@old_Skeet
Thanks for the suggestion. Active funds make much more sense than commodity indexes, as most of the latter are just oil funds.
you will love this
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/B3-GU051_Dshot_NS_20200528050335.pnp
Chart about commodity "super cycle" page 12 but most of the rest of paper about precious metals.
https://ingoldwetrust.report/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/In-Gold-We-Trust-report-2020-Compact-Version-english.pdf
It is not clear to me why commodities will do well in a recession unless you fall back on "people have to eat". Oil will get a big bounce soon with only a bit uptick in demand after a lot of supply cut off, but to sustain higher prices I think we would have to see the return of normal demand.
Agricultural prices have bounced significantly but mostly due to supply disruptions. However even when the US gets it's milk, pork and grains etc supply chains sorted out, with lower restaurants etc won't demand be lower?
Obviously also an inflation hedge and a "hard asset" that will not be a covid sensitive as real estate for example.
BCSAX and SPCAX have had similar performances but BCSAX has a decent dividend.
SPACX is mostly agg products now ( 3/31) with 13% gold and 8% nat gas. But she may have missed best preforming commodity this year OJ and milk.
Web page little sparse mostly marketing "hedge funds for the rest of us"

When an investment experiences a 30% loss it requires a subsequent gain of about 43% to get back to "even". This article reviews some of the losses in different categories of the market and subsequent gains off their recent lows.
how-much-of-stock-market-losses-have-been-made-back

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/jamie-dimon-captures-the-stock-market-moment/2020/05/28/f2674a44-a0b7-11ea-be06-af5514ee0385_story.html
Jamie Dimon Captures the Stock Market Moment
By Marcus Ashworth | Bloomberg
May 28, 2020 at 6:43 a.m. CDT
/Don’t fight the U.S. Federal Reserve — repeat that mantra until it sticks./
Think sometimes better go with the flow and heard mentality instead fighting it...we see so much risks and adverse conditions for market to cease or goes further - but it still goes up... think better to leave it alone for now

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randywarren/2020/05/27/todays-interest-rate-environmenta-challenge-for-investors-and-their-fixed-income-allocation/#479fbfa6caf9
Today’s Interest Rate Environment - A Challenge For Investors And Their Fixed Income Allocation
The Role of Bonds in a Portfolio while Interest Rates are Low
/Today’s interest rate environment poses a challenge for investors and their fixed income allocation. In the US and around the world government bond yields are at extremely low levels, at the time of writing this report, the US Treasury 10 year is at .70% and some other countries’ yields are zero or negative. Over the years investors have looked to bonds for income, capital preservation and a hedge against inflation. Investors have enjoyed a bull market in fixed income securities/bonds over the last 40 years!/
Have not sold bonds and bonds etf in our other vsnguard portfolio, we did not see a large drop compared to DOWS Or SPY, but of course now its still going up slowly not like our merrilledge portfolio all stocks...at least we sleep better at night....
Another interesting read gives good ideas but from oversea INDIA
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/351139

Do you folks think this is a new fierce-bull market rally or just a W recovery in hiding, will DOWS JONES reach 15k by end of summer, or 26.3k???

I know exactly what will happen. The Dow will reach 26123 next week. Then, it will go to 24652 a week later. Then 22521 and finally 27365.
Wait, it was a dream
I sold before the crash, then made some successful trades in stock ETF + CEFs, back to be fully invested in bond OEFs after about 5 weeks, and continue to make money.
I write my portfolio results every week and so far in 2020 I was up every week except one where I lost -0.2%. Life is good. In the last 3 years, I never lost more than 1% from any last top.

Just added nine new evaluation periods to MultiSearch and Portfolios tools, as described here.
I'm finding the new period quite helpful. Thank you @WABAC!

These are all global equity funds. I suppose they are all sort of "allocation" funds in the sense that they allocate their holdings between foreign and domestic stocks. But that's not what's claimed on the page:

These funds seek capital appreciation by investing in a variety of asset classes including equities and bonds from emerging and developed markets across the globe.

The largest fund by AUM on the site's global allocation list is VTIBX. Not global (pure international), not allocation (pure bond). Your guess is as good as mine.
Regarding "what's in a name", these funds could not call themselves global allocation funds. The SEC would be all over them for misleading names.
The author really did intend to say that these are the top (best) funds in some class (though we're not really sure what class that is): "we select the top three funds with the highest one-year trailing total returns."
He goes on to say that BGAFX, with its 1.15% ER is cheap, relative to its peers (like VTIBX?). Well sure, if one compares this with class C (embedded level load) shares of other funds. That's precisely what he's doing.
The second fund on its top three list is PRJCX. That comes in a noload class Z, with a 0.94% ER available NTF at Schwab. The third fund is another C class share: MSOPX. The A class shares of MGGPX are available NTF at many brokerages, and cost 1.23%, compared with the 1.95% ER (including level load) of the C shares.

@sma3, @Mark I'm certainly inclined to agree (and I'm betting that way, my cash level is much higher than I'd like it to be) but at least two pretty brilliant center left economists (Paul Krugman in Bloomberg, Jason Furman in Politico) think a V shaped recovery is very possible.

Hi @rforno & @sma3, Thanks for making comment.
I've been trolling through some commodity strategy funds and find Blackrock's commodity strategy fund of interest. It uses both equities and futures to gain its exposure to commodities.
Investment Approach
Invests in two strategies, approximately equally. One strategy focuses on commodity-linked derivatives, the other focuses on equity investments in commodity-related companies, including mining, energy and agricultural companies.
Exposure Breakdowns
Sectors as of 30 April-2020
Name / Equity Exposure / Commodity Index Related Instruments*/ Total / Benchmark
Energy / 9.84% / 10.68% / 20.52% / 21.07%
Agriculture /20.92% / 19.23% / 40.15% / 37.94%
Industrial Metals / 13.36% / 9.39% / 22.75% / 18.53%
Precious Metals / 5.19% / 11.39% / 16.58% / 22.46%
TOTAL / 49.31% / 50.69% / 100.00% / 100.00%
Below is the funds link
https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/products/227413/blackrock-commodity-strategies-class-a-fund
BCSAX is the commodity straegy fund that I am currently leaning towards purchasing. The above link takes you to the A share fund details; however, the fund is available, for purchase, in other fund share classes as well. It would have been nice to buy this fund at its 52 week low ($5.08) as it is now at $6.22.

Some additional info about reasons for the name change ...
https://www.artisanpartners.com/content/dam/documents/press-releases/mf/Thematic-Fund-Name-Change-and-Anniversary-27-May-2020-vR.pdf

Just received an email about the fund closing:
May 27, 2020
Dear Fellow Investors,
We are announcing today that the Grandeur Peak International Stalwarts Fund (GISYX/GISOX) will close to new investors through intermediary platforms after June 10, 2020. The Fund will remain open to existing investors. Retirement plans and financial advisors with existing clients in the Fund will still be able to invest in the Fund for existing as well as new clients as long as their clearing platform will allow this exception. The Fund will remain open to new investors who purchase directly from Grandeur Peak Funds.
The International Stalwarts Fund recently reached $1 billion under management, and the investment strategy in total is now roughly $2 billion. As you know, we carefully review capacity at the firm level and strategy level. We are committed to keeping all of our investment strategies small enough to be able to fully pursue their investment strategies without being encumbered by either their individual asset base or the firms’ collective asset base. Achieving performance for our clients will always be our paramount objective.
The International and Global Stalwarts Funds will reach their five-year anniversary this September. When we launched the Stalwarts Funds, we talked about capacity across the Stalwarts line being in the $5-7 billion range given the Stalwarts’ focus on more liquid SMid-cap (Small- and Mid-cap) companies. We also hoped that the Stalwarts Funds would therefore be able to stay open to clients longer than many of our small/micro-cap funds. We are moving the International Stalwarts strategy to soft closed to protect existing investors’ continued access to the Fund.
We have been very encouraged by the performance of the Stalwarts Funds and the value they have added to our collaborative research process over the last 4½ years (click here for Fund performance). We are excited to have recently added the US Stalwarts Fund to the Stalwarts line. The Global Stalwarts and US Stalwarts funds both remain open to new and existing shareholders. Part of the decision to close the International Stalwarts Fund is to preserve space for future assets in the Global Stalwarts strategy. Managing “sister” funds like the three Stalwarts Funds allows us to provide investment opportunities to a diverse breadth of investors.
Thank you for your continued interest and trust. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or a member of our Client Relations Team.

CE funds can do the same thing, but the problem for some investors is they don't like the discounts they trade at to NAV. There is also an agency problem with CEs in that investors' capital is permanent and thus "trapped" in the fund unless investors are willing to accept the discounted price the CE's shares trade at on the market. Managers who are greedy for fees take advantage of the trapped capital and collect fees regardless whether the fund does well or poorly. The interval fund solves the problem by allowing shareholders to redeem their shares at their full underlying NAV value, albeit slowly--5% of assets per quarter--so it doesn't require much forced selling on the manager's part. Unfortunately, most regular CEs employ leverage too. Sometimes that works in a bull market. Other times it's disastrous. And many funds also collect fees on the leveraged assets, creating that conflict of interest where the manager is incentivized to employ leverage to collect fees on a larger asset base.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915802/000139834420011509/fp0054235_497.htm
497 1 fp0054235_497.htm
FINANCIAL INVESTORS TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED MAY 27, 2020 TO THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUS AND PROSPECTUS FOR THE GRANDEUR PEAK INTERNATIONAL STALWARTS FUND (THE “FUND”) DATED AUGUST 31, 2019
Effective as of the close of business on June 10, 2020, the Fund will close to new investors, except as described below. This change will affect new investors seeking to purchase shares of the Fund through third party intermediaries subject to certain exceptions for financial advisors with an established position in the Fund and participants in certain qualified retirement plans with an existing position in the Fund. The Fund remains open to purchases from existing shareholders, and to new shareholders who purchase directly from Grandeur Peak Funds.
The Fund retains the right to make exceptions to any action taken to close the Fund or limit inflows into the Fund.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
******* From GP website: International Stalwarts has Total Net Assets as of 5/26/2020:$1 Billion

Cannot envision the current high unemployment figure to improve in the 3 or perhaps 6 months. There are companies that are reducing pay to those they retain just to stay afloat.
https://msn.com/en-us/money/markets/salaries-get-chopped-for-many-americans-who-manage-to-keep-jobs/ar-BB14EOHQ?li=BBnbfcN
@sma3, think you are taking the right approach to preserve capital.

This week’s edition will focus on global allocation funds. These funds seek capital appreciation by investing in a variety of asset classes including equities and bonds from emerging and developed markets across the globe. These funds typically come with a basket of mixed market cap equities across different sectors.
https://mutualfunds.com/news/2020/05/26/trending-three-top-performing-global-allocation-funds/?utm_source=MutualFunds.com&utm_campaign=dbe5abc6d1-MF_newsletter_engage_all_may_6_2020_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_83e106a88d-dbe5abc6d1-295927797

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935015/000119312520152307/d895980d497.htm
497 1 d895980d497.htm ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 033-88316 and 811-08932
ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
Artisan Thematic Fund
(the “Fund”)
SUPPLEMENT DATED 27 MAY 2020
TO THE FUND’S PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
DATED 1 FEBRUARY 2020
Effective 27 May 2020, the name of Artisan Thematic Fund is changed to Artisan Focus Fund.
Accordingly, each reference in Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus and statement of additional information to Artisan Thematic Fund is hereby replaced with Artisan Focus Fund.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

Bond Investors Are Better Off in ‘Interval Funds.’ Here’s Why. - Lewis Braham
“In the world of bond funds, one major underappreciated risk is the liquidity imbalance that exists between funds and their shareholders. Traditional bond mutual funds and ETFs must provide their shareholders with daily liquidity—in other words, investors must be able to withdraw any part or all of their investment on any day. That’s a mismatch to what the funds own, such as bonds that can have maturities of up to 30 years, or bonds that don’t trade daily.”
By Lewis Braham, Barrons May 25, 2020
https://www.barrons.com/articles/bond-investors-are-better-off-in-interval-funds-heres-why-51590152400
(Good luck with above link. Better idea - Buy a copy of Barron’s or subscribe. Amazon lets you cancel digital subscriptions anytime.)
There seems to be an increasingly loud chorus of premonitions concerning bond funds of late. I’ve taken the liberty of adding a couple warning shots from two other seasoned observers. Notwithstanding: Lewis’s article is unique and approaches the issue from a different direction.
- - - Plague Investing - Ed Studzinski
“So, for your investable assets, I am sticking with my recommendation for a barbell strategy. For fixed income, limit yourselves to short-duration, short-maturity investments where the funds are managed by experts who have been doing real credit analysis for years. You can find them by paying attention to the reviews that David has written. These situations are to be differentiated from those fixed income funds run by generalists who did things based on rating spreads in quality rather than real analysis. They are nothing more than high-yield tourists.”
Edward Studzinski - Mutual Fund Observor May 3, 2020
- - - What You Don't See Might Be What You Get - Bill Fleckenstein
“ (For) those who have any bond funds, you have to be very careful unless they are all government bonds, because there's a lot of garbage in these funds and a lot of the credits -- which were probably overrated to begin with -- have certainly now deteriorated.
Thanks to one of our longtime readers, who runs a bond shop, and pointed out what happens when these funds see redemptions, which is that the most liquid bonds tend to get sold first, and they also tend to be the highest quality. In his words:
‘Without any change in investment strategy, such investors are left with a portfolio of assets that can be very different to the same portfolio at the time of investment … It is imperative for investors to ensure that they are not left in funds that are deteriorating in asset quality due to such redemptions.’
So, any of you in bond funds need to make darn sure that you know what you own. If you don't, it might be a good time to exit stage left.“
Fleckenstein Capital .com (Subscription Required) Excerpted from March 26, 2020 edition
https://www.fleckensteincapital.com/home.aspx
“In the tranquilly resounding corner, listening to the echoing footsteps of years” - Charles Dickens

I have no idea which direction the market's going and neither does anyone else. The S&P 500 crossed its 200 day moving average, potentially signaling more market gains. IF these gains hold, small caps have traditionally done well coming out of recessions. I've been dca'ing into WAMCX which has been one of the few small caps funds to do well this year. I've also continued dca'ing into PRGTX, PRMTX and AKREX. Best of luck John!

I have discussed D&C inferior risk/reward. I would not select any of their funds.
Why would I look what DODGX did since the bottom?
YTD...VFIAX(SP500) is at -7.8% while DODGX is at -20.2%
One year...VFIAX 5.5%...DODGX-10.9%
3 year........VFIAX 9.4%...DODGX 1.4%
VFIAX continues to beat DODGX for 5-10-15 years and with better SD, Sharpe,Sortino. See 15 years PV(link). How long can you underperform + have higher volatility and claim that you are OK because you can't compare DODGX to the SP500?
For moderate allocation, I would look at PRWCX,VLAIX. VLAIX has more mid-cap and higher rated bonds so owning both is a good choice.
For conservative allocation, VWIAX/VWINX is a good choice.

I'm less concerned about a bear market than about having maybe missed my chance to deploy my dry powder. When I decide to stop waiting and pull the trigger, I'll let you all know -- it'll be a sign that we've hit the top.
Jason Furman, Obama's former top economist, says the early data is showing a V-shaped recovery, though of course that would change if we have a second wave. On his Twitter feed, he also notes that federal stimulus so far has been equal to 30% of GDP.