Country ETFs Crushing It Yes. Foreign holdings are doing well this year. I have no
equity etfs, foreign or domestic. My Australian equity CEF (IAF) is up over 11% YTD. Just sold a bit off in a rebalance. I think the biggest single driver here is the fall in the U.S. Dollar - about 10% lower against a basket of currencies over one year according to The
Guardian. One way to boost a currency is for a country's central bank to raise interest rates. There is a strong correlation. So be careful what you wish for.
Not familiar with
Baby Pips, but I do think their 3-point explanation of why the Dollar has weakened is accurate.
The U.S. has long outperformed foreign markets. At least 75% of the commentators / pundits I've listened to in recent months feel the U.S. equity market is overvalued relative to many foreign markets - particularly large caps. I don't have the expertise to know, but suspect they're correct.
Perhaps unrelated - but interesting. Microsoft (MSFT) tumbled 10% today. That had to upset a few fund carts!
@Obsevant1 -
The performance of U.S. stocks versus foreign stocks has historically been cyclical.U.S. stocks will outperform foreign stocks for a number of years.
A transition occurs and then foreign stocks often take the lead for years.
The duration and timing of this cycle are, of course, unpredictable.Yes. A bit like the tides. A single congressional bill, political pronouncement, central bank action isn't likely to alter the course. Over time, of course, those things add up and do exert a powerful effect.
I've spent hours this week looking for bargain stocks in the Pacific (non-China) area to add to my newly created stock basket. Frustrating because most of the good ones are up so much over the past year. I did bite this morning and picked up a few shares of MQBKY. Fairly valued, but the $150 share price makes it a bit challenging to integrate. (No fractional trading on ADRs)
Country ETFs Crushing It ...With the ballooning $38 trillion dollars deficit...
Confused here. I thought the Big Obscene Bill was going to raise the deficit over 10 years to $7.1 trillion. Which is a doubling of the current state of affairs? (July, '25.) So we were told, eh?
New First Eagle ETF's Started trading USFE - First Eagle US Equity ETF
FEMD - First Eagle Mid Cap Equity
I have owned from First Eagle SGIIX for years and FEGE when it started trading.
High quality managers.
Thanks for sharing.
Tesla - Big changes afoot https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/musks-20-billion-spending-plan-signals-tesla-of-yesterday-is-gone.htmlThey are eliminating two legacy models, after
years of neglecting to refresh them. They are putting that plant to work building robots. And doubling-down on autonomous driving. And they apparently want to produce their own chips.
Automotive competition is coming on hard, and they seem set on side-stepping that challenge. Making their own chips makes certain sense, but will take a long time and is not guaranteed to succeed. It is not that different from them choosing to build their own battery facilities.
The robots? I can understand building industrial robots for specialized automation demands. But, household humanoid robots? Sure sounds like another wacky Musk fixation, that has no real market, like the Cybertruck.
Who is really going to buy these things? I have more of a smart home than probably 98% of people, and would never buy such a thing.
How would a UST attack on Iran affect the stock market/your investment decisions? I have to wonder how many years we would need to stay there and how many more American service people would need to give their bodies and lives in the bottomless quicksand of Mideast religious and political antagonism.
New First Eagle ETF's Does the fact the First Eagle was bought in 2025 concern you? Years ago I had a good run with Sogen international,,, recall the manager was Evilard, I think.
High-Yield Bond Market "Fifteen
years ago, 41% of the high-yield bond market was rated BB—the rung just below
investment-grade bonds, which have a lower risk of default—or better.
A decade ago, those bonds were 49% of the market.
Today, the credit quality of the high-yield bond market has improved,
with roughly 59% of the market rated BB or better."
"But that doesn’t mean those low-quality issuers have gone away.
For starters, there are still plenty of bonds in the high-yield market with higher default risks.
That said, many low-quality issuers are raising money elsewhere—namely, the leveraged loan market
and the private credit market, where they can borrow money at more flexible terms."
https://www.morningstar.com/bonds/why-there-is-lot-less-junk-high-yield-bond-market
New First Eagle ETF's Started trading USFE - First Eagle US Equity ETF
FEMD - First Eagle Mid Cap Equity
I have owned from First Eagle SGIIX for years and FEGE when it started trading.
High quality managers.
Country ETFs Crushing It It has been very productive to diversify away from US, not just 2025, but likely 2026 as well. Others brought up how QQQ out-performed everything from developed to emerging market for the past 10 years. Hello, time has changed. With the ballooning $38 trillion dollars deficit and expensive (narrow breath) S&P500 index, one can get better returns without incurring additional market risk. By adding the current political risk, you all know the answer.
Institutional funds are moving elsewhere since 2025 and one can verify that on MFO Premium’s money flow.
to which one might refer to the usual disclaimers regarding "past returns are no guarantee...". Clearly, ex-U.S. (and small caps) have momentum going into 2026.
No one can predict if that continues or reverts. But, the momentum is there at present and needs to be recognized. Just as momentum is favoring many aspects of fixed income.
Barron's Interesting site.
I found this amusing...
What Do You Get With This (LIFETIME) Wall Street Journal Subscription?
10 years of uninterrupted, limitless, and personalized digital access for to the WSJ website.
That sounds like an offer from Vito Corleone. Recommend people avoid the "lifetime" subscription.
:)
Barron's I found Barron's & WSJ unresponsive and "sticky" in the past (difficult to cancel). Have had good luck with some of the resellers. Currently have a 1-year digital Barron's from top subscription deals. Have chosen not to link the site because it would pull up a page full of Ads. Savings may not be great. But you get a fixed term paid in full up front without automatic renewals. Works for me.
Interesting site.
I found this amusing...
What Do You Get With This (LIFETIME) Wall Street Journal Subscription?10 years of uninterrupted, limitless, and personalized digital access for to the WSJ website.
So .. I should subscribe in my 80s, then? lol
Treasury Direct 1099s Some EE bonds reach maturity after 17 or 20
years. They reach
final maturity after 30
years. Only then are they automatically redeemed. Yes, it's confusing and much of what's written, even on the Treasury site, doesn't get it quite right.
Not all that different from Social Security talking about "full" retirement age, which is
different from when you max out.
These EE bonds have 2 maturity datesEE bonds that we issued from May 1997 through April 2005 have an
original maturity date part way into the bond's 30-year life, as well as a
final maturity date at the end of the bond's 30-year life.
Issue date of EE bond Original maturity date
May 1, 1997 through May 1, 2003 17 years from issue date
June 1, 2003 through April 1, 2005 20 years from issue date
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/ee-bonds/may-1997-through-april-2005/