@Ted, A sign of the times. Blink once and gains turn to losses. :)
Damned algorithms!

FYI: • Asian stocks slip
• Crude prices decline
• U.S. Treasury yields tick lower
U.S. stock index futures higher Wednesday morning, amid simmering trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
U.S. shares gained overnight after President Donald Trump downplayed worries of a lengthy trade war and senior adviser Larry Kudlow said Trump's administration is planning to host a Chinese delegation for talks in September. Wall Street futures gauges also rose.
European stocks climbed Wednesday following a downbeat session in Asia, as worries over U.S.-China trade tensions lingered in markets.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.7% after the opening bell, with gains led by the technology and chemicals sectors.
ABN AMRO Bank ABN -3.32% and UniCredit were both down by around 3.2%, following the release of second-quarter earning reports. ABN AMRO Bank warned of pressure on its margins from low interest rates, and UniCredit cut its revenue guidance for the year.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index and Japan’s Nikkei both declined around 0.3% and Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.4%.
The moves came a day after U.S. stocks regained some ground from recent heavy losses, as China backed away from a further escalation in the trade row and the yuan stabilized.
lsewhere, the New Zealand dollar fell by 1.6% against the U.S. dollar after its central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates beyond economists’ forecasts. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered its official cash rate by 50 basis points and signaled it could soon adopt unorthodox policy amid a deteriorating global-growth outlook.
The move hit the Australian dollar, where bets on lower interest rates in September jumped higher. It also sparked talk of a “race to the bottom” in interest rates, said Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets.com.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of its peers, was up 0.1%.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys fell to 1.678% on Wednesday, from 1.740% on Tuesday, when it hit its second-lowest level in 2019. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
In commodities, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was down by 0.2% to $58.84 a barrel, as investors anticipated weaker demand during a period of global economic uncertainty. Gold gained 1%.
Regards,
Ted
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-looks-to-extend-gains-as-global-central-banks-ease-monetary-policy-2019-08-07/print
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/european-stocks-rise-while-gloom-lingers-in-asia-11565164273
Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-06/asia-stocks-to-start-mixed-u-s-shares-climb-markets-wrap
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-disney-stock-market-rally-match-group/
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/stock-markets-wall-street-in-focus-amid-lingering-trade-war-concerns.html
Reuters:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-dollar-china/u-s-dollar-when-will-bulls-turn-to-bears-idUKKCN1UX0AF
U.K.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/ftse-breaks-six-day-losing-streak-though-earnings-disappoint-idUKKCN1UX0OI
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/german-chemical-deal-lifts-european-shares-ftse-lags-idUSKCN1UX0OK
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-mixed-after-china-moves-to-stabilize-yuan-2019-08-06/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/us-treasury-bonds-china-sets-the-yuan-below-expectations.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/forex-markets-japanese-yen-us-china-trade-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/oil-markets-us-china-trade-in-focus.html
Gold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/gold-markets-us-china-trade-in-focus.html
Cuirrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FYI: It is “a little late” to purchase U.S. Treasuries, which have been rallying recently, and “if Treasury rates are going to fall from here, something bad is happening,” Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said in a telephone interview on Monday.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-funds-doubleline-gundlach/doublelines-gundlach-says-its-a-little-late-to-go-into-u-s-treasuries-after-rally-idUSKCN1UV27A?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+reuters/businessNews+(Business+News)

unless you are retired then place everything in bonds

The problem with putting 100% into “bonds” at retirement is that some of us may spend 30 or 40 years in retirement. Do you really want to settle for relatively low bond-like returns over all those years? The other problem with the statement is that “bond” can mean anything from “safe” U.S. Treasury bonds (yielding very little) to speculative C rated junk bonds having very high yields, high risk, and capital appreciation potential similar to that of equities.
Ol’Skeet is correct. I see inflation near everywhere I look. Don’t forget that higher taxes, government imposed fees, and tariffs on imports constitute a form of inflation - as well as the aggregate CPI items. For the life of me I don’t understand the low inflation figures the govt. reports. Just replaced the top boards on my deck with new treated 2x6s. Couldn’t believe the cost of materials alone. The original deck went on the house the first year I was retired. Grateful I wasn’t invested 100% in bonds over those 20 years as the price of lumber was doubling or tripling.
Best answer to those low govt. inflation figures is that technology has gotten cheaper. You can buy a 50”-60” color TV today for no more than a good 27” color set would have cost you 20-30 years ago. (But try munching on a TV for supper).

GAM's CAGR (ave annual return) since Jan 2010 is 9.89%. Vanguard's S&P fund returned a CAGR of 12.97%. So "Mikey" at Forbes has provided an "income" idea by sacrificed almost 25% of the total return by owning GAM. GAM may be a "stockpicker's" vehicle, but the stockpicker is generating negative alpha...
Per CEFconnect, GAM distributed $2.25 during 2018. -- Or about 6.2% of GAMs price on 8/2/19. All of it paid on a single calendar day in December. Now 6.2% is a pretty good "yield", but most income-oriented investors prefer to be paid monthly, or at least quarterly. And, of that $2.25 distribution, the overwhelming amount was from L/T cap gains. L/T cap gains are not reliably predictable. And moreover, if an income investor spends those cap gains, he is "eating his seed corn". An investor in SPY could just harvest a few shares and distribute the proceeds to himself, and do better than GAM. The actual income disty was a puny $0.30. Embarrassing.
Mikey also cites GAM as having "lower volatility". Portfoliovisualizer indicates GAM has experienced 117% of the volatility of the S&P. The same source indicates GAM had a bigger drawdown AND a worse "worst year" than the S&P.
It appears that every material assertion which Mikey makes about GAM is factually wrong. The advice Mikey is tossing out their for public consumption is Kr@p. Forbes should be sued for financial malpractice.

FYI: There’s an intriguing trend showing up in second-quarter earnings. And today I’ll show you how you can jump on it with a cheap closed-end fund (CEF)—I’m talking a 16% discount here.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelfoster/2019/08/03/an-all-american-9-7-dividend-trading-at-a-16-discount/#49b8d2b36461
GENERAL AMERICAN INVESTORS was established in 1927; it hadn’t fully deployed its capital in 1929, which helped it survive. In 1931, it nearly died as the market languished. That year “was way worse than 1929,” relates Jeff Priest, a former hedge fund chief and arbitrageur who took over as manager in 2012. He is only General American’s sixth manager.
General American is another stockpicker’s fund: It has an active share of 82, and its largest 10 positions account for nearly a third of its portfolio. They include retailer TJX Co s. (TJX), reinsurer Arch Capital (ACGL), waste-services company Republic Services (RSG), Microsoft, and Nestlé (NESN.Switzerland).
Priest follows a growth-at-a-reasonable price philosophy, looking to invest for three to seven years with corporate managers who are good capital allocators. “A high- quality investment depends on how the management team generates cash and redeploys it,” says Priest, 54, who learned about capital allocation from his father, Bill Priest, the Barron’s Roundtable member who has written authoritatively about shareholder yield.
The fund yields 10%; it has repurchased shares when they trade at a discount of at least 8%. Through September, it had bought back 23.5 million common shares; there are still 27 million outstanding. It also is repurchasing preferred stock.
General American has a relatively high expense ratio of 1.2%, but it also trades at an 18% discount. As Priest describes it, “that’s almost 17 years of forward investment management costs.” Indeed, Priest himself buys shares annually “because I get to have a dollar of assets for 82 cents—a long-term compound over my lifetime and the children’s.” Priest’s family owns 149,442 shares, worth about $5 million. That discount creates opportunities for new closed-end shareholders. At the moment, says Priest, “people are excited about deregulation and lower taxes. My own feeling is we [the market] have been going along for eight years and haven’t boiled over. If you made a basic assumption that equities discount nominal gross domestic product, you have an opportunity set in front of you that is beneficial.”
( Source Barron's Article Leslie P. Norton January 7, 2017)
General American Investors Website
http://www.generalamericaninvestors.com/
M* Snapshot GAM:
https://www.morningstar.com/cefs/xnys/gam/quote
CEFA.Com Snapshot GAM:
https://www.cefa.com/FundSelector/FundDetail.fs?ID=2046
CEF Connect.Com Snapshot GAM:
https://www.cefconnect.com/fund/GAM

@_OldSkeet - hi sir. Have not thought about inflation too much. for my private portfolio most new monies-div montly been buying mostly equities, ~20s% to HY private bonds [like verizon, CIM, 88163VAD1, sprint bonds, Darden restaurants [237194AE5] for YTM >5.5%. Higher yield may offset inflation. Just have a short fuse of know when to sell and have your google.com/alerts on 'darden bankrup' and sell when you think bad things may happen. We held darden resturants [couple like redlobsters dont think will bankrup] 237194AE5 > 2.5 yrs and and love that bond, gave us 3 or 4k every time they have Divs 8.15 and 2/15
longhorn cheddars capital grill are some of favorite restaurants in Texas. Too bad they sold redlobsters divisions away
gap
alcoa
HP
energy bonds
couple of infrastructures /freeway systems in Dallas/Austin because we know those areas well
these are some of the bonds we hold
Plus we don't worry too much if market not doing too well, has good hedge w/ bonds and high-yield dividend stocks, preferred stocks

Although the request is for books on the subject of retirement funding; I thought I'd post on how I managed my parents money after they retired and now what I'm doing that I'm retired. I'm by no means saying this is right for everyone ... It is what I'm doing and I thought it might provide some ideas for others to think on.
I made an adjustment to my asset allocation back in the 4th quarter of 2018 as I felt that equity valuations were becoming streached plus the yield curve inverted. For now, I'm rocking along at about 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity which I call my all weather asset allocation.
My all weather asset allocation of 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity affords me everything necessary to meet my needs now being retired and in the distribution phase of investing. The benefit of this asset allocation is that it provides sufficient income, maximizes diversification, minimizes volatility, and provides long-term returns. For the week the S&P 500 Index pulled back 3.1% while my portfolio declined 1.3%. Year to date I have the equally weighted S&P 500 Index up 17.4% while I'm up a little better than 11%.
The 20% held in cash area provides me ample cash should I need a cash draw over and above what my portfolio generates plus it can provide the capital necessary to fund a special investment position (spiff) should I choose to open one during a stock market pullback. In addition, cash helps stabelize a portfolio during stock market volatility. Example of investments held in this area are cash savings, money market mutual funds (AMAXX, GBAXX & PCOXX) and CD's.
The 40% held in the income area provides me ample income generation to meet my income needs in retirement. It is a well diversified area that incorporates a good number of income generating type funds. Some examples of investments held in this area are ISFAX, PONAX & JGIAX. Currently, the portfolio has a yield of about 3.25% with a distribution yield, which includes capital gain distributions, north of 5%.
The 40% held in the equity area provides me some dividend income along with some growth that equities generally provide which overtime offsets the effects of inflation. Some examples of investments held in this area are NEWFX, SVAAX, SPECX.
Generally, for my income distributions, I take no more than a sum equal to what one half of my five year average total return has been leaving the residual for new investment opportunity. In this way principal grows over time. And, as principal grows so do the distributions.
I wish all ... "Good Investing."
Old_Skeet

FYI: This is a follow-up article, and couldn't think of a better way in making my 30,000 link than an article by our own MFO member Lewis Braham.)
No one ever said day trading was easy. But maybe night trading is.
According to a July report from Bespoke Investment Group, essentially all market gains since 1993—as represented by the SPDR S&P 500 Trust exchange-traded fund (ticker: SPY)—have come outside of hours when the market is actually open for trading. “Had you bought at the close every day and sold at the next trading day’s open, you’d be up 672% right now (not even including dividends),” writes Justin Walters, the report’s author and Bespoke’s co-founder. “Had you done the opposite and bought at the open every trading day and sold at the close that same day, you’d be down 11.5%.”
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/a-successful-after-hours-trading-pattern-is-broken-by-trumps-tweets-51564789699?mod=past_editions

Long Treasuries are killing it, and the 3m/10y inversion I mentioned recently on another Catch thread is up into nosebleed territory. Hard to imagine the yield drop's going to continue more than a day or two longer (if that) at this pace, in the short term anyway.
Got caught w/o any long Ts, but muni funds, PTIAX, and PRSNX are making up for it. The smaller than normal stakes I have in PCI and PDI are doing fine, but not contributing a lot to gains now since I took most of the ytd profits on them and PCN earlier.

Thanks for checking @Catch22. OUSGX fell quite a bit the day before - so yesterday’s gain was in part a bounce.
@bee is probably correct that outsized gains in bond funds don’t usually persist long. So capturing some gains by moving to ultra short might be a good idea. Personally, it ain’t worth the effort. (Getting lazy at this point in life) :)

Anyone making short term portfolio adjustments to capture bond fund capital appreciation as rates move down?

Those of us statically allocated can only watch in disbelief. As for my funds, I was surprised yesterday when DODIX jumped .43%, but absolutely stunned to see docile OUSGX leap by the same amount.

Anyone making short term portfolio adjustments to capture bond fund capital appreciation as rates move down?
PTIAX had a .51% gain yesterday.

I anticipated a direct post related to bond yields actions, prior to this 8:50 am, EST, post.
Short on time today, but IMHO; one needs to give attention to the bond yield drops.
Bond yields have had significant moves in the past few days, and yesterday in particular. As a reference, the UST, 10 year had a yield change drop, that in math terms is about 9% since Thursday morning.
Had this 9% been for SPY, SP-500 or related similar equity market; one would be seeing and reading very large headlines.
It is my continued opinion that one needs to continue to observe investment grade bond yields to help maintain a "feel" for the overall health and direction of the equity markets.
This yield action may be a quick flash for whatever reasons drive these movements from the large players. I'm not formally trained in economics, but a long time observer.
Your investment grade bond holdings should have seen significant positive price movements yesterday, August 1 and early indicators today suggest the same for today (August 2). Investment grade bonds have had very decent gains YTD.
Hang in there,
Catch

The Fund seeks to generate returns that have low correlation with the returns of the stock and bond markets and seeks capital appreciation. The Fund's performance benchmark will change from the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index +4% to the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index.
If one wants an investment that correlates very little with anything else, and a return roughly matching an index of 3 month Treasury bills, wouldn't it be easier and cheaper just to invest in cash, aka 3 month T-bills?
You don't have to be a Flagship customer to qualify for T-bills, and you don't have to pay 0.66%/year to match cash returns. What am I missing?

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1409957/000093247119007247/supplementmarketneutral.htm
497 1 supplementmarketneutral.htm MARKET NEUTRAL FUND INVESTOR SHARES SUPPLEMENT
Vanguard Market Neutral Fund
Supplement Dated August 1, 2019, to the Prospectus Dated
April 26, 2019
The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for
Investor Shares will be reduced from $250,000 to $50,000. The account minimum
change is expected to become effective on or about November 4, 2019.
The Fund's investment objective, strategies, and policies will remain unchanged.
Prospectus Text Changes
The following replaces similar text under the heading “Purchase and Sale of Fund
Shares” in the Fund Summary section:
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by
mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by
telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and
maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares is $50,000. The minimum investment
amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial
intermediaries and institutional clients should contact Vanguard for information on
special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are
investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more
information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-
sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office
can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
The following replaces similar text under the heading “Account Minimums for
Investor Shares” in the Investing With Vanguard section:
To open and maintain an account. $50,000. Financial intermediaries and institutional
clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may
apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary,
please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
© 2019 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor. PS 634 082019
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/313850/000093247119007246/alternativestrategies497.htm
497 1 alternativestrategies497.htm ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES 497
Vanguard Alternative Strategies Fund
Supplement Dated August 1, 2019, to the Prospectus Dated
February 27, 2019
Important Changes to the Fund
The Fund's Board of Trustees has approved changes to the investment
objective and benchmark of the Fund. The Fund's investment objective will
change to: “The Fund seeks to generate returns that have low correlation with
the returns of the stock and bond markets and seeks capital appreciation.” The
Fund's performance benchmark will change from the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill
Index +4% to the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index.
The Fund will also adopt a risk methodology that targets a fixed volatility range
of 5-7% measured at the portfolio level. However, the Fund's volatility from time
to time may move outside this targeted range.
The account minimum required to open and maintain an account will be reduced
from $250,000 to $50,000.
The investment objective and benchmark changes for the Fund, together with
the risk methodology adoption, are expected to become effective on or about
November 1, 2019. The Fund's registration statement will be updated at that
time to reflect these changes. The account minimum change is expected to
become effective on or about November 4, 2019.
Prospectus Text Changes
The following replaces similar text under the heading “Investment Objective” in
the Fund Summary section:
The Fund seeks to generate returns that have low correlation with the returns of
the stock and bond markets and seeks capital appreciation.
The following paragraph is added after the third paragraph under the heading
“Principal Investment Strategies” in the Fund Summary section:
The Fund has adopted a risk methodology that targets a fixed volatility range of
5-7% measured at the portfolio level. However, the Fund's volatility from time to
time may move outside this targeted range.
The following replaces similar text under the heading “Annual Total Returns”:
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund has
varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table
shows how the average annual total returns of the Fund compare with those of a
relevant market index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the
Fund. Effective November 1, 2019, the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index +4% was
replaced with the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index in order to align with the Fund's
investment objective and risk methodology. The Spliced Alternative Strategies
Index reflects the performance of the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index +4% through
October 31, 2019, and the FTSE 3-month US T-Bill Index thereafter. Keep in mind
that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how
the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available
on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at
800-662-7447....

FYI: U.S. stocks edged lower after the Federal Reserve said it would cut interest rates for the first time in a decade.
Major stock indexes have rallied this year as investors have cheered the prospect of a rate cut. That came to fruition today, punctuating the rally. The end of the meeting marks a pivotal moment for stocks, bonds and currency markets because of potential clues about what comes next, especially with interest rates already historically low. Some investors are betting on more than one rate cut this year, and the policy statement left open the door for the Fed to cut rates again.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell could provide inklings about the central bank’s path as he frames the economic outlook.
High expectations ahead of the decision also mean that the Fed’s outlook and wording on further rate cuts could threaten the recent stock rally, analysts said.
Investors sold equities after the policy statement was released. The S&P 500 fell 1.09%. The Nasdaq Composite was lower 1.19%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 334 points, or 1.23%.
The prospect of an interest-rate cut this year also confounded some investors, who point to major U.S. stock indexes near records and strong employment. Many companies that have reported earnings have beat analysts’ expectations, helping propel stocks to fresh highs last week.
Apple stock jumped about 4% after the company reported strong revenue growth on Tuesday. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell about 8.6% after it projected weaker-than-expected revenue growth for its current quarter.
Treasury prices rose along with stocks on Wednesday, pushing yields lower, but pared some of their gains after the Fed decision. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hovered at 2.039% in recent trading, according to Tradeweb, down from 2.063% on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 climbed about 0.2%. European bank stocks rose on Wednesday amid a set of strong earnings reports. Credit Suisse climbed 2.4% and BNP Paribas gained 1.6%. Deutsche Bank’s stock rose 2.1%.
Earlier, Asian stocks fell after tweets from President Trump on Tuesday dampened optimism for a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 1.3% and the Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.7%.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was up 0.5% at $64.95 a barrel, amid continued tensions in the Middle East and expectations of lower interest rates in the U.S.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-31/your-evening-briefing
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-set-to-drift-modestly-higher-at-the-open-ahead-of-fed-decision-2019-07-31/print
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-slip-ahead-of-fed-decision-11564559429
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/asia-stocks-seen-lower-on-trade-spat-ahead-of-fed-markets-wrap
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/news/economy/fed-rate-cut-disappointing-dow-jones-slips-powell/
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/stock-market-wall-street-poised-for-first-fed-rate-cut-in-a-decade.html
Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-street-flat-ahead-of-fed-rate-decision-idUSKCN1UQ1GR
U.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/ftse-100-suffers-worst-day-in-two-months-on-poor-earnings-reports-idUKKCN1UQ0T1
Europe:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-stocks/earnings-trade-optimism-help-european-shares-ahead-of-fed-decision-idUKKCN1UQ0SN
Asia:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/asia-stocks-us-china-trade-the-fed-currencies-in-focus.html
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/us-bonds-treasury-yields-tick-lower-ahead-of-fed-rate-decision.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/forex-markets-dollar-the-fed-british-pound-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/oil-markets-us-inventories-the-fed-in-focus.html
Gold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/31/gold-markets-us-federal-reserve-in-focus.html
WSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/us
Major ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitor
SPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
SPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
Current Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FYI: Investors retreated from the U.S. stock market last week despite the benchmark S&P 500 reaching new record highs, pulling nearly $9.1 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold domestic stocks, according to data released Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute.
The move away from the U.S. market came on the heels of $1.1 billon in inflows the week before, continuing a pattern in which the outsized gains in S&P 500 have been unable to attract investors en masse. The benchmark index is up more than 20% for the year to date, thanks in part to expectations of at least one equity-friendly interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year. Over the same time, investors have pulled nearly $67 billion out of domestic stock funds.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-funds-ici/record-highs-in-u-s-stock-market-not-enough-to-attract-fund-investors-idUSKCN1UQ25Z

FYI: The data breach involving a hacker who accessed the personal information of roughly 100 million people in the U.S. and 6 million in Canada who are Capital One credit card customers or had applied for its cards is yet another example of why cybersecurity—the protection of internet-connected systems—is one of the most essential industries of the 21st century.
In reaction to the news, it’s no surprise that Capital One’s stock took a header on Tuesday with a drop of nearly 6%, which was up a couple of percentage points from its afternoon low. But it’s somewhat surprising the share prices of the two main cybersecurity exchange-traded funds—the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (HACK) and First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR)—were down slightly for the day.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/capital-one-data-breach-shines-light-on-cybersecurity-etfs-50830.html?print

I really don't get into options, so all I know is what I see on the distributions. From Jan 20, 2017 to the present, Fidelity shows no short term cap gains for the fund, only long term gains.
That is, at least as far as reporting the divs was concerned there was no 60/40 split. Same for Eaton Vance' tax reporting breakdown, with 29.60% cap gains and 64.68% "nondividend distributions, also known as return of capital distributions." (The remaining 6% was non-qualified ord. divs.)
https://funds-origin.eatonvance.com/includes/loadDocument.php?fn=31381.pdf&dt=fundpdfs'
The annual report shows a realized loss of $2,399,887 on written options, and a realized gain of $23,362,098 on "investment transactions". That latter figure is around 2% of the AUM ($1B). That's consistent with the cap gains distributions being about 1/4 of the 8% in distributions last year.
I don't see where options accounted for the cap gains that were distributed last year. Maybe they're buried inside the "investment transactions", or somewhere else. As I said, I almost never look at options or how they're treated, and they are a bit different than typical gains.