keeps playing games with this $1.2 billion AUM fund. I recently went into it in a big wa…
I-Bonds use 6-mo change in unadjusted CPI for their May 1 & November 1 announcements. That is definitely collapsing on May 1.
TIPS use monthly CPI changes with 2-mo lag. How is that looking now?
I am definitely skipping I-Bonds, but I am stil…
