My experiences with foreign small caps and emerging markets have not been good. I invested in Artisan’s global small cap, and it performed so poorly that they closed it after a few years. I invested in MAPIX, and it was still losing money after more than 7 years. I invested in SFGIX, one of the better EM funds, and it had returned less than 4% annually after more than 11 years. These kind of funds tend to get destroyed in down markets, and it happens quickly.
I’m through investing in foreign SC and EM now, unless some of my broader foreign funds invest in them. My advice to anyone considering these markets, is to be prepared for a long wait before making any money— unless you get lucky with your timing. I’ll be 70 in January, and I might not live long enough to see them make money. Good luck!

A popular misconception is that the stock market goes up most (~70%) of the time.
That's correct on an annual basis. And the odds get even better over longer periods of time.

Source: https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/planning/investing-fundamentals/time-not-timing-is-what-matters.html
But on a day to day basis, the odds are barely better than break even that the market will go up:

Source: https://www.financialsamurai.com/average-daily-percent-move-of-the-stock-market/
This is why I am somewhat obsessive about doing same day exchanges. I invest for the long term and am willing to put my faith in the market going up over a period of years. I do not accept exposure to daily random fluctuations.

We invest with both OSTIX and RSIIX and happy to have them in our portfolio. Although both name use “strategic income” on their names, their approaches are not the same as it reflected in their ups and downs. We invest with Carl Kraufman for over 10 years; RiverPark Strategic Income is new for us and we are very happy with it.
Going forward, I expect both funds will do well as we reallocate more from treasury into high yield opportunities with active managed funds.

Your portfolio of international holdings is far greater than mine. I scaled back a few years ago, when the US repeatedly outperformed. Now, with only a 10% allocation I realize I'm a bit under-capitalized in that area. I've found it harder to slice and dice the international funds into growth/value/small cap/large cap as compared to domestic, and wonder about the utility in that exercise.
What I ended up doing is to find a fund manager who has a good track record, and go there. I've invested with Rajiv Jain at Goldman Sachs GQG Partners for several years with GSIHX (International) and have been very pleased. I recently established a position in GQGIX (Emerging Markets). What I like about that specific EM fund is that it's about 55% in India and Brazil.
Since you appear to have a foothold in developed international markets, you may want to think about an EM position. Frankly, since I'm a bit adventurous, I'm even thinking about a focused India fund.

First time I've heard him actually speak, in a conversation. Impressive. But I dumped Seafarer several years ago. And all the attention in China? Nope. Politically, by my own standards, China is uninvestable.

LINK
https://www.barrons.com/magazine?mod=BOL_TOPNAV
INTERNATIONAL TRADER. EM BONDS are attractive, especially the local-currency EM bonds (LEMB). Dollar-denominated is EMB.
FUNDS. Hot-hand managers are coming to active equity ETFs (TCAF, QLTY, FBCG, CGDV, DCOR, ARKK, etc). There is a flood of active ETFs with 240 new YTD. Much of the growth has been for active equity ETFs after the SEC approved several models a few years ago. The ETF wrapper offers tax-efficiency due to its in-kind creation/redemption. However, most indexes (broad or customized/special) also tend to be tax-efficient. So, active managers have headwinds vs indexes. The active ETFs may have significant differences from their OEF cousins even when both are run by the same team(s) – the ETFs may have fewer stocks or use fewer portfolio strategies. Active ETFs may be only a bit cheaper than their OEF cousins.
FUNDS. @DavidSHERMAN (58) uses value strategies for short-duration (0.75-2 years) HY bond fund CBLDX (ER 0.91%). He also looks for event-driven opportunities – early redemptions, change in control, selloffs following disasters, etc. He expects the yield-curve to normalize in 2024.
INCOME. Higher rates came and went. But bond funds with short/intermediate duration offer high current rates and will benefit from rate declines. Barbell strategies are also good. Mentioned are OEFs STYAX, VMBSX; ETFs AGG, TOTL, PSK (preferreds); CEF PMM (muni).
ECONOMY. FUNDS. Boring won in 2023. This skinny bull driven by Magnificent 7 did wonders for index funds. So, investors who didn’t do much deep analyses and just dumped some money into the SP500 or total market index did well. The SP500 index funds are now 10.7% of the fund universe, the total stock market 6.8%, with both accounting for 17.5% vs 8.76% in 2013. Very interesting considering that the 1st retail SP500 fund in 1976 (Vanguard) was a flop – it raised only $11.3 million in its initial period vs $150 million expected; it could afford only 280/500 stocks; Vanguard total market index fund followed in 1992 and many TDFs hold it. How has the tide turned from the humble beginnings? The SP500 index funds with only 2-4 bps ERs are formidable benchmarks to beat.
Q&A. Joel TILLINGHAST, Fidelity Small/Mid-Cap FLPSX (almost global). He has managed the Fund since its 1989 inception. Considering the regime shifts going on (inflation, taxes, regulation, energy transition, AI, etc), this market is too calm and cheerful, almost like 1999-2000. He likes to see steady and predictable cash flows. Investors may have an edge on small/mid-caps as they are less followed by analysts and institutions. Indexing is very popular now, but active managers will do fine in the long-term. Peter LYNCH taught him to be flexible when things/facts change; to accept errors and move on. He is retiring in 2023, leaving FLPSX in good hands (PECK, CHAMOVITZ), and will devote more time to mentoring, traveling, gardening, and book writing. Previous book, Big Money Thinks Small, 2020.
EXTRA, RETIREMENT. The good news is that Social Security payments will rise +3.2% in 2024 (old news), but the bad news is that it won’t be enough due to high inflation. Although inflation has moderated, that doesn’t mean lower prices. Significantly up are auto insurance, rents, medical care, Medicare Part B Premium. Almost 20% of 65+ are still working.

Following are edited excerpts from a current Free report from The Washington Post.

The agency is extending the reprieve for the 2021 and 2022 tax years to roughly 4.7 million individuals, businesses, trusts and tax-exempt organizations
Getting a letter from the IRS saying you’re past due on a tax debt can be frightening. That fear often drives people to tax settlement companies that offer hope of significant debt reduction.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel says don’t believe the hype. That’s especially good advice now, given a recent action by the agency.
In 2022, short-staffed and struggling to dig out of an enormous pandemic-related backlog, the IRS temporarily suspended the mailing of automated reminders to taxpayers about overdue tax bills for 2020 and 2021. The invoices would have normally been issued after an initial balance-due notice was issued.
With many pandemic issues behind it and staffing up thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s boost to the agency’s budget, the IRS announced it will resume mailing collection notices for the 2021 and 2022 tax years in January.
The notices may shock folks who haven’t received an IRS bill for over a year, Werfel said. For individual taxpayers, the median amount owed is $6,751, according to the agency.
“Given that penalties and interest continued to accrue under law, the bill amounts for those who weren’t paying will be larger than the last time they received a letter from the IRS,” Werfel said. “For these affected taxpayers, we know this is a tough situation.”
So, showing a softer side, the IRS has decided to waive the failure-to-pay penalties for about 4.7 million individuals, businesses, trusts and tax-exempt organizations that didn’t get automated reminders of their debts.
But Werfel also issued a caution: “People with unpaid tax bills also need to be wary about aggressive marketing by some places that overinflate promises of wiping out IRS debt,” he said.
There are unscrupulous tax debt settlement companies and scammers who will no doubt try to take advantage of this relief. They may use it as a hook to con you or get you to sign up for an expensive service you don’t need.
“We have seen patterns of behavior in the past where marketers and promoters exploit an opportunity like this,” Werfel said.

@BaluBalu- thanks for the add, BB.

Interesting guys.
I’ve felt rightly or wrongly that Dow 37,000 (reached 2 years ago) is a decent marker of sentiment and valuation. That’s about where it still is today (I’m guessing that’s about neutral today). So, FWIW, I’m pretty much stuck in neutral - where I’ve been all year long. I recognize the Dow doesn’t represent the greater market or have any special significance. But over the years it’s been a half-decent guide for me (of euphoria vs bust). At least as good as 75% of the market prognosticators.
Did unload BINC a few days ago and move into an IG short term (1-3 years) bond ETF. Not a market call. I expect the former will continue to perform well. Just trying to reduce overall risk profile as a decent year ends and with potential distributions in mind. It seemed as good a place as any to take a little risk off the table. (Equity exposure fell slightly from 48% down to 46% as a consequence of the move.)
I’m structured into 10 equally weighted static segments (all but one represented by a single holding), so selling / replacing any one position is a pretty significant move, Also limits my ability to add or reduce risk incrementally. So far so good. But it’s a relatively new methodology for me.
There are so many cross-currents regarding the financial landscape now it’s hard for me to form an opinion on the future course of the economy or stock valuations. Wars, Sino-tensions, disfunction in DC, consumer attitudes re prices, and the approaching elections. All of this has to weigh heavily on investor sentiment.

In the list of US steel producers by tonnes, I see X & CLF as US #2 & #3, or US #3 & #2. Market-cap rankings may be different. This global list has data from 06/2011-06/2022. If Nippon Steel's bid for X is successful, it will move to global #2 spot; China will have global #1, #4, #5, #6 AND other spots. List also shows 10-yr production history, and CLF seems a new kid on the block that grew from acquisitions in the last few years (unless the table has some missing data).
Wiki, 2011-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steel_producers
World Steel Assoc, 2021-22 https://worldsteel.org/steel-topics/statistics/top-producers/

ybb, tnx
I figured Cliff was probably not for real.
I will ask family who live and worked in this area of trade academe their take
Amazing outcome over 80 years.
Art Buchwald 50y ago used to write wit columns and Tom Lehrer sang his songs about how Vietnam should simply study Germany and Japan to see how things go after countries lose to the United States.

https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/what-are-fund-flows-why-do-they-matter
Quote: "Are Fund Flows a Reliable Investment Indicator? As it turns out, interpreting fund flows and their relationship with performance isn't cut and dry, and trends have emerged that call the signaling power of flows into question. For example, persistent outflows have plagued U.S. equity funds even during periods of strong market performance."
Remember, the SP500 is up at least 80% of the years since 1980.

The last 3 months of the year tend to be the best in the last 5-10-15 years: https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/seasonality.php?symbol=SPY and extend to 5-10-15 years (use the bar below the chart).

The misconduct also included false reports on headrest impact tests and test speeds for some models. The investigation found cases of misconduct were particularly prevalent after 2014 and, for one already-discontinued Daihatsu vehicle, went back as far as 1989.

This is bad in compromising the safety features on cars. The worst is that this is happening for so many years. Where is Toyota’s internal auditing on safety documentation ?

@Mark, think you are spot on. It was “risk on” and now is “risk off” situation in addition to a rate cut in 2024. 10 years treasury yield have fallen to 4%, and bonds took off too.
I am cautiously optimistic that we will have a decent year.

From @msf post,
"McWilliams is also the sole manager of T. Rowe Price's U.S. Risk Managed Dynamic Allocation SMA (separately managed account strategy)
https://www.troweprice.com/financial-intermediary/us/en/investments/separately-managed-accounts/us-risk-managed-dynamic-allocation-sma.html"
That is a useful link.
Here is my quick summary (but as msf suggested, read the fact sheet at the link above) -
In the four years since inception, the Dynamic Allocation strategy gathered $13.5M in assets. It has a hefty wrap fees. Aside from the small AUM, this essentially tactical allocation (equity and fixed income and no derivatives or hedging) strategy did not beat PRWCX and its draw down during 2022 was not good. Not sure what the strategy's limitation is to go to cash to limit risk. As of Sept, 30, 2023, the strategy was 100% in equities. (Fact Sheet: Approximately 50% of the portfolio is dynamically allocated between fixed income and equities, primarily through broad market index-based ETFs (and cash), to dynamically adjust asset allocation in response to short-horizon risk forecasts.)
Somehow, PHEFX managed to garner large AUM, given its infancy. In the first month alone it gathered $1B AUM and now has $3.1B AUM. I never thought TRP are a marketing machine but they are able to market this very well.
I will watch the manager's risk management in real time before increasing my current 1% of PV in the fund. Notwithstanding his 100% equity bias in the Dynamic Allocation strategy, PHEFX did alright against JHQAX during Sept and Oct equity market draw down.

@WABAC, I was not questioning your GISYX sell. Just the currency aspect of the trade (going from un-hedge to hedged). I thought may be you are making a deliberate currency call.
As to international exposure, I have it at less than 2% of portfolio value. It was much less for many, many years.

I'm working on a profile of the fund for January. The metrics are pretty impressive even though I am skeptical of anyone relying on managed futures. Still, the numbers need to be accounted for. Higher returns than virtually any flexible portfolio fund over the last 3 years, higher risk adjusted returns, lower Ulcer index...
"Flexible portfolio" funds, as a group, encompasses both ultra conservative and reasonably aggressive funds. The risk-adjusted performance gap strikes me as more impressive when you look at other funds seeking the same sort of equity like returns that standpoint has posted.
I sent the team a bunch of questions and, just this evening, added JD's to the mix. If I learn anything interesting, I will surely share.

Well, Steve Jobs had a huge ego and was one of the worst managers in (SV)Silicon Valley. His demands of his employees were ridiculous and if they couldn't come up with an idea, he would fire them, and then he would all the IT companies in SV and would tell them not to hire these employees. That's worse than a big ego, that's vicious.
Looks to me that in order to come up with new technology and make it happen, sometimes these guys have a huge ego, obsessed and unique.
We bought 2 vehicles in the last 1.5 years, but not Tesla or another EV, because I ran the numbers and they are not justifying themselves yet.

The Week in Charts (12/17/23)
The most important charts and themes in markets, including...
00:00 Intro
00:23 Is the Inflation Fight Over? (CPI Report)
04:26 More Evidence of Cooling Inflation (PPI, Import Prices, Inflation Expectations)
06:20 The Fed Pivot (FOMC Meeting)
13:46 Dow 37k (New ATH)
17:44 2 Years of Returns in 2 Months (Bond Market)
22:52 Corporate Bonds: Lower Yields, Tighter Spreads (High Yield/IG Bonds)
25:34 Higher Rates, Higher Stocks? (Fed & Stocks)
29:13 Is Mean Reversion Dead? (Large v. Small, US v. International, Growth vs. Value)
33:08 From Fearful to Greedy (Sentiment)
36:20 Wages Outpacing Inflation (Good News)
Video
Blog - not posted yet

Linette Lopez has been trashing Musk for years, see example(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl6oWXUCrLg)...read the comments below the video...mmm...do you think she has an agenda?