Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Jan 1, 2014.
https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-Century-Thomas-Piketty/dp/067443000X

Looks like an interesting read. Thanks for the link, though I won't be buying it from Amazon.

A decade ago, the world was all abuzz with Piketty and this book. Be advised that it is long, dense, and fairly academic. I read about half of its roughly 600 pages. It's well researched, very interesting and worth the read. But it also seemed somewhat repetitive to me. It's not, but it does go on and on. It's still on my nightstand.

[T]here is little doubt that Mr. Piketty has written the big-think book of the moment. Sped into production in February [2014], “Capital” has jumped onto the New York Times best-seller list. Last week, Amazon notified readers its cavernous cupboards were bare.
...
Mr. Piketty is by no means the first intellectual to have attained celebrity. But he may be the first to see his ideas — and his headshot — go viral.
...
His book, and its discussion of, say, “The Ups and Downs of Ricardian Equivalence,” could prove as daunting to most readers as Mr. [Christopher] Lasch’s analysis of “the banality of pseudo self-awareness” [The Culture of Narcissism] or Mr. [Alan] Bloom’s charting of the path that led “From Socrates’ Apology to Heidegger’s Rektoratsrede [The Closing of the American Mind].”

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/fashion/Thomas-Piketty-the-Economist-Behind-Capital-in-the-Twenty-First-Century-sensation.html

Thanks for the warning. :). Sounds like a door stop.
I'll see if my library has it. And maybe I'll just stick to the latest Michael Connelly even if Piketty is only as daunting as Lasch, who I remember as mostly crabby.
BTW, when it comes to the downgrades, I agree that it is Congress that should get most of the credit though the deficit builder is named after Trump. Wandering attention spans will return to Tariff Theatre as third quarter earnings come into view. Tariff Theater is entirely a Trump production.

Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Jan 1, 2014.
https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-Century-Thomas-Piketty/dp/067443000X

Looks like an interesting read. Thanks for the link, though I won't be buying it from Amazon.

A decade ago, the world was all abuzz with Piketty and this book. Be advised that it is long, dense, and fairly academic. I read about half of its roughly 600 pages. It's well researched, very interesting and worth the read. But it also seemed somewhat repetitive to me. It's not, but it does go on and on. It's still on my nightstand.

[T]here is little doubt that Mr. Piketty has written the big-think book of the moment. Sped into production in February [2014], “Capital” has jumped onto the New York Times best-seller list. Last week, Amazon notified readers its cavernous cupboards were bare.
...
Mr. Piketty is by no means the first intellectual to have attained celebrity. But he may be the first to see his ideas — and his headshot — go viral.
...
His book, and its discussion of, say, “The Ups and Downs of Ricardian Equivalence,” could prove as daunting to most readers as Mr. [Christopher] Lasch’s analysis of “the banality of pseudo self-awareness” [The Culture of Narcissism] or Mr. [Alan] Bloom’s charting of the path that led “From Socrates’ Apology to Heidegger’s Rektoratsrede [The Closing of the American Mind].”

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/fashion/Thomas-Piketty-the-Economist-Behind-Capital-in-the-Twenty-First-Century-sensation.html

You may be giving Trump too much credit (pun not intended) here. S&P and Fitch had already downgraded the US. Moody's downgrade was just the last of the triumvirate to take note of what had happened over time. Moody's wrote of more than a decade of concerns.
The first downgrade, by S&P, was somewhat forward looking. "S&P’s move followed a contentious debate in Congress over raising the debt ceiling, which many analysts viewed as a sign of dysfunctional governance."
Congress doesn't need Trump to squabble and deadlock.
What you can give Trump more credit for is sowing FUD. This has had cascading effects resulting in countries and foreign investors pulling capital out of the US.

The switch from traditional capital flows [into the US] in uncertain times is because it is the United States that has created a good deal of investor uncertainty and concern in 2025 through the launching of a trade war, fracturing the Western Alliance, and through its threats against Canada, Greenland and Panama. The short-term effects have been a weaker dollar and weaker American stock markets.

https://jonathanbaird88-89120.medium.com/the-shift-of-2025-why-capital-is-abandoning-u-s-stocks-for-europe-a706641cbebd

A recent analysis by Allianz economists noted that, ordinarily, when yields on Treasuries rise, the U.S. dollar gets stronger as foreign capital pursues those higher yields. However, the dollar weakened as yields rose, in this instance, which "suggests major holders were not only selling Treasuries but also converting the proceeds into currencies – possibly reallocating to European markets."

Fox Business: https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/amid-recent-market-turmoil-who-owns-us-treasuries

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1120543/000110465925051606/tm2515610d1_497.htm
497 1 tm2515610d1_497.htm 497
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended
Registration File No.: 333-200831
BAILLIE GIFFORD FUNDS
Baillie Gifford International Smaller Companies Fund (the “Fund”)
Supplement dated May 21, 2025, to the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated April 30, 2025, as amended
This Supplement updates and supersedes any contrary information contained in the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Baillie Gifford Funds (the “Trust”) has approved and adopted a Plan of Liquidation and Termination (the “Plan”) for the Fund. The Fund has ceased selling shares to new investors. The Board has determined to close the Fund and redeem all outstanding shares no later than July 21, 2025 (the “Liquidation Date”). Prior to the Liquidation Date, Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, the Fund’s investment adviser (“BGOL”), will begin liquidation of the Fund’s investments, and shareholders who have not redeemed their shares prior to the commencement of such liquidation are expected to indirectly bear a portion of transaction costs associated with such liquidation.
Pursuant to the Plan, the Fund will liquidate its investments and thereafter redeem all of its outstanding shares by distribution of its assets to shareholders in amounts equal to the net asset value of each shareholder’s Fund investment after the Fund has paid or provided for all of its charges, taxes, expenses, and liabilities. BGOL anticipates that the Fund’s assets will be fully liquidated, and all outstanding shares will be redeemed on or about the Fund’s Liquidation Date.
The liquidation of the Fund will be a taxable event for shareholders holding shares through taxable accounts. A shareholder in a taxable account who receives an amount in liquidation that is in excess of the shareholder’s tax basis will realize a capital gain, and if such amount is less than the shareholder’s tax basis, a capital loss. In addition to the liquidating distribution, a separate distribution to shareholders may be required prior to the Liquidation Date to the extent the Fund has undistributed net taxable income and capital gains (including as a result of the Fund’s conversion of portfolio securities to cash in connection with the liquidation), which distribution will generally be taxable to shareholders in the same manner as an ordinary course distribution. Please refer to the sections in the Prospectus entitled “Tax” for general information. The foregoing discussion is intended for Fund shareholders who acquired their shares through the Fund’s public offering. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.
Until the Liquidation Date, the Fund will be closed to all purchases except by dividend reinvestment or other automatic investment plan programs. At any time prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders may redeem their shares of the Fund, at net asset value, as described in the section in the Prospectus entitled “Shares—How to Sell Shares.” Class K or Institutional Class shareholders invested via a financial intermediary may be permitted to exchange their Fund shares for either Class K or Institutional Class shares, as the case may be, in another series of the Trust, as described in and subject to any restrictions set forth in the section in the Prospectus entitled “Restrictions on Buying or Exchanging Shares.”
As a result of the intent to liquidate the Fund, the Fund is expected to deviate from its stated investment strategy and policy and will no longer pursue its stated investment objective. The Fund will begin liquidating its investment portfolio on or after the date of this Supplement and will hold cash and cash equivalents, such as money market funds, until all investments have been converted to cash and all shares have been redeemed. During this period, your investment in the Fund will not experience the gains (or losses) that would be typical if the Fund was still pursuing its investment objective.
If you are invested in the Fund through a financial intermediary, please contact that financial intermediary if you have any questions.
ANY LIQUIDATING DISTRIBUTION, WHICH MAY BE IN CASH OR CASH EQUIVALENTS EQUAL TO EACH RECORD SHAREHOLDER’S PROPORTIONATE INTEREST OF THE NET ASSETS OF THE FUND, DUE TO THE FUND’S SHAREHOLDERS WILL BE SENT TO THE FUND SHAREHOLDER’S ADDRESS OF RECORD. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR DIRECTLY OR THE FUND AT 1-844-394-6127.
ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT REDEEMED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUND PRIOR TO THE LIQUIDATION DATE WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT TO THE ADDRESS OF RECORD.
For additional information regarding the liquidation, shareholders of the Fund may call 1-844-394-6127.
***
This supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information and should be read in conjunction with those documents.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Jan 1, 2014.
https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-Century-Thomas-Piketty/dp/067443000X

Looks like an interesting read. Thanks for the link, though I won't be buying it from Amazon.

Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Jan 1, 2014.
https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-Century-Thomas-Piketty/dp/067443000X

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1395397/000089418925003895/plumbfunds497e-may2025usbm.htm
497 1 plumbfunds497e-may2025usbm.htm 497
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
1933 Act File No. 333-141917
1940 Act File No. 811-22045
WISCONSIN CAPITAL FUNDS, INC.
PLUMB BALANCED FUND
PLUMB EQUITY FUND
(collectively, the “Funds”)
Supplement dated May 19, 2025
to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”)
dated August 1, 2024, as supplemented August 29, 2024
1.Based on the recommendation of Wisconsin Capital Management, LLC, the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Capital Funds, Inc. has approved converting Class A Shares of the Funds to Investor Shares of the Funds.
Effective as of the date of this supplement, Class A Shares will no longer be available for purchase. After the close of business on June 27, 2025 (the “Effective Date”), the Funds will convert Class A Shares into Investor Shares and the Class A Shares will thereafter be abolished. Prior to the conversion, shareholders of Class A Shares may redeem their investments as described in the Funds’ Prospectus. Depending on the tax status of the shareholder and whether or not the account is invested through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan account, such redemption may be a taxable event resulting in taxable income to the shareholder. Please consult your own tax advisor on this issue.
If shares are not redeemed prior to the Effective Date, each shareholder owning Class A Shares of the Funds will own Investor Shares with an aggregate net asset value equal to the aggregate net asset value of Class A Shares held by such holder immediately prior to the conversion. The conversion will be effected without the imposition of any sales charge or other charge. The conversion is not expected to be considered a taxable event for federal income tax purposes...

The sovereign ceiling rule (that corporate lenders should not have a higher credit rating than the sovereign debt) is applied by many credit rating agencies. This is a rule of thumb, not an ironclad rule, though agencies tend to apply it strictly especially to financial institution lenders.

Credit rating agencies are inclined to apply a de-facto sovereign ceiling rule, wherein the domestic bank ratings are bounded by their sovereign credit rating (Adelino and Ferreira, 2016), even when they maintain higher creditworthiness. ... The rationale for applying the rule is based on economic reasoning, particularly in relation to the need to account for capital controls and the economic stress caused by a sovereign downgrade.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1544612320316287

Moody's and Standard & Poor's historically have applied the sovereign ceiling concept in practice fairly strictly

https://www.financeasia.com/article/the-sovereign-ceiling-now-a-broad-consensus-on-its-permeability/32286 (2001)

Anent the fantasy of US "reindustrialization," Krugman today:
The economy changes over time, and so do the industries in which people work. A century and a half ago, despite rising industry, America was still largely a nation of farmers; today hardly any of us work on the land:
Oh, and many, possibly a majority of farm workers are foreign-born, with many of them undocumented.
You don’t hear a lot of nostalgia for the days when agriculture dominated employment, although some politicians still portray rural areas and small towns as the “real America.” (If you ask me, Queens, New York comes a lot closer to being who we are now.)
There is, however, a lot of nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s, when more than a quarter of U.S. workers were employed in manufacturing. Income inequality was much lower in that era; many blue-collar workers considered themselves middle-class. And there’s a widespread narrative that
(a) attributes those good times for workers to the availability of well-paid jobs in manufacturing, and
(b) attributes the relative decline of manufacturing to outsourcing and trade deficits.
But is this narrative right? It’s a simple, compelling story, but as I tried to explain to Clinton all those years ago, the math doesn’t work. To preview the conclusions: Even if we could somehow eliminate our trade deficit (which Trump’s tariffs won’t do, but that’s another story), America wouldn’t reindustrialize — our manufacturing sector would be slightly bigger, but nothing like what it used to be. And any wage gains for ordinary workers would be trivial at best. ...

Pioneer Shuts Its CEFs
Pioneer Investments is shutting its closed-end fund (CEF) operation that had $1 billion in 6 CEFs (HY, HY muni, FR). Victory Capital/VCTR (AUM $300 billion) bought Amundi that had bought Pioneer. These CEFs were up for management contract renewals and CEF activists such as Saba, etc had loaded up on shares to defeat the changes. So, when the votes for the new management contract failed, rather than fight the activists or change the fund structure (to OEF or ETF), Victory decided to just fold them. CEFs are among the oldest fund structures around but they have many issues that have prevented CEFs from becoming popular. Other fund structures have evolved – OEFs, CITs, ETFs, interval-funds (IFs). However, other CEF firms are unlikely to follow Pioneer, although some firms with minor CEF operations may also quit the business.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/pioneer-closed-end-funds-liquidates-2a668c7b?refsec=income-investing&mod=topics_income-investing
https://pioneerinvestments.com/products/closed-end-funds
https://www.icifactbook.org/pdf/2025-factbook-ch5.pdf

Discover/DFS is a financial with $50+ billion market cap. Looks like DJ/S&P Committee decided that a modern financial replacement with a similar market-cap is Coinbase/COIN.
At 0.10% weight, the nature of SP500 won't change. But this is great news in the crypto world. First, Bitcoin ETP, then Ether ETP, and now admission into SP500.
Dubai/UAE may be the crypto capital now. But the US is catching up fast.

Coinbase/COIN is replacing Discover Financial (ticker DFS will become inactive) in SP500 on 5/19/25. Change is necessitated by the acquisition of Discover Financial by Capital One/COF.
So, come next Monday, if you have a SP500 index fund (SPY, IVV, VOO, etc), you will also have some exposure to cryptos. Coinbase is a combo crypto exchange, broker-dealer and custodian.
https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/documents/indexnews/announcements/20250512-1478052/1478052_dfs5.pdf
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/12/coinbase-joining-sp-500-replacing-discover-financial.html

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1217286/000119312525117329/d807905d497.htm
497 1 d807905d497.htm JPMORGAN TRUST I
J.P. MORGAN INCOME FUNDS
JPMorgan Total Return Fund
(the “Fund”)
(All Share Classes)
(a series of JPMorgan Trust I)
Supplement dated May 12, 2025 to the current Summary Prospectuses,
Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information, as supplemented
NOTICE OF LIQUIDATION OF THE JPMORGAN TOTAL RETURN FUND. The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of JPMorgan Trust I has approved the liquidation and dissolution of the Fund on or about July 29, 2025 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective immediately, in connection with the liquidation and dissolution, the Fund may depart from its stated investment objective and strategies as it increases its cash holdings in preparation for its liquidation. On the Liquidation Date (for settlement the date after the Liquidation Date), the Fund shall distribute pro rata to its shareholders of record all of the assets of the Fund in complete cancellation and redemption of all of the outstanding shares of beneficial interest, except for any proceeds from any securities that cannot be liquidated on the Liquidation Date, cash, bank deposits or cash equivalents in an estimated amount necessary to (i) discharge any unpaid liabilities and obligations of the Fund on the Fund’s books on the Liquidation Date, including, but not limited to, income dividends and capital gains distributions, if any, payable through the Liquidation Date, and (ii) pay such contingent liabilities as the officers of the Fund deem appropriate subject to ratification by the Board. Income dividends and capital gain distributions, if any, may be paid on or prior to the Liquidation Date. Effective June 1, 2025, Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees on Fund shares will be waived.
Effective immediately, the Fund’s adviser and/or its affiliates have agreed to voluntarily waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses other than certain money market fund fees as described below, dividend and interest expenses related to short sales, interest, taxes, expenses related to litigation and potential litigation, expenses related to trustee elections, and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.41%, 1.06%, 0.31%, 0.91%, 0.21% and 0.16% of Class A, Class C, Class I, Class R2, Class R5 and Class R6 Shares, respectively.
These waivers will be in effect through the liquidation of the Fund. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, affiliated money market fund fees and expenses resulting from the Fund’s investment of cash received from securities lending borrowers are not included in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses and therefore, the above waivers do not apply to such investments.
If you have a Fund direct IRA account, your shares will be exchanged for Morgan Shares of the JPMorgan U.S. Government Money Market Fund unless you provide alternative direction prior to the Liquidation Date. For all other IRA accounts, the proceeds will be invested based upon guidelines of the applicable Plan administrator. Upon liquidation, shareholders may purchase any class of another J.P. Morgan Fund for which they are eligible with the proceeds of the liquidating distribution. Shareholders will be permitted to use their proceeds from the liquidation to purchase Class A Shares of another J.P. Morgan Fund at net asset value within 90 days of the liquidating distribution, provided that they remain eligible to purchase Class A Shares. If shareholders of Class C Shares purchase Class C Shares of another J.P. Morgan Fund within 90 days of the liquidating distribution, no contingent deferred sales charge will be imposed on those new Class C Shares. At the time of the purchase you must inform your Financial Intermediary or the J.P. Morgan Funds that the proceeds are from the Fund.
PURCHASES OF FUND SHARES FROM NEW SHAREHOLDERS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED ON OR AFTER MAY 19, 2025.
PURCHASES OF ADDITIONAL SHARES FROM EXISTING SHAREHOLDERS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED ON OR AFTER JULY 22, 2025, EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT PLANS AND AUTOMATIC PURCHASES.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT WITH THE SUMMARY
PROSPECTUSES, PROSPECTUSES AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
SUP-TR-LIQ-525

American levies on Chinese goods will drop from at least 145% to a base levy of 30% for an initial period of 90 days, while Chinese levies are set to fall from at least 125% to 10% on American goods.
The talks were led on the Chinese side by Vice Premier He Lifeng and on the U.S. side by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

https://npr.org/2025/05/12/nx-s1-5395027/us-china-tariffs-deal-trade-war-beijing-washington
There is details to work out, and there were lesson should be learned from 2020.

The U.S. says it is now negotiating for China to purchase more American goods, a throwback to a trade deal the Trump administration negotiated with China during another trade war in 2020. However, China ended up purchasing none of the additional $200 billion in goods that the U.S. said they would.

Future market is up strongly on Monday, May 12th.
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FYI, there is a very informative article by David Pierson about our contentious trade dispute with China that appeared in yesterday's NY Times. Here are some excerpts:
"Xi Jinping has been preparing for this moment for years.
In April 2020, long before President Trump launched a trade war that would shake the global economy, China’s top leader held a meeting with senior Communist Party officials and laid out his vision for turning the tables on the United States in a confrontation.
Tensions between his government and the first Trump administration had been simmering over an earlier round of tariffs and technology restrictions. Things got worse after the emergence of Covid, which ground global trade to a halt and exposed how much the United States, and the rest of the world, needed China for everything from surgical masks to pain medicines.
Faced with Washington’s concerns about the trade imbalance, China could have opened its economy to more foreign companies, as it had pledged to do decades ago. It could have bought more American airplanes, crude oil and soybeans, as its officials had promised Mr. Trump during trade talks. It could have stopped subsidizing factories and state-owned companies that made steel and solar panels so cheaply that many American manufacturers went out of business.
Instead, Mr. Xi chose an aggressive course of action.
Chinese leaders must “tighten international production chains’ dependence on our country, forming a powerful capacity to counter and deter foreign parties from artificially disrupting supplies” to China, Mr. Xi said in his speech to the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission in 2020.
Put simply: China should dominate supplies of things the world needs, to make its adversaries think twice about using tariffs or trying to cut China off.
Mr. Xi has ramped up exports and deepened China’s position as the world’s leading base for manufacturing, in part by directing the state-controlled commercial banking system to lend an extra $2 trillion to industrial borrowers over the past four years, according to data from China’s central bank. He has also introduced new weapons of economic warfare to the country’s arsenal: export controls, antimonopoly laws and blacklists for hitting back at American companies.
So when the current Trump administration slapped huge tariffs on Chinese goods, China was able to go on the offensive. Besides retaliating with its own taxes, it imposed export restrictions on a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, the global supply of which China had cornered. Such minerals are essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles.
“It’s about flipping the leverage so that the world is reliant on China, and China is reliant on no one. It is a reversal of what Xi has been so irritated about, which is that China was so dependent on the West,” said Kirsten Asdal, a former intelligence adviser at the U.S. Department of Defense who now heads a China-focused consultancy firm, Asdal Advisory.
China still relies on the West for many advanced technologies like high-end semiconductors and aircraft engines. But its willingness to weaponize the supply chain may be one of the starkest examples of how Mr. Xi is redefining China’s relationship with the world and challenging the supremacy of the United States like no Chinese leader before him.
“China will use any and all tools at its disposal to cause pain and impose costs on the U.S. and any country that aligns with America,” said Evan Medeiros, a professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University who was an Asia adviser to President Barack Obama.
“The entire world,” Mr. Medeiros continued, “is about to learn the answer to a very important question: how reliant are we on trade with China and how much is it worth to us?”
Mr. Xi has said for years that the United States is bent on thwarting China’s rise, and the trade war appears to have validated his warnings."

Albeit a bit delayed by what seemed like a pretty routine respiratory infection about which my doctor, a generally delightful young practitioner, decided to get all apocalyptic. Missed three days of classes, which is a 41-year record for me, but I'm chugging along just fine.
Highlights of the issue are Lynn Bolin's ongoing attempts to help us think clearly in turbulent times, most particularly about the possibility that fixed-income funds are actually more attractive in their environment than growth funds.
Quick Launch Alert on the latest member of TRP's Capital Appreciation suite, Premium Equity Income. My reading is PRWCX with an options overlay.
Profile of Dynamic Alpha Macro, which mates a low-cost equity ETF sleeve with a macro hedge fund. More correctly, the futures trading sleeve is advised by the manager of a hedge fund which also, and separately, embodies the strategy. Though Dynamic understandably doesn't talk about the hedge fund with appears to have returns north of 10% APR over 10+ years, with a correlation to the S&P 500 of -0.1.
Updates on Chaos-Resistant portfolios, including a tip of the hat to Lewis Braham's fine essay on the subject.
Charles has added functionality to MFO Premium (daily fund flows?) and The Shadow continues to highlight the industry's activities, including what seems to be an impulse to convert funds to ETFs rather than liquidate them.
For what joy that all brings!
David

”Fund flows are kind of funny”
I’ll say. I’m having trouble finding a common thread. It does look like bond funds have generated more interest over the past year - perhaps partially owing to the very high stock valuations and folks locking in gains. Perhaps in part a flight to safety owing to the political / financial chaos. Additionally, some of the bond inflows could be from disappointed cash investors reaching for yield as rates for cash have fallen over the past year.
The bond flows went both ways. Franklin’s Western Asset, especially, lost assets owing to the Ken Leech allegations. Equity funds look like a mixed bag. It appears value stock funds did well in asset flows. Since when did retail investors take a liking to deep value? :)
I’m curious whether more of these flows (in total dollar terms) were initiated by individual “Mom & Pop” investors (you and me) acting on their own or whether more of it was at the direction / behest of financial advisors / plan sponsors acting in their clients’ best interest?
Hate to ask - But has PRWCX continued to draw money? Or has some of the recent inflow reversed? Last I looked it was about flat YTD.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-tariffs-hit-us-exports-import-covid-level-event.html
Trump trade tariffs slump widens to ‘nearly all U.S. exports,’ supply chain data shows
PUBLISHED TUE, MAY 6 20257:32 AM EDT UPDATED TUE, MAY 6 20259:54 AM EDT
Lori Ann LaRocco
KEY POINTS
*An exports slide that began in early 2025 has reached most ports across the U.S. and nearly all export market products as the trade impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs worsens, with agriculture the hardest hit.
*As businesses cancel orders from China, U.S. imports continue to plummet, with a 43% week-over-week drop in containers through April 28.
*“We haven’t seen anything like this since the disruptions of summer 2020,” said Kyle Henderson, CEO of trade tracker Vizion. “That means goods expected to arrive in the next six to eight weeks simply won’t. With tariffs driving costs higher, small businesses are pausing orders. Products that once moved reliably are now twice as expensive, forcing importers into tough decisions,” he said.
(No references to "boats"!)

The announcement was not really a surprise. Greg has been running Berkshire for a while. He’s actually better suited for the job than Warren, because he’s an outstanding operator. Warren and Charlie avoided anything and everything that had to with operations. Warren focused on capital allocation and let the businesses manage themselves. Berkshire will still have a very decentralized structure, but there will be much more accountability under Greg’s leadership.

As usual, who is angry...again?
Does Buffett or Bogle use T/A or recommend it?
On this site, Charles Lynn Bolin has posted excellent analysis of what funds to own; does he use T/A?

I have two parts to my analysis. The first is using economic indicators to get a macro view of the investing environment and tilt allocations. I have been influenced by these sources:
https://www.amazon.com/Conquering-Divide-Economic-Indicators-Market/dp/1934354155/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D2HOC74G5SKA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jggP08ttk6d3e4aBJ3OlJvJo0wsUTozgiBOa-2IN7hQ.xwqt7J8VQlM-LG4E23gXcJy-l5LbJzq37To0UYjkdH0&dib_tag=se&keywords=conquering+the+divide+carr&qid=1746438289&s=digital-text&sprefix=conquering+the+divide+carr,digital-text,124&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Nowcasting-Business-Cycle-Practical-Spotting/dp/1492923850/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=KAQE7&content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_r=144-1791781-1542116&pd_rd_wg=fQact&pd_rd_r=c779539f-9c8a-4441-9aec-796bf000c84d&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/economic-decline-gains-momentum/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Economic Decline Gains Momentum&utm_content=Economic Decline Gains Momentum+CID_6dfb12d8548d6d2dc48be03360828430&utm_source=RIA Email Marketing Software&utm_term=SEE THE ENTIRE REPORT HERE
The second part is using data from the Mutual Fund Observer MultiScreen tool. I rate and rank funds based on moving averages, fund flows, short-term performance, risk, valuations, etc. As far as T/A, I tilt the results using Relative Strength Indicator from Seeking Alpha, and Fidelity screens where I use indicator and oscillating technical events. My focus is on intermediate fundamentals, but I create buy and sell signals that may influence timing in the short-term.