At least on Schwab, Treasuries pay more than a CD up to 18 mos and they are easily liquidated without a penalty and are state tax exempt.
Two and three years CDs are 0.25 and 0.4 % ahead, but who knows what interest rates will be then.
I had a CD got bust in 1984 or 5. While I got my money back it took many months.

I remember Janus in the dot com era.
I was invested in Janus Overseas for several years around that time.
Helen Young Hayes' results at Janus Overseas and Janus Worldwide were great for many years.
Performance then suffered - IIRC, asset bloat was at least partly to blame.
She exited in 2003 and so did I.

First, recall Janus in the dot.com era. It even had an ad of a dog chasing its tail.
Then, the go-go growth era boom had a spectacular bust.
There were scandals.
Many swore off Janus.
A calmer Janus, now Janus Henderson, emerged from the ashes.
Gibson Smith started bond operations at Janus. He was the bond CIO, managed/co-managed several bond funds and also the fixed-income portion of the hybrid JABAX.
For a very brief time, Bill Gross was at Janus after he was unceremoniously booted out of Pimco, a firm he founded. Gross' fund at Janus did poorly.
As owner of JABAX, I was disappointed few years ago when Gibson suddenly left Janus with a small team.
I put JABAX on watch, but replacement FI team did fine.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see the feature on Gibson & his medium size (multi-billion) operation in a Northern suburb of Chicago.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/20/china-formalizes-rules-for-overseas-ipos.html
"*The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced late Friday new rules that require domestic companies to comply with national security measures and personal data protection law before going public overseas.
*The CSRC said its rules for overseas listings are set to take effect March 31.
*The rules do not ban the variable interest entity structure commonly used by Chinese companies when listing in the U.S.
..."
NOTE. On the other hand, the US rules for Chinese VIEs/ADRs listed in the US are for public access to financials and audits by the US PCAOB. There has been some recent progress in this area under the US threat for delisting within 3 years.

I bet the Noble Absolute Return ETF's adviser is regretting this ETF's "NOPE" ticker symbol. According to the fund's web site--https://noble-funds.com/--it's: "An ETF built on the philosophy of saying NOPE to passive investing, NOPE to ignoring valuations, and NOPE to asset bubbles." The ETF has declined 63% so far in 2023: https://morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/nope/performance At first, before I saw the performance, I was intrigued by the strategy, and the fund's manager, but it's hard to imagine as experienced a manager going as wrong as this one:

Mr. Noble is the Founder and Managing Member of Noble-Impact Capital, LLC, an investment advisor and sub-advisor for the Noble Absolute Return ETF.
Prior to forming Noble-Impact Capital, Mr. Noble spent more than 40 years managing institutional investment portfolios.
He began his career at Fidelity Investments in 1981, working closely with legendary fund manager Peter Lynch before becoming the initial portfolio manager of Fidelity’s international equity fund earning a top ranking spanning six years. Mr. Noble then went on to manage two separate hedge funds, each of which grew to more than $1 billion in assets.

I sometimes think if you give an active manager too much freedom, they have just enough gunpowder to blow themselves and their shareholders to Kingdom Come. This is especially so if they have no one sitting in the board room to contradict them and say, "Wait a minute, are you sure that's a good idea?" The worst part is absolute return funds are supposed to be conservative in most cases, to generate positive returns in all market environments. Nope, not this one.

@Hank. The past round of inflation had its moments but everyone’s circumstances were different and often changed. After two years living in Mexico we returned to the states. I found myself the sales manager of the car dealership. Flooring, the interest paid on the inventory, was 2% over prime as it was called then. And the cars were not selling. At that point we were paying more interest on each sold car than the profit we made if one did sell. So inflation was very, very bad to me.

All through the rate-rising process, I've seen more than twice that office REITS are a thing to stay away from. But if your investing time horizon is from 2 to 66 years? Maybe this is just the right moment?

Vanguard made the mistake of not licensing its "ETF class of funds" patents to anyone. By now, this idea is quite stale. Vanguard itself has launched some self-standing ETFs in the US, and in Europe, most of its ETFs are self-standing. The Australian firm Perpetual US/PGIA (not to be confused with the US PGIM) that has filed is for ACTIVE ETF classes of ACTIVE funds. Unclear if the Vanguard patent was limited to PASSIVE funds only, or whether it never bothered to do so with ACTIVE funds. Last few years have shown limitations of this idea - when there are heavy mutual fund outflows, then the related ETFs have the same CG distributions as all classes.

@yogibearbull,
The linked article mentions a 2009 capital gains distribution for VEDTX due to a "perfect storm."
Which other Vanguard ETF share classes had capital gains distributions during the last few years?

我能说什么 ... Wǒ néng shuō shénme (Wah nung sscho shen ma) ... What can I say.?!
'What can I say?
--- Indicating that nothing that could be said would add to or improve the situation.
--- Something you say when you don't have any other good response to what someone says.
--- A phrase used to emphasize the fact that one is unable to explain, excuse, or clarify something any further.
I had the 'opportunity' to live in Taiwan for two years. A busy work period; but I did attempt to study some Mandarin language; to the point of learning common phrases and words, as others may when traveling. So, the reference to the phrase; also found of use in Chinese, too.
@hank placed a quote from Bloomberg last week, and I also don't recall who stated it there: 'If your're not confused, you're not paying attention.' The original statement is placed to Tom Peters, a long time author of business modeling books. The quote is from his book, 'Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution'. I still have his early work, 'In Search of Excellence' book.
Thriving on Chaos seems to be a current summation, of follow the money, in this current investing environment.
***** As to, 'What can I say': Those here who follow 'Wall St. Week' and/or 'Real Yield' should be able to absorb a decent overview of the market week. There are market pieces, here and there; that may not be covered. But, I remain limited to add more many times. I continue to discover some of the 'other'. In light of this, being redundant becomes an issue with writing. I will attempt to add something of consequence, every week, aside for the data list.
--- Tuesday, CPI: Inflation rose in January by 0.5% following a 0.1% increase in December.
The CPI was up 6.4% from the same period in 2022. Both numbers were higher than expected.
Across-the-board increases in shelter, food and energy boosted the index after inflation had shown signs of receding in recent months.
--- Wednesday, Retail sales at 2 year high. Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation. But even accounting for the technical distortions, Americans are still spending. I don't find any slack in folks going to the restaurants in our area; as they are quite busy all days of the weeks.
--- Thursday, PPI (Producer Price Index) at +.7% from December. Estimate was +.4%. Jobless claims down...194,000 v 200,000 estimate. I suspect the recent layoffs are not reported by those who could claim....yet; if they received a severance payment package, etc., or they have immediate employment elsewhere.
--- Snippet: Reported that credit card debt hit $1 Trillion. Reporting agencies suggest card holders are paying off other debt or other necessary payments with cards. and not with a checking/savings account.
--- U.S.$ UP +.24% for the week, +.49% YTD
*** UST yields chart, 6 month - 30 year. This chart is active and will display a 6 month time frame going forward to a future date. Place/hover the mouse pointer anywhere on a line to display the date and yield for that date. The percent to the right side is the percentage change in the yield from the chart beginning date for a particular item. You may also 'right click' on the 126 days at the chart bottom to change a 'time frame' from a drop down menu. Hopefully, the line graph also lets you view the 'yield curve' in a different fashion, for the longer duration issues, at this time. Save the page to your own device for future reference.
*** Bonds of most flavors received a face slap again this week, although many bond sectors were positive on FRIDAY, easing some of the losses. I'm still inclined towards IG bonds for the longer term, being year(s) not months; when the FED rates increases begin to stop and move downward. Duration right now is important for we investors, as the yield's for the short end are 'high'; as noted in the yield curve notations at MFO. At some point, when the economy finds a defined direction; longer duration will find a path. I keep watching for rotations with yields/pricing, as I lean more towards attempting to find the profit from pricing; but right now I'm happy with the +4% yields of a MMKT. This was not the case in April, 2022.
Lastly, one may expect the FED to go back to the well of high rates, eh???; as they may not be pleased with all of the data points they gather.
A good day to you.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---Several selected bond funds returns since October 25, 2022. I'll retain this date, as it is a recent inflection point when bonds began to have positive price moves. We'll need to watch if this was just a 'blip'.
NOTE: I've kept the prior dated reports in the beginning of this thread; and have added YTD to this data.
For the WEEK/YTD, NAV price changes, Febuary 13 - Febuary 17, 2023
***** This week (Friday), FZDXX, MMKT yield continues to move with Fed funds rate and ended the week at 4.47% . The core Fidelity MMKT's have continued a slow creep upward to 4.20%. The holdings of these different funds account for the variances at this time.
--- AGG = -.43% / +1.29% (I-Shares Core bond), a benchmark, (AAA-BBB holdings)
--- MINT = +.12% / +1.13% (PIMCO Enhanced short maturity, AAA-BBB rated)
--- SHY = -.07% / +.2% (UST 1-3 yr bills)
--- IEI = -.35% / +.2% (UST 3-7 yr notes/bonds)
--- IEF = -.57% / +.87% (UST 7-10 yr bonds)
--- TIP = -.21% / +.95% (UST Tips, 3-10 yrs duration, some 20+ yr duration)
--- VTIP = -.04% / +.49% (Vanguard Short-Term Infl-Prot Secs ETF)
--- STPZ = -.1% / +.42% (UST, short duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- LTPZ = -.32% / +2.85% (UST, long duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- TLT = -1% / +3.1% (I Shares 20+ Yr UST Bond
--- EDV = -1.4% / +4.2% (UST Vanguard extended duration bonds)
--- ZROZ = -1.47 / +4.3% (UST., AAA, long duration zero coupon bonds, PIMCO
--- TBT = +2.2% / -5.6% (ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (about 23 holdings)
--- TMF = -3.5% / +6.2% (Direxion Daily 20+ Yr Trsy Bull 3X ETF (about a 3x version of EDV etf)
*** Additional important bond sectors, for reference:
--- BAGIX = -.51% / +1.35% (active managed, plain vanilla, high quality bond fund)
--- LQD = -.675% / +1.84% (I Shares IG, corp. bonds)
--- BKLN = -.38% / +3.3% (Invesco Senior Loan, Corp. rated BB & lower)
--- HYG = -.29% / +1.75% (high yield bonds, proxy ETF)
--- HYD = -1.5 %/+1.95% (VanEck HY Muni
--- MUB = -1.18% /+.56 (I Shares, National Muni Bond)
--- EMB = -.57%/+1.27% (I Shares, USD, Emerging Markets Bond)
--- CWB = +.12% / +6.27% (SPDR Bloomberg Convertible Securities)
--- PFF = +.03% / +8.36% (I Shares, Preferred & Income Securities)
--- FZDXX = 4.47% yield (7 day), Fidelity Premium MMKT fund
*** FZDXX yield was .11%, April,2022.
Comments and corrections, please.
Remain curious,
Catch

REVIEW. After doing well in FY 2021 (07/2020-06/2021), university ENDOWMENTS did poorly in FY 2022 (07/2021-06/2022) (but now is 02/2023! It takes that much tome to collect data from 678 institutions). Average allocations of 30% alternatives (some not marked to market, a concern) and 28% US equity meant that they outperformed the SP500. Gifts/donations remained strong.
FUNDS. Best Fund Families are ranked based on performance in 8 fund categories and are asset-weighted.
For 2022: 1-DFA, 2-Victory, 3-Neuberger Berman, 4-Capital Group/AF, 5-JPM,…, 18-Franklin Templeton,…, 21-Vanguard,…, 23-Pimco,…, 30-Fidelity, 31-Nuveen/TIAA,…, 36-Price.
For 5 Years: 1-Fidelity, 2-MFS, 3-Putnam, 4-Mainstay, 5-Amundi US, 6-Pimco,…, 10-Neuberger Berman,…, 13-Capital Group/AF,. 14-JPM,…, 17-DFA, 18-Vanguard,…, 21-Price,…, 26-Victory, 30-Nuveen/TIAA,…, 41-Franklin Templeton.
10-year rankings and rankings within the fund categories are also provided. (Too much detail to be included here, so access Barron’s online, at newsstand, or at local library)
INCOME INVESTING. Be wary of higher-yielding EM debt, whether dollar-denominated (EMB) or in local currencies (EBND, LEMB). Many EM countries are at different stages of the rate cycle, and dollar can also have a significant impact.
FUNDS. Gibson Smith, Smith Capital (core-plus SMTRX, etc); formerly, Janus Hendersen FI-CIO (JABAX, etc). After a disastrous 2022, BONDS in 2023 are the most attractive in a decade and may remain so for 12-24 months. Money is flowing into bond funds. The FED is near the tail end of its monetary tightening (rate hikes, QT). Remember that slowing economy or recessions are good for the bond market (true for investment-grade bonds, but not for spread products, HY, EMs, etc). He doesn’t like short-term bonds – yes, yields are attractive, but for how long? He likes IT/LT bonds and a BARBELL approach. Bond volatility will remain (Treasury MOVE 110.11). For corporates, he looks at company fundamentals first, and then invest in its bonds, investment-grade or HY. He also likes MBS and CMOs.
(EXTRA) FUNDS. ETFs that are benefiting from higher rates include DIVO, DGRW, GCOW, LVHI, ROUS, TBF (short Treasuries).
https://www.barrons.com/magazine?mod=BOL_TOPNAV
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/403/barron-february-20-2023-2

And yes; surprised to see Bob Doll with a Deep South Texas firm. I remembered he was at Nuveen and Black Rock before that. I remember him talking to CNBC folks, from Princeton, for years.

Vanguard made the mistake of not licensing its "ETF class of funds" patents to anyone. By now, this idea is quite stale. Vanguard itself has launched some self-standing ETFs in the US, and in Europe, most of its ETFs are self-standing. The Australian firm Perpetual US/PGIA (not to be confused with the US PGIM) that has filed is for ACTIVE ETF classes of ACTIVE funds. Unclear if the Vanguard patent was limited to PASSIVE funds only, or whether it never bothered to do so with ACTIVE funds. Last few years have shown limitations of this idea - when there are heavy mutual fund outflows, then the related ETFs have the same CG distributions as all classes.

No access to NYT
(The link is to a subscriber-only newsletter.)
Courtesy of Google:
Cached copy
If that link doesn't work, try doing a Google search on:
warshawsky TIAA annuity
Mark Warshawsky worked for TIAA and wrote a paper about this 20 years ago. His idea is the subject of this NYTimes OpEd.

@PRESSmUP Might you have a few mutual funds (tickers) that are developed international that could be charted against a similar U.S. fund(s)? We have remained U.S. focused over the years, so I don't really have any international names that come to mind.
I suppose that broad based index funds many offer a better view, as they are not being managed; and may present a cleaner view.
Suggestions.....? A chart of four isn't too busy for viewing.
ADD: An inception date before 2008 would likely be best.

In 2023, nothing like this should ever happen. Period. Not enough spent on infrastructure, on safety, on everything connected to running an operation like this. Inexcusable, unconscionable. Not enough crew on board, spread too thin, worked too hard, expected to cover too much. But it's all about the Benjamins, isn't it????? Feces. I'm just utterly disgusted.
And I just remembered THIS disaster from several years back, too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-Mégantic_rail_disaster

NHYDY refuses to fall far enough to make me happy with my Limit Order. Just canceled. Bought a few shares in PSTL, instead. Then where did it go, after the order was executed? Down further, of course! Growl.
down -1.12% on the day. Market just closed for the long week-end.
down -2.77% over 5 days.
down -1.67% over 3 months.
YTD: +5.57%
1 year: down -12.04%
5 years: down -6.76%
Why own this booger? It's the P.O. I think the divs are in the bag. I've been looking to find all the stoopid statistics and analysts' opinions on the stock, lately. Positive outlook, even if the target-price isn't much higher than where it is at the moment. Good market reaction to recent Earnings Report.

Supposedly the buy-side and sell-side 'analysts' don't coordinate the timing of release of their guidance, but I still don't trust Wall Street to play fair, even if it's the law or SEC regulation. A Chinese-firewall sort of thing, I think.
Nevertheless, a good rule of thumb is that when Joe/Jane Retail Investor see something in the media or as a research note from their firm, the information's already long-since known by others with far deeper pockets so it's not a surprise to everyone and depending on what's discussed, the 'easy' money could already have been made.
An even better rule of thumb is to never act blindly on what big-bank 'analysts' and prominent CIOs put out no matter how loudly their prognostications might be. You could've made a fortune fading (taking the opposite position) on such statements from, for example, Goldman's various CIOs over the years or Cramer's TV picks. Frankly, to me, the more I see them on TV or the financial press/social media, the less credence I give them.
By contrast, senior investment analysts or CIOs who eschew the media and rarely do interviews or make prognostications, or smaller folks running tiny funds or doing newsletter analysis might be worth paying more attention to in terms of their assessments and opinions - such as David Giroux of TRP or Jason Kelly. But even there, you still have to do your own diligence!

Thank you. Great to visualize the inverted yield curve.
Short duration are reaching close to 5%. As of today, 6 mo and 12 mo T bills yield 4.98 and 4.99%, respectively.
https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202302
Today, new auction has been posted for 13 week, 26 week and 52 weeks T bills, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years T notes. The expected yields are posted in major brokerages. Whichever treasuries you decide to purchase, you need to place your order by this Sunday and it will be executed by the following Tuesday.

Since Norfolk Southern's derailment on February 3rd in East Palestine, Ohio, the stock has fallen about 6.5% while Union Pacific has dropped 4.8% and CSX 3%. The poisoning of an entire community with PVC and other carcinogens seems to be worth about 2% to 3% of the company's value relative to its peers.
https://npr.org/2023/02/16/1157333630/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment

Several cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing substance. Other cars held other hazardous substances
Five of the derailed cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a manmade substance that is a key ingredient in PVC, the hard plastic resin used widely in construction and health care.
At room temperature, vinyl chloride is a sweet-smelling colorless gas. It is typically transported in the form of a compressed liquid.
Inhalation of vinyl chloride can cause respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath, along with neurological symptoms like headaches and dizziness. Chronic exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride has been associated with liver damage and cancer, according to the CDC.
This week, the EPA released a partial Norfolk Southern manifest that detailed other hazardous chemicals on the train, which included ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene. All can cause irritation or neurological symptoms like dizziness and headaches.

https://thenation.com/article/economy/rail-workers-say-industry-courts-derailments-in-quest-for-profits/

Rail workers have insisted for years that the staffing cuts that rail carriers have pursued to pad their bottom line would create a safety crisis in the industry. “Through PSR [Precision Scheduled Railroading], they’ve cut staffing levels, not just for the operating side, but for maintenance…and basically all crafts across the line,” Doering said. These acute staff shortages also mean that freight lines are subject to incomplete or infrequent inspections, compounding the risks of environmental disaster.

https://nytimes.com/article/ohio-train-derailment.html

Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, weighed in on Tuesday, criticizing Norfolk Southern in a public letter for “inaccurate information and conflicting modeling” of the impact of the derailment.
Residents of East Palestine are losing trust in state officials and in Norfolk Southern, saying that no one has clearly communicated the scale of the disaster and the public health threats it could pose months or years later.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of East Palestine residents crowded a school gym for an informational meeting about the derailment. They peppered local and state officials with questions about how such a disaster could be avoided and whether their water was truly safe to drink. Representatives from Norfolk Southern declined to attend.
Residents were evacuated and face uncertainty.
Just after the derailment, 1,500 to 2,000 residents of East Palestine were told to evacuate. Schools were closed for the week, along with some roads.

https://nytimes.com/2023/02/15/us/ohio-train-derailment-anxiety.html

“I just don’t want to be diagnosed with cancer or something 10, 15 years down the line because of their mistake,” said Therese Vigliotti, 47, who was outdoors the night that the chemicals were burned and said that her tongue still feels scalded and that she had seen blood in her stool for two days.
Most of the anger so far has been directed at Norfolk Southern, with elected officials publicly taking the rail company to task. Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, called it “absurd” that Norfolk Southern had not been required to notify local officials about the train’s contents before it came through because of its classification, calling for congressional action and dangling the threat of legal action should the company fail to pay for the cleanup.
In a public letter, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, denounced Norfolk Southern for its “poor handling” of the derailment, charging that “prioritizing an accelerated and arbitrary timeline to reopen the rail line injected unnecessary risk and created confusion in the process.”

@davidrmoran: I don't know what happened to DEESX, either. I see from the charts that it reached its nadir on 3/22/2020, having fallen some 7 percentage points more than FXAIX at that point. It never really caught up and I can't devise a chart that shows it outperforming FXAIX. Maybe at exactly 9.5 years, as you say. I wrongly assumed as a shareholder of DSEEX that the bonds would serve as ballast in a down market; it seems the opposite was true and that the "secret bond sauce" appeared to accelerate the move downward. I was a CAPE fan and said so on MFO. I sold, disillusioned. Fortunately, MOAT has proven itself over the long haul. I've traded it, but have never been out. MOTI and SMOT, which adopt a similar "moat" methodology, have been welcome additions in recent months.