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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    Lots of guesswork on this thread, based on when market conditions will become supportive of bond oefs or equities in 2023. My guess is that this market will flounder around for most, if not all, of 2023, with the Feds waiting for some sign that inflation has stabilized. That may take a long time, as increased interest rates are not quickly changing inflationary conditions. Much of our infkation was because of supply problems from China, who has been struggling with Covid control--who knows when that might settle down and create large scale exports to the US, without Covid interruptions. Another major contributor is Oil supplies, largely resulting from Russian Oil issues and the Ukraine war--I don't see that ending anytime soon. Then you can get into what each country has done economically that has created "worldwide" inflation. Maybe Biden approved spending bills is contributing to this, but many of those bills will take a long period of implementation to create spending related issues. Maybe Trump taking out huge amounts of income, with his tax relief act for wealthy individuals and corporations, has something to do with the ballooning deficit problems during his term. Who knows what any, or all, of this will be under control, and inflation stabilizes. Will we enter into a recession?--most think we will, at least a mild recession, but all of that is pure speculation.
    I personally think all of this will more slowly playout, and we will see the market start having some increased volatility, as we jump on every blimp as if that is a surefiire sign we have everything under control. We are in the midst of changing a large number of years of low to zero interest rates, years and years of government stimulation, and I just don't think this is a short term correction period, that will change all of that.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    "Fido is offering a 5.50% 15 year (Callable) CD - Jonesboro State Bank"
    @JD_co -
    In my opinion this is a sucker play. Jonesboro is simply betting that sometime in the next 15 years the going rates will be lower than they are now, at which time they will call, leaving the buyer of the CD out in the cold at that point. Stay away from long-term callable CDs or bonds.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    New agency bond issues at Fido - Federal Home Loans Bank Bonds with maturities of 10 (6.41%) and 12 years (6.61%).
    Federal Farm CR Bank Bond will have a coupon rate at 6.98% for a longer dated 15 year.
    Would anybody consider these good investments? None are call protected.
    Moodys (AAA) and S&P (AA+) have them rated highly, but if we go through another housing bust/hard landing recession, do you still want these? Their yields are attractive, but is it worth dabbling?
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    I think for those who have some history investing in funds, I wouldn't write them off. For some years at the end of the GFC, good active management houses did very, very well, like up to 20% a year, a la Pimco Income. I'll be watching houses like Pimco and DoubleLine to see what and how they're doing, not starting from scratch with a list of dozens of funds to check out. No marriage required to watch a few with an eye to investing a reasonable amount when the time comes.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    @Chinfist-
    "I'm also wondering if it might be a better idea to put that money into bond funds rather than CDs or individual bonds, as, in addition to yield, you will make money if interest rates go down as the NAV of bond funds will move higher. "
    I don't like bond funds at all, since there is absolutely no control over actually getting your original investment back. I've been burnt when interest rates go up, and the fund loses value. Also, you have absolutely no control over what bonds your fund chooses to invest in, when they mature, or what their risk profile is.
    Yes, I understand that if you want to spend most of your time doing nothing but researching various bond funds, you can control some of those parameters, but life is too short as far as I'm concerned. How many MFO posts over the years have lamented some bad outcome from bond funds which were supposed to be just wonderful, but then fell apart for various reasons?
    With Treasuries or FDIC protected CDs you are at least guaranteed to recover your investment, even if the issuing bank goes bust.
    Add: Or, listen to yogi, just below.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    Since there seems to be some interest in the subject, I'm going to repeat something here that I've said in a private message:
    It's pretty much the same approach for CDs, bonds, or Treasuries. In an inflationary cycle such as the one we are now in, when the Fed is is gradually increasing rates, wait a few days after a Fed increase and then check for possible newer higher interest rates, keeping maturities reasonably short, and also keeping cash in reserve.
    When it looks like the inflation cycle is coming under control and the Fed is settling down, then deploy all of your remaining available cash, looking for maximum rates, maximum duration, and definitely non-callable.
    That should give you a decent income stream for a number of years as inflation decreases and the available rates start coming down. With callable instruments, it's the "coming down" part that will cause issuers to call in their higher-paying notes and refinance at lower rates. Same basic situation as a homeowner refinancing a mortgage at lower rates.
    Interest-bearing instruments (CDs, bonds, Treasuries) are more or less a mirror image of a homeowner mortgage. The homeowner is the borrower, looking for the lowest possible rate. An institution borrows by issuing interest-bearing instruments, and is doing the same thing- looking to pay the lowest possible rate.
    That make sense and I was thinking the same thing, but I'm also wondering if it might be a better idea to put that money into bond funds rather than CDs or individual bonds, as, in addition to yield, you will make money if interest rates go down as the NAV of bond funds will move higher.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    Since there seems to be some interest in the subject, I'm going to repeat something here that I've said in a private message:
    It's pretty much the same approach for CDs, bonds, or Treasuries. In an inflationary cycle such as the one we are now in, when the Fed is is gradually increasing rates, wait a few days after a Fed increase and then check for possible newer higher interest rates, keeping maturities reasonably short, and also keeping cash in reserve.
    When it looks like the inflation cycle is coming under control and the Fed is settling down, then deploy all of your remaining available cash, looking for maximum rates, maximum duration, and definitely non-callable.
    With a bit of luck, some of the short-term CDs of your ladder will mature prior to that final long-term purchase, giving you more cash to redeploy for the long term.
    That should give you a decent income stream for a number of years as inflation decreases and the available rates start coming down. With callable instruments, it's the "coming down" part that will cause issuers to call in their higher-paying notes and refinance at lower rates. Same basic situation as a homeowner refinancing a mortgage at lower rates.
    Interest-bearing instruments (CDs, bonds, Treasuries) are more or less a mirror image of a homeowner mortgage. The homeowner is the borrower, looking for the lowest possible rate. An institution borrows by issuing interest-bearing instruments, and is doing the same thing- looking to pay the lowest possible rate.
  • FOMC, 11/2/22
    The CME report is very informative on the terminal rate of 5.25 - 5.50% !
    Yields are getting quite attractive, yields near 4.5+% now. Potentially it will get over 5%+ and would make them competitive to stocks and bonds in coming years.
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    By the way, last week I bought a 2-yr CD with call-protection (4.7%) from Morgan Stanley. CDs are getting more rewarding now. When they reach 5-6%, they become more attractive than stocks and bonds in coming years.
    Also treasuries are catching up to the CD yield. One year treasury is yielding 4.72% as of Wednesday evening. The 3 mo, 6 mo and 9 mo Treasuries are higher than the CDs of the same duration.
  • Explainer: Several parts of the U.S. yield curve are inverted: what does it tell us?
    @sven
    It depends on your views of inflation. At 70, while I was not investing at the time, I am old enough to remember "Stagflation" in the late 70's and 80's. My wife and I thought we had it made in "Dreyfus Liquid Assets fund" that paid 14% (?). We didn't realize Treasuries paid 15% and if we had bought them we could have held them for 30 years.
    Anyway, if you think this will be an ordinary recession/ deflationary scenario then buy long term bonds.
    IF you think inflation is currently being driven by many external factors (ie war, Russia, etc) and the Fed will be unable to control it, would stay in short term bonds and cash and even in oil and commodities.
    Personally, I am still largely in cash and short term bonds, but buying some ten year Munis and Treasuries in case interest rates do drop.
    I am overweight in Energy and Commodities especially agriculture ( DBA and MOO ). Longer term I expect rare minerals and stuff used in electric vehicles and clean energy will do very well. Most of these stocks have crashed along with all the other high PE stuff, but they may bounce back quicker than AMZN, MSFT and of META
  • Seafarer Funds’ China Analysis
    Excerpts from M* article posted 10/31.
    "And sometimes, autocracy risks can even render an investment’s value almost worthless overnight. Last year, the profitability of Chinese tutoring firms was placed at risk by a government order forcing all such companies to register as nonprofit organizations. Since January 2021, ADRs of TAL Education Group (TAL) have lost 93.9% of their value, while those of New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) are down 86.7%."
    “'Increasingly, what you’ve been seeing over time is that the government of China is not hesitant to stick its hands in public companies’ positions,' says Daniel Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst at Morningstar. Sotiroff also points to the failed IPO of Ant Group—Jack Ma’s financial-technology company owned partially by Alibaba (BABA), set to be the largest IPO in history—as an example of government regulations affecting the markets. Just hours before the planned debut, Chinese regulators suspended the offering on the basis of new regulations."
    “'China has been the fastest-growing economy for years, by a long shot,' Sotiroff says. Since 1992, China’s gross domestic product has risen from $426.9 billion to $17.7 trillion—that’s growth of over 4,000%. 'And for a while, the stock market did grow, but it never really turned into great performance compared to other markets.'”
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    Link
  • Rondure Global Advisors 3rd quarter 2022 commentary
    When a fund manager is making more, in aggregate, than a fund's investors that sends up all sorts of red flags for me.
    The same can be said for almost every actively managed bond fund manager in the last three years, thanks to this year's terrible performance, yet most investors think bonds, and often active bond funds, are worth owning. Still, I agree fees are too high in general in the active world.
  • Rondure Global Advisors 3rd quarter 2022 commentary
    I'm in agreement with @Ben. For my money (and Ms Geritz has none of mine), I would have preferred to read about specific stocks owned by the two funds and why investors haven't made a nickel since Rondure's inception. I think we get enough macro-economic analysis in print and in electronic media. Fund managers ought to tell us why we need their expertise and how they deployed their skills in concrete ways.
    This is on point. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see why the world needs another fund company with, apparently, a grand total of around $200m in AUM (after five years in business) which doesn't even count as a drop in the bucket. Seems more like some kind of vanity project.
  • IOXIX Blowup From IOs
    @sma3 : " I haven't trusted these guys for several years since they retroactively changed the price of a fund I sold a week or two later, in their favor "
    I didn't know a MF could do this. Would it be possible to explain more on this rip-off ?
  • I-Bonds 6.89%, 11/1/22
    Does this mean that only those who purchase after Oct 31, 2022 get the benefit of the 41 bp fixed rate addition? The rest of us get only 6.48%.
    Yep! The fixed rate at purchase remains forever (well, 30 years).
  • IOXIX Blowup From IOs
    I haven't trusted these guys for several years since they retroactively changed the price of a fund I sold a week or two later, in their favor
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    @msf- sleeping dogs and all that stuff... :)
    Yeah, I know, and I thought about it. But this strikes me as that rare, real win-win situation.
    Contrast it with something like NTF (aka "free") fund transactions. When NTF trades were introduced, we were told that it was a win-win. Fund companies had significant account servicing costs. Brokerages were designed to provide those same services for less (economies of scale, core business, etc.). So the fund companies would make more money by outsourcing and investors would get more convenience.
    That was likely true decades ago, with paper statements, paper application forms, paper checks, etc. But as servicing got cheaper and as the brokerages raised their fees (I think they started at 25 basis points and are now around 40 basis points), this became a big win for brokerages and a loss for investors.
    Or contrast with "money back" annuities. These are annuities where, after so many years, if you don't annuitize you get your initial investment returned. "Free"? Hardly. You're paying with opportunity cost over many years.
    With CDs, one can reasonably argue that buying through a brokerage is a win-win. You do effectively give up the ability to redeem early, but there are also some CDs sold at banks that are even more restricted. They don't permit early redemption, period. That's even worse than the brokered CDs, which at least purport to have a secondary market.
  • China-hong Kong market at 2009 levels
    Thanks for the link.
    China is far from out of the wood. Wuhan is having another COVID outbreak. China lacks effective vaccines and implementation program that will continue to impact their economic growth. This draconian zero-tolerance policy does not work for industrial countries.
    https://theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/27/china-locks-down-part-of-wuhan-nearly-three-years-after-first-covid-case-emerged
    Several months ago, China wants to buy Moderna’s vaccine but also want Moderna to reveal their trade secret within their patents. And Moderna said “NO”. Moderna already has many orders for boosters from many part of the world.
    https://reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-refused-china-request-reveal-vaccine-technology-ft-2022-10-02/
  • Steady rising yields in CDs and treasuries
    Well, the analogy to new cars is interesting. I'd guess that any "product" that continually changes in original cost and of which there is an almost unlimited supply will always rapidly fluctuate in perceived value as the market moves up or down. Why buy a used one if you can get a new one at the same or even better price?
    As msf and others have noted, if you buy a bond or CD do so with the sole perspectives of overall safety and how much income it will generate over it's lifespan. The intermediate pricing of the instrument is just noise.
    Another way to look at this is to compare to fixed mortgages. For the mortgage issuer, the perspective is similar- the issuer is concerned with safety (your ability to repay the mortgage) and how much income it will generate over it's lifespan.
    At various times in my life I've made good money in second mortgages. Pretty much the same perspective- ability of the borrower to repay, intrinsic value of the property, and income generated over the second-mortgage lifespan. During that lifespan (typically a couple of years) it's "resale value" is likely nonexistent, as there's really no resale market for second mortgages.
    With an FDIC CD, just find one with a rate and duration that works for you, buy it, then forget it.
  • Seafarer Funds’ China Analysis
    @LewisBraham: thanks for that comment, with which I agree. The country risk seems to be ratcheting up. Among a number of very troubling developments over the past couple of years, Xi’s ouster of those politicians who represent a threat to him was vividly captured on a video analyzed by The NY Times this week. Forget traditional respect for one’s elders in Xi’s China, just have the previous leader removed from his seat at the side of the Chairman by cooperative underlings.