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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.
  • Advisor Expectations/Experiences
    It looks like Fidelity is phasing out dedicated advisors in its Private Client Group services, much as Vanguard phased out dedicated advisors in its Flagship services.
    If you think you have a dedicated Fidelity advisor, check your web page. Vanguard and Fidelity used to show an advisor on your "home" page. That has vanished. Fidelity's statements used to give the advisor's name. That's gone as well.
    FWIW, Schwab appears to still assign higher value customers dedicated "financial consultants". See the question "How am I assigned to a Financial Consultant?" on this Schwab page.
    As I tried explaining in this thread, these are not fiduciaries providing advice in your best interest. Schwab writes that "Their compensation is structured to help limit conflict of interest." Nevertheless those conflicts remain; their compensation is based in part on how much they sell ("Net New Assets to Schwab").
    Years ago, Fidelity called this person your "account executive" before changing the title to "financial consultant". Now it doesn't call this person anything; the role seems to have disappeared.
  • Rally soon?
    From Bespoke Report free email.
    The first shows historical weekly losing streaks for the S&P 500. At 7 consecutive down weeks (and counting), this is the longest losing streak for the US stock market since 2001. There have only been three prior 7-week losing streaks since WW2, and none have lasted longer than 8 weeks. We are quickly approaching uncharted territory if the market doesn't see a respite from selling soon.
    Our second chart highlights the number of positive trading days seen over all rolling 100-day periods since 2000. With just 43 positive days in the last 100, there hasn’t been a lower frequency of positive days since October 2008 at the depths of the Financial Crisis!
    Of course when everyone believes it...
  • When stocks are down, ‘don’t watch the market closely
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/what-warren-buffett-says-to-do-when-markets-are-down.html
    Warren Buffett, Jack Bogle and financial planners agree: When stocks are down, ‘don’t watch the market closely’
    **Although the financial markets attempted a bounce back on Tuesday, they are largely in the midst of an extended sell-off that has punished some of the biggest names in stocks.
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s seven-week slump is its longest since 2001, while the S&P 500′s six-week losing streak is its longest since June 2011, CNBC reports.
    While many investors saving for retirement may be wondering what to do in such a tumultuous market, Warren Buffett has said the answer is simple: Try not to worry too much about it.
    “I would tell [investors], don’t watch the market closely,” Buffett told CNBC in 2016 during a period of wild market fluctuations.
    The Oracle of Omaha added that investors who buy “good companies” over time will see results 10, 20 and 30 years down the road. “If they’re trying to buy and sell stocks, they’re not going to have very good results,” he said. “The money is made in investing by owning good companies for long periods of time. That’s what people should do with stocks.”
    These gurus are probably right, buy cheap companies now and hold 10 -20 yrs**
    They maybe exactly right long term
    Problem folks maybe dead in 20 30 years or companies may not be around 30 yrs,
    Maybe better buy sectors etfs instead
  • Grandeur Peak re-opens several funds through 3rd party financial intermediaries
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915802/000139834422009699/fp0076173_497.htm
    FINANCIAL INVESTORS TRUST: GRANDEUR PEAK FUNDS
    Grandeur Peak Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund
    Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund
    Grandeur Peak Global Micro Cap Fund
    Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund
    Grandeur Peak International Stalwarts Fund
    SUPPLEMENT DATED MAY 16, 2022, TO THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUSES AND PROSPECTUS DATED AUGUST 31, 2021
    Effective May 16, 2022, the Grandeur Peak Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund, Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund, Grandeur Peak Global Micro Cap Fund, Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund, and the Grandeur Peak International Stalwarts Fund (each a “Fund” and collectively the “Funds”) will reopen through financial intermediaries to shareholders who currently hold a position in a Fund. Financial advisors with clients in a Fund will be able to invest in the Fund for both existing as well as new clients. Each Fund remains open to all participants of retirement plans currently holding a position in a Fund. The Funds also remain open to new and existing shareholders who purchase directly from Grandeur Peak Funds.
    INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
  • Remember when a 500 point drop in the Dow was a “big deal”?
    The OP also gave the day’s losses for the S&P and NASDAQ. Maybe I should have put all 3 in the header.
    Wasn’t trying to make any particular point except that losses (ie 500 on the Dow) that might have provoked a post, comment (or mild scream) on the board a few months ago were becoming more commonplace and eliciting little reaction. Agree the Dow isn’t the best barometer. It is, however, widely watched and is usually placed first, above all the other indexes in the financial press.
    Whichever index(s) you watch, if you string together multiple daily losses of around 1.5% they can add up in a hurry.
    Latest losses according to Bloomberg …
    Dow Jones -11% YTD
    S&P -15.5% YTD
    NASDAQ -24.5% YTD
  • Mid-Year MFO Ratings Posted ... New Navigation Bar
    My translation: Money managers want to (and should) focus on executing their strategy, not fund performance.
    So, these performance numbers that we (I) call attention to, especially short-term ones, are: "Not important ..."
    Sometimes I think money managers want to both ways, or at least their firms do. When a fund has good performance, even short-term, the person in charge of investor relations will post a tweet or send an email highlighting so.
    But when investors or financial writers call attention to the poor performance: "Not important ..."
    I do think that the professional life span of a money manager is determined by how long their investors believe in the money manager.
    Further, to believe in a money manager (or strategy), a fund needs to behave and perform as expected by its investors.
  • Cathie Wood’s Flagship Fund is Down … Money is Still Flowing. WSJ
    Jason Zweig, When Cheaper P/E Ratios Mean Nothing, WSJ, Aug 16, 2017.
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-cheaper-p-e-ratios-mean-nothing-1502458113
    Aside from negative P/Es, there's a more basic question of how the P/E of a portfolio is calculated.
    And what is used in the industry? The Investment Company Institute, the mutual funds trade group, says funds may use any method they like to calculate P/E ratios. Spokesman Chris Wloszczyna says, "There are no regulations." At Vanguard, the industry's second-largest fund company, spokesman Brian Mattes says he's "not sure what methodology" the company uses to determine its funds' P/E ratios. Value Line reports an average P/E that is the arithmetic mean, but with negative P/Es and those greater than 100 excluded.
    Agrrawal, Pankaj, et al. “Using the Price-to-Earnings Harmonic Mean to Improve Firm Valuation Estimates.” Journal of Financial Education, vol. 36, no. 3/4, 2010, pp. 98–110
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/41948650
    M* currently uses a weighted arithmetic average of the P/Es:
    The (P/E) ratio of a fund is the weighted average of the price/earnings ratios of the stocks in a fund's portfolio. At Morningstar, in computing the average, each portfolio holding is weighted by the percentage of equity assets it represents, so that larger positions have proportionately greater influence on the fund's final P/E.
    https://www.morningstar.com/invglossary/price_earnings_ratio.aspx
    FWIW, I agree with the JSTOR paper that a weighted harmonic mean makes the most sense: Add up all the earnings in the portfolio and divide that into the total price of the portfolio. This also does a somewhat better job at handling negative P/E stocks.
  • Bitcoin Crash?
    Sue Keenan, a late night commentator on Bloomberg TV, compared the drop in crypto to the recent stock market selloff - implying they were somehow related and both expected to behave in similar fashion. That doesn’t make sense to me. Isn’t Bitcoin supposed to be a currency with a stable value? Whereas stock markets are expected to move up and down reflecting the health and profitability of businesses at different times in the business cycle. One is a currency. The other is assuredly not.
    I don’t pay much attention to Bitcoin, but did come across a good article today in the WSJ. Sounds like
    it lost about half its value in short order. Ouch!
    Some cryptocurrencies are intended to be 'stable' as in 'stablecoins' -- things like GUSD and others that are 1:1 pegged to a dollar and are always worth $1 and/or might fluctuate by a thousandth of a cent either way. By contrast, BTC is not pegged to anything and moves like anything else you might trade --- eg stocks or futures, so its value fluctuates and can fluctuate wildly. And don't get me started on the 'algorithmicly-pegged' (read: VERY FUNNY MONEY) cryptocurrencies masquerading as stablecoins ... those indeed are vaporware-based weapons of financial destruction as we're seeing with the TerraUSD/Luna s**tstorm this week.
    If I was bored, I'd consider trading Bitcoin/BTC versus playing with forex. But I'm not bored, so I don't.
  • Bear market coming?
    Yes. Be careful out there. Remember the tech bubble in 2000? Global financial crisis in 2007? S&P 500 declined 45-50% over a couple of years and took more years to recover. It happens.
    Stock markets may be in the early stages of such decline, maybe not. But risks to the downside seem far greater now than any lost opportunity to the upside. Just my view as I continue to lighten my exposure.
  • Fidelity Hiring Spree Continues With Plans to Add Another 12,000 Employees
    Edited excerpts from the Wall Street Journal Article:
    Fidelity Investments said it plans to hire another 12,000 people by September. The Boston financial firm expects to end the year with as many as 68,000 employees, up about 19% from the start of 2022, building on a hiring spree that began in late 2020. Fidelity hired 7,200 associates that year and another 16,600 in 2021. The bulk of the new hires will be in client-facing and technology roles.
    Fidelity, a private company controlled by the Johnson family, reported an operating profit of $8.1 billion in 2021. Revenue rose 15%.
    Fidelity said it ended the first quarter with 33.4 million brokerage accounts, up 3% since December and more than 40% since the end of 2019, when individual accounts numbered 22.5 million.
    Free link to WSJ Article
  • Lydia So to leave Rondure Global Advisors
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915802/000139834422007791/fp0075565_497.htm
    497 1 fp0075565_497.htm
    FINANCIAL INVESTORS TRUST
    Rondure New World Fund
    Rondure Overseas Fund
    (the “Funds”)
    SUPPLEMENT DATED APRIL 26, 2022, TO THE PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DATED AUGUST 31, 2021, AS SUBSEQUENTLY AMENDED
    Effective May 13, 2022, Lydia So will no longer serve as Portfolio Manager of the Funds. Accordingly, all references to Ms. So in the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information will be deleted as of that date.
    Laura Geritz, Blake Clayton, and Jennifer Anne McCulloch-Dunne will continue to serve as Portfolio Managers of the Funds.
    INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
  • Calpers Plans to Vote to Replace Warren Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s Chairman
    I am interested in companies' current actions on climate and not words. NYT, like most media these days, has devolved into selling outrage.
    Since when? Climate science is not new:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_science
    In 1896 Svante Arrhenius used Langley's observations of increased infrared absorption where Moon rays pass through the atmosphere at a low angle, encountering more carbon dioxide (CO2), to estimate an atmospheric cooling effect from a future decrease of CO2. He realized that the cooler atmosphere would hold less water vapor (another greenhouse gas) and calculated the additional cooling effect. He also realized the cooling would increase snow and ice cover at high latitudes, making the planet reflect more sunlight and thus further cool down, as James Croll had hypothesized. Overall Arrhenius calculated that cutting CO2 in half would suffice to produce an ice age. He further calculated that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 would give a total warming of 5–6 degrees Celsius.[32]
    At one point about a decade ago 97% of climate scientists concurred based on many decades of research that anthropogenic climate change--the kind exacerbated by human activity, not the "natural" kind the current deniers fixate on--was a serious problem and threat. Many of the remaining 3% had ties to the fossil fuel industry. Now that percentage is 99% as the evidence is overwhelming. I would add that the evidence for climate science is far more conclusive than any financial theory currently accepted in the market or on Wall Street.
    So, is it "selling outrage" for the NYT to cover what companies are doing to address the problem? Or is it whataboutism or a false moral equivalency to say all media is flawed and sells outrage and therefore the NYT is too?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
  • Blackrock Stock Tumbles / Director Buys Shares
    "Have been keeping an eye out for bargains in the financial area. Generally, prices are inflated I think. But the “discount” here is interesting."
    I may have moved too soon, buying financials. But I'm not going to bail, so very soon after buying. Financials = 32% of portfolio at the moment. YTD, PRISX is down -7.53%.
  • Blackrock Stock Tumbles / Director Buys Shares
    I’ve seen some references to heightened competition / lower fees in the ETF field. Also, to the extent investors think the equity markets will sour (or have soured) they may be anticipating less business for Blackrock from the retail community.
    Have been keeping an eye out for bargains in the financial area. Generally, prices are inflated I think. But the “discount” here is interesting.
  • Matthews Asia ETFs in registration
    No one has commented on the TRANSPARENT structure of these ETFs. It will join a small number of active equity ETFs that will publish portfolio holdings DAILY and more frequently to professionals as needed. It may not be worried about others frontrunning its portfolio as most of its securities may trade on foreign exchanges. There have been active bond ETFs for a while because it is hard to front-run bonds (many trade OTC only).
    This is notable in that this portfolio transparency issue has held back the development of active equity ETFs. The new rules for semitransparent ETFs are also not friendly to securities that trade on foreign exchanges that are open when the US exchanges are closed.
    From the SAI, pg 37, that is found after scrolling more than half-way down in the OP link; there is also a direct click to the portfolio disclosure page, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923184/000119312522106626/d333595d485apos.htm#sai333595_26
    "Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

    In accordance with the Funds’ policies and procedures (the “Policies”), the Funds’ transfer agent, [ ], is responsible for dissemination of information about the Funds’ portfolio holdings. The Funds, together with [ ] and Matthews (the “Service Providers”), may disclose information concerning securities held in the Funds’ portfolios under the following circumstances:
    (i) On each Business Day (defined below), each Fund will disclose prominently on its website, which is publicly available and free of charge, before the opening of regular trading on the primary listing exchange of the Fund shares, the Fund’s portfolio holdings that form the basis for the Fund’s next calculation of current NAV.
    (ii) The Funds and the Service Providers may disclose the Funds’ portfolio security holdings in advance of general release and without delay to parties with which the Funds have ongoing arrangements to make this information available. Those parties receive such disclosure in connection with their day-to-day operations and management of the Funds and include the Funds’ custodian bank, [ ].; Fund accountant, [ ]; independent registered public accounting firm, [ ]; pricing service providers, ICE Data Services and Thomson Reuters; financial printer, Donnelley Financial Solutions; legal counsel, Paul Hastings LLP and Sullivan & Worcester LLP; and proxy voting services. The Funds also may disclose their portfolio security holdings to third parties in connection with their on-going efforts to analyze their trading activity, and in connection with their periodic reviews of the performance of existing fund agents and advisors or the retention of new agents and advisors. Specifically, these parties include Bloomberg Finance L.P., FactSet Research Systems Inc., and ACA Compliance Group. Neither the Funds nor Matthews receive any compensation or other consideration in connection with any of these disclosure arrangements.
    (ii) The Funds may disclose the Fund’s portfolio holdings on a confidential basis to other selected third parties only with the prior consent of a member of Matthews’ Compliance Department who is Director level or above (“Compliance”) and when the Funds have a legitimate business purpose for doing so. Examples of legitimate business purposes in which selective disclosure of the Funds’ portfolio securities may be appropriate include disclosure for due diligence purposes to an investment advisor that is in merger or acquisition talks with Matthews; disclosure to a newly hired investment advisor or sub-advisor prior to them commencing their duties; and disclosure to a rating or ranking organization. Currently the Funds have no such disclosure arrangements in place. In accordance with the Policies, third parties are required to keep confidential any information disclosed to them in accordance with the terms and conditions in non-disclosure agreements and/or confidential agreements, and no compensation may be received by the Funds, a Service Provider or any affiliate in connection with disclosure of such information. Such selected disclosure of portfolio holdings will be reported to the Board of Trustees at its next regular meeting, and such report should state the business purpose of the disclosure.
    (iv) As required by the federal securities laws, including the 1940 Act, the Funds will disclose their portfolio holdings in their applicable regulatory filings, including shareholder reports, Form N-PORT, Form N-CSR or such other filings, reports or disclosure documents as the applicable regulatory authorities may require.
    Certain separate client accounts and other pooled investment vehicles (such as those organized in foreign jurisdictions) managed by Matthews or its affiliates (such separate client accounts and other pooled investment vehicles collectively,"
  • CDs are starting to move up a bit
    We need to be precise here. In considering "appreciation coming out of a credit event", ISTM your focus is on the change in market discount due to something other than accretion. Bond or bond fund, no difference, that's a cap gain (or loss) either way.
    In muni funds at least, one will rarely have imputed interest, because muni funds are managed so as not to distribute taxable income:
    [M]any mutual fund companies, which control around one third of investments in municipal bonds, deliberately avoid market discount transactions even though purchasing these bonds would be good deals for their investors. Many investors in municipal mutual funds place their money with these funds expecting to receive distributions entirely exempt from tax, or perhaps expecting to pay capital gains tax, which may be evidence of superior bond picking ability by the mutual fund manager.
    Ang, Bhansali, and Xing, Taxes on Tax-Exempt Bonds, Sept 10, 2008.
    https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~yxing/muni.pdf
    I suspect that at best one may find a footnote in an annual report but nothing quantified, e.g.
    Amortization of premium and accretion of discount on debt securities are included in interest income.
    Note 1(h) to Financial Statements, Franklin Mutual Shares Annual Report and Shareholder Letter, Dec 31, 2021.
    https://www.franklintempleton.com/forms-literature/download/474-A
    N.B. This footnote includes premiums, so we're talking about more than OID. It also includes market discounts/premiums.
  • Close below 33,000 on monthly chart would spell trouble: Chris Kimble
    Close below 33,000 on monthly chart would spell trouble: Chris Kimble
    The stock market's Friday plunge will have market bulls looking for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to hold important support tied to the market's gyrations all the way back to the 2007-09 financial crisis, technical analyst Chris Kimble said on Friday.
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/a-dow-close-below-33-000-would-spell-bad-news-for-stock-market-bulls-chart-watcher-11650651066
    How low can you go?!
    I keep buying slowly cautiously
    Acct -9.7%% now . all gains previously subsiding
    Maybe starting nosedive
    Feds /inflation/ stagnation growth expects Ukraine....c19...too many hits for stocks to take to recover?
    Maybe dji 27k by mid end summer
  • welcome to the MFO discussion board: civility is most important when all around you are turn toxic
    Great welcome letter, David!! Thank you.
    I have committed all the communications sins you mention and more on other boards, so for me, it is like a new start. I decided to keep my screen name because I don't like to hide who I am by pretending to be a different person. I hope that this board works for me and that I can contribute to it with my (limited) financial knowledge.
  • Bank of America Brian Moynihan Interview - Insightful on General Market
    Caught the interview of Brian on the "entertainment" Mad Money show. Found a few interesting comments from the CEO of BOA that have broader market implications:
    Cramer: Americans have a lot of dry powder and that can keep us out of a recession.
    Moynihan:
    *March 2022 vs. 2021. Consumers spent 13% more and 8% more transactions.
    *April 2022 vs. 2022 Consumers are spending more than 18% in April and this exceeds inflation. Faster spending.
    *Consumer accounts with 1-2K now have $3,500 in their checking account.
    *Consumer accounts with 2-5K in their accounts now have $13,000 in their checking account
    *Card spending is up 33% in early April vs. 2019 for those earning >50K
    *People are earning more and being paid more
    *Travel and restaurant spend has been constrained and people have been saving!
    *"Investors say don't fight the Fed, I always say, don't fight the US consumer"... "loan balances are down and they have plenty of spending capacity".
    The US economy has been constrained due to COVID... despite inflation and Ukraine, the US is much better positioned to have a strong economy this year. Makes you wonder why there's so much financial commentary on the positive outlook of International stocks and funds. I remain unconvinced and think the best values still lie in domestic funds.
    Cramer: "America has the edge on the rest of the world... that's the secret sauce that explains a great deal of todays' gains."
  • What are you buying - if anything?
    Picked up a bit of a bank (Truist Financial / TFC) and a bakery (FLO). I’m with @Mark. Put cash to work if you can find something appetizing..