Sears down 9.55% today......Amazing volatility in this stock.

It's because the public float has shrunk so much that Sears was taken out of the S & P 500 a couple of years ago. Plus, you have 65% of the float short. It's basically a tug-of-war between Lampert/Berkowitz and assortment of fund managers with smaller positions vs the shorts.
Shares Outstanding5: 106.47M
Float: 49.44M
Shares Short (as of Oct 15, 2014)3: 17.35M
Short Ratio (as of Oct 15, 2014)3: 9.30
Short % of Float (as of Oct 15, 2014)3: 65.10%
Shares Short (prior month)3: 17.19M
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sears-booted-from-sp-500-over-public-float-level-2012-08-29

I hope this is an appropriate addition to this thread... (not generally a good start to any message, I realize).
This year looks like it will be a record year for capital gains distributions. After years of thinking about it, I've put together a free website to serve as a one-stop shop for gathering capital gains estimates. My database has 250 firms and already has links to nearly 90 firms' estimates. The information I share is less valuable to the folks that are reviewing this thread, but I do think the site is more accessible and I do provide additonal information. (I'm currently posting links to preliminary information or even 2013 links if that's all that is available.)
The site is CapGainsValet.com. Although the site is free, like MFO, I am asking for financial support. In my case, I'm asking for donations to my favorite charity.
This is the first place I am notifying about the site. I could not think of a better group to reach out to before I try to spread the word. Please let me know your thoughts and recommendations.

Add-on, @catch22:
>>>>>"Not sure what you mean by "We'll do our SERIOUS investing elsewhere."
Does this mean that monies that are not invested in the workplace 403b are instead invested in a trad. or ROTH IRA?
One aspect of workplace retirement accounts is reducing gross taxable income during the tax year, which some folks consider a benefit to saving by this method."
**********
By "serious" investing, I just meant that we won't be putting our OWN money into the 403b. We get the deduction from our IRAs, still. We've not even begun to withdraw from our IRAs, and are still adding to them. Traditional. (Wife still is working, though lately cut to part-time.) There were a couple of years in which I inherited more than the $6,500.00 Trad. IRA maximum and so we bought a couple of funds as taxable investment accounts, but they remain quite small: SFGIX and DLFNX. Whether taxable or not, I think they were solid choices. :) Thank you for your concern, which I know is genuine. Typo above: we own NAESX Vang. Small-cap, not NEASX.

@Charles
Yes, this is an interesting site. I do have a login for this site from many years ago; but have not logged in for some time.
For those reviewing any of the companies; I am not sure how BrightScope updates data, but I know some of the data for who is managing the investments for a particular company are not updated. One company changed vendors 2 years ago and the old vendor is still listed. FWIW
Take care,
Catch

FYI: From hot to not and back again, Japanese stocks have been a confusing lot the last couple years.
Japan's stock market is flying after the Bank of Japan surprised the world last week by increasing its bond-buying stimulus program. The Nikkei 225 index jumped nearly 5 percent the day of the announcement, and it's back in the black for the year. In the spring, it was down nearly 15 percent. That follows a stellar 2013, where the Nikkei soared nearly 60 percent.
Underlying all the market moves is investor confidence in whether Japan can jumpstart its economy's too-weak inflation. Japanese shoppers and companies have grown accustomed to prices staying the same, which encourages them to delay purchases and investments. That weighs on consumer spending and restricts the economy.
To raise its inflation rate and jolt Japan, the country's central bank is pushing stimulus. Last week's surprise move caused the value of the yen to drop. That serves to make imported goods more expensive for Japanese shoppers and also boosts revenue for Japanese exporters.
Even after the big jump for Japanese stocks, they remain cheaper than their U.S. counterparts, says Taizo Ishida. He is the lead manager of the Matthews Japan fund, whose $683 million in assets makes it one of the biggest to focus solely on Japan. He recently discussed what U.S. investors can expect from the market. Answers have been edited for clarity.
Regards,
Ted
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/039ca5a0a61e457397f041c017b307fd/what-japans-stimulus-jolt-means-investors
M* Snapshot Of MJFOX: http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=MJFOX&region=usa&culture=en-US
Lipper Snapshot Of MJFOX; http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Fund/MJFOX?countrycode=US
MJFOX Is Rank #3 In The (JS) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:

"The fund also ranks in the top 1% of its short-term category for the one-, three-and five-year periods. While those results are impressive, the comparison is a bit misleading. The short-term categorization from Morningstar is merely a reflection of the fund’s current portfolio, which has an average effective duration of about three years." (Barron's profile, my emphasis)
FATRX is not a ST bond fund, and neither is THOPX (as some MFOers recently characterized it in another thread); they are total return bond funds which, for now, have chosen to keep their durations short enough, for long enough, that M* has thrown them into the ST bond category (resulting, IMO, in some pretty serious distortions in relative performance and purpose).
Nonetheless, I checked out FATRX awhile back and thought Elswick could become a good one. His core plus portfolio has been and is presently somewhat different than standard fare. Too bad it comes with a FEL=2.25%; just such a turnoff for me

Sometimes you have to work with the hand you're dealt. My first 403b experience was through a life insurance company that took 5% off the top of all contributions. A few years later the employer switched to another life insurer with better fees up front but heavy penalties for withdrawal before the 7 year vesting period was up.
Don't let these bad policies get at you @MaxBialystock. The benefit of the lowered AGI on your income taxes exceeds the fees they throw at you. Also, time is a great compounder. You lose out a lot by skipping years of contributions. The miracle of compounding as it is called.
Of course max out any other plans you have like IRA's.

Thanks for your responses, and the very detailed history by msf, it does have quite a history of bouncing around. I owned UMBIX for many years before I sold, but I have been happy with SMGIX, which I purchased through ML, and Pope indeed is a fine successor to David Williams. I suspect the two funds will eventually merge. I like the contrarian bent, UMBIX never was a true large value either, it had a style all its own. SMGIX seems to play the same way.

I suspect any responses you get will be from legacy investors like Maurice and myself. Though unlike Maurice, I did invest in a Columbia fund ages ago, when Columbia was a boutique shop in Oregon with a few good growth funds. Got rid of that in 1997 when Columbia was acquired by Fleet Boston (later called Fleet Financial).
The Acorn lineage that Maurice is referring to is almost completely separate. Liberty acquired a bunch of fund companies including Stein Roe (Young Investors fund, Stein Roe Special), Newport Pacific (Newport Tiger Fund), Wanger (Acorn Funds), and others.
Fleet Boston brought these Liberty lines together with Columbia in 2001 (when it acquired Liberty). BofA in turn acquired the whole mess in 2004, subsequently merging some Nations Bank funds into it. (BofA had merged with Nations Bank previously.)
Regarding Excelsior funds - they were acquired by US Trust (which was acquired at some point by Schwab, but sold to BofA in 2007), and rebranded Columbia when BofA acquired them.
BofA has since sold the Columbia line to Ameriprise.
The Acorn funds have been kept somewhat separate, but otherwise, I don't have a clue what "Columbia Funds" means anymore. It's certainly not the low cost growth-oriented boutique I bought years ago.
I do know that they make it exceedingly difficult for "eligible investors" (those who are allowed to purchase noload Z shares like SMGIX). Can't seem to open an account online, can't even find an application to download that includes Z class shares.
Columbia has closed off access to Z shares via supermarkets - you can buy their A shares, but Z share accounts are frozen (no buys allowed, even for grandfathered customers).
You put all that together, and maybe Columbia is of interest for hard-to-find types of funds, but it's not a family I'd be looking to for most categories. All that said, Pope seems to be doing a fine job at SMGIX. It's natural that this resembles the current incarnation of UMBIX, since Pope manages that as well (albeit with others there).
But as M* opines, it's a different style now - not the same as the value-oriented fund you sold off. If that's what you're looking for, it seems you may still need to keep looking.

I've been putting up with this SLOTH with morningstar portfolio manager
for YEARS. It's part of the reason I resigned my M* premium membership BACK
in 2005 !!!!!!!!! -yes that many years and it never really improves. I also use FREE
M* port. mgr @ TRP. AND It's WORSE THERE.!!!
--I generally get fund updates from MARKETWATCH .COM which usually show current
nav shortly after 6PM EST.

The chief reason anyone writes about PRPFX is that 97-03 period. Before and after those six years, you do better (including the bumps he cites, almost) with something like GLRBX.

I've noticed, going back several years, that the evening post-market-closing updates at M* used to get done by 6:00. Now it's more like 7:30, and it is not uncommon to go later. And then, there may very well be one or another of my funds NOT updated with the rest of them. Stinky.

PRPFX a *negative* annualized return over the past three years through 11/07/14. Not exactly my cup of tea.

FYI: Let me show you an investment strategy that has had only four losing years since 1971. Its ugliest drop was in 1981 when it fell just 4.1 percent. In 2008, when stocks dropped about 37 percent, it lost less than 1 percent. This portfolio makes sense. Why? Because, as recorded by Richard H. Thaler, in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, we hate investment losses more than we enjoy investment gains
Regards,
Ted
http://assetbuilder.com/andrew_hallam/the_worlds_best_investment_strategy_that_nobody_seems_to_like
Mental Accounting Matters
RICHARD H. THALER
Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, USA:
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/Richard.Thaler/research/pdf/MentalAccounting.pdf

I'm heavy in FAIRX and FAAFX. I'm planning to hold. I remember all those investors in Ken Heebner's funds, CGMFX, etc, who sold at the end of a long stretch of underperformance and bought at the end of a long stretch of overperformance.
Berkowitz surely has seen all those studies of Sears and he keeps buying. He sees something we and the rest of the market don't. That's what I pay him for. Maybe his vision is bad, but I plan to give him a couple more years.

M* has had this problem off and on for years. Plus, you can't tell in M* PM what the as-of date is.
As alternatives, Yahoo's decent, faster and more consistent, and you can keep a simple portfolio for checking everything without a lot of hassle.
Fidelity reports a little faster than Yahoo, but I'm not sure what you can set up there if you don't have an account.
You can tell at both Yahoo and Fido while in portfolio mode whether a mutual fund price is same-day or not.

FYI: REITs are an inferior form of real estate investing. – Real estate investment trusts have become quite popular in recent years, as the Fed’s easy-money policies have sent investors to all corners of the financial markets in search of yield. From my perspective, buying the common stock of publicly-traded REITs is an inferior form of real estate investing.
Regards,
Ted
http://learnbonds.com/this-weeks-top-bond-market-stories-november-8th-edition/

FAIRX ytd -1.68% last month +8.56%
Maybe it is time to sell.
Holdings top 2: AIG +6.34%, BAC +11.95%
The rest... with exception of St Joe, all are down double digit ytd.

Interesting discussion comparing JOE and the Ackman-chaired HHC from a couple of years ago. You can see the difference in the two stocks since.
http://www.tilsonfunds.com/pdf/A Tale of Two Stocks-Kiplinger's-8-11.pdf

The beginning of the end? That's what it looks like to me.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/07/us-sears-holdings-reit-idUSKBN0IR13B20141107
Up to 300 stores to be sold. If they want to make it an online presence, they still have to change the whole model of what Sears is.

Sears is selling the stores to the REIT and leasing them back. So, effectively, Sears is the tenant of the REIT in those cases. It's sort of what Ackman wanted Target to do several years ago, but Target wasn't having it.
If Sears does this REIT, "While the REIT move would raise money, it also would bring additional expenses. McGinley estimates that the company would pay about $150 million in mall rents if it goes through with the plan. It’s one additional burden on a company that’s burning over $1.5 billion in free cash flow,” he said. “This places Sears as a retailer in a more precarious predicament.”"
They've sold a number of the best locations already, including the most profitable in the chain to General Growth. (http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303643304579109023202738550)
"Investors have speculated ever since that part of the attraction for Mr. Lampert was the underlying value of Sears's real estate. Yet, only a quarter of Sears mall stores are in the best centers, with the rest in average and even subpar malls, according to Green Street Advisors, a real estate research firm."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-07/sears-considers-sale-and-leaseback-deal-to-strengthen-finances.html
"Not all of Sears’s space is in prime locations, though. About 27 percent of the company’s square footage lies in what CoStar Portfolio Strategy calls “weak local trade area demographics.” That means households in the surrounding neighborhood aren’t big spenders.
An additional 23 percent of Sears’s space is in “questionable” locations, with somewhat better buying power, according to Suzanne Mulvee, CoStar’s director of research in Boston."
If they are leasing back the stores, it's effectively providing a liquidity boost in the near-term. Why are they not just getting rid of this valuable real estate outright? You have this case that Simon Properties has X amount of space and Sears also has a huge amount of retail space, but that doesn't mean that the quality of the real estate is at all similar.
There's value there, but I think the relative silence in terms of people interested in buying this space from Sears over the years speaks volumes as to the value of it.
There's a ton of net lease REITs in existence. No one wanted to take this on? I do think it will be interesting to see the reaction to the Sears REIT from the standpoint of showing what the market thinks of the value. If some other REIT took this on, that's one thing, but this will be a purely Sears REIT and will be judged as such when it starts trading.
Meanwhile, you effectively play a game of Jenga with the core business, taking out parts and pieces and weakening what's left of the core. All of this discussion about Sears creating a member-centric retail operation is incredibly unrealistic from the standpoint of, you have a CEO who has neglected the retail operations for years and suddenly he goes, "Lets be Costco, only without the membership fees or value proposition." I've said previously, either Lampert is not being honest (this was never about a turnaround of the retail, and Berkowitz has said as much in an interview) or he really does think a turnaround of the business is possible and in that case, I think that's almost laughable.
Meanwhile, he's dragged out his time wrecking value at Sears to what, almost a decade now? He has a legacy as a skilled and intelligent investor. He's been a complete disaster as a retailer and as an investor, he's attempted to turn Sears - still a very large company - into his own personal financial Frankenstein experiment. Take a classic American brand and add the worst aspects of financial engineering, take nearly a decade and wind up with enormous losses and a more irrelevant brand than ever. Just take the thing private already.

We should also add here that Eddie Lampert has his own hedge fund. ESL Investments. SHLD is over 46% of the funds portfolio.
http://www.insidermonkey.com/hedge-fund/esl+investments/14

How much in the way of redemptions has Lampert seen due to Sears? Probably lots.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/investors-pull-back-from-lamperts-fund-2/?_r=0

FYI: LIKE millions of retirees who assumed their companies had taken care of them, Ronald Tussey never thought that his retirement plan might be flawed. He trusted his company so much he kept his money in his 401(k) long after he left.
Having worked as an engineer for 37 years, ultimately at ABB Inc., where he retired 11 years ago, Mr. Tussey said he never paid much attention to the fees in his retirement plan and “assumed the company was looking out for my best interests.”
But after seeing a television program on the negative impact that 401(k) expenses can have on retirement savings, he hired a lawyer, who filed a class-action lawsuit in 2006 against ABB and plan administrators.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/your-money/hidden-costs-of-401-k-plans.html?ref=your-money&_r=0

Hi Old_Joe,
In answer to your question ... Why SGGDX?
For starters ... Here are three.
1) It is about 80% invested in the miners and about 20% the metal. In reviewing rono's comments I took that rono's outlook was the nearterm better action would be in the miners more so than the metal. For sure, rono knows more about the metals than I do and has over the years posted his thinking. His thinking seems to right more times than not.
2) This is a M* five star rated fund and one I have watched over the years and just yesterday put it back on my watch list after reviewing and studying other funds in this category. Centeral Fund of Canada (CEF) is another good fund that I have own in the past. I still might buy some of it too and let SGGDX be my play on the miners and let CEF be my play on the metals (gold & silver).
3) I felt that the metals and miners are/were presently very oversold and it seems I was right as over the past two days alone this fund is up about 8%. Wish I'd got to it last week.
It will be interesting to see where this goes next week as it seems others might have been thinking along these lines too.
Old_Skeet