Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2019
https://money.usnews.com/investing/stock-market-news/slideshows/the-best-blue-chip-stocks-to-buy-for-the-rest-of-the-year
U.S. News & World Report
Invested
Advice, rankings and stock market news for investors.
Aug. 26, 2019
Today's Big Idea
Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2019
With 10-year Treasurys yielding just 1.6%, conservative investors have few options in the stock market today. Proven large-cap stocks with robust business models are a solid choice for investors.
Here are seven of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for the rest of 2019.
1. Target Corp. (ticker: TGT). While the terms “Target” and “robust business model” might not bubble into consciousness simultaneously, perhaps they should. The big-box retailer is coming off a blockbuster second quarter in which online sales jumped 34%, earnings per share advanced 20%, and management raised full-year EPS forecasts.
2. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Johnson & Johnson has been considered a reliable blue-chip stock for over a century, and if it weren’t for a stronger dollar, sales would be rising in the mid-single digits internationally right now. JNJ shares offer a 2.9% dividend. – John Divine
Target Corp. (TGT)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B, BRK.A)
Walmart (WMT)
AT&T (T)
PepsiCo (PEP)
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD)
1290 Diversified Bond Fund TNUAX
$62.3M
6.61%
1290 DoubleLine Dynamic Allocation Fund TNXAX
$60.5M
4.32%
1290 GAMCO Small/Mid Cap Value Fund TNVAX
$101.9M
-6.64%
1290 Global Talents Fund TNYAX
$27.5M
-10.23%
1290 High Yield Bond Fund TNHAX
$35.1M
4.74%
1290 Low Volatility Global Equity Fund TNZIX
$3.4M
5.08%
1290 Multi-Alternative Strategies Fund TNMAX
$18.6M
-2.28%
1290 Retirement 2020 Fund TNIIX
$10.6M
4.37%
1290 Retirement 2025 Fund TNJIX
$17.7M
4.34%
Data as of August 26th, 2019
Unsubscribe from this email list
Manage my email preferences | Privacy Policy
1050 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, Washington,
DC 20007 USA
USN Facebook Link USN Twitter Link USN Google Plus Link
© 2019 U.S. News & World Report, L.P. All rights reserved.

FYI: U.S. stock futures pointed to a recovery Monday morning after President Trump said China is ready to come back to the negotiating table following a phone call Sunday and the two countries will start talking very seriously.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 154 points higher, indicating a rise of 208.10 points at Monday’s open, as of 3:27 a.m. ET Monday. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to opening gains for both indexes.
Global stocks and government bond yields fell on Monday as a new escalation in commercial tensions between the world’s two largest economies cast fresh doubt on growth prospects.
Regards,
Ted
:
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-fall-as-trade-tensions-escalate-11566787858
Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-25/yen-gains-stocks-to-drop-as-trade-war-ramps-up-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-china-trade-war-trumps-apple-stock-market-rally-fed-cuts-tesla-boeing-micron/
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/25/dow-futures-drop-300-points-at-the-open-as-us-china-trade-war-escalates.html
U.K.
Closed
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/european-stocks-tumble-on-trade-war-blows-idUSKCN1VG0HQ
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-sink-as-trump-ratchets-up-trade-tensions-2019-08-25/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/26/treasury-yields-fall-investors-flee-risk-trade-war.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/26/forex-markets-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/26/oil-markets-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.html
Gold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/26/gold-markets-us-china-trade-war-us-stocks-in-focus.html
Cuirrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

Wow!
Since we seem to be operating in data free space, I do hope that anyone voting on my behalf is considering the US citizens, which includes the consumers buying cheap Chinese made products and the workers whose incomes are reduced by the pressures of the "flat world."
Personally, I'm willing to pay a few dollars more for American-made goods by American workers (curse you, Wal-Mart!, but I may buy groceries there, since I am fairly sure they didn't come from China.)
While I have no idea where Edmond gets his data that half of the "shareholders" are against supporting American workers, I want to see the survey that shows that 51% wants companies to place their interests above that of their fellow citizens.
So far as "the collectivist ideology of the 'free press' " comment [it's really hard to get the punctuation correct here], , I doubt that Jefferson, Adams, or Hamilton would have a clue what this means. BU.T, I doubt they would have regarded it as a threat to the republic

Looks like he is a winner - 3 hots a cot and $1.45 mil for 4 years of his time at some white collar country club all expenses paid.

I woke up this morning to see headlines that Tweety Amin expressed 'second thoughts' about increasing the China tarriffs. Then, 2 hours later, the WH says he meant to say he had 'second thoughts' about the percentage of the increase and that it should've been higher, and his talking heads are reinforcing that on the bobblehead shows here. If this was during market hours, we'd have seen more 500-point whipsaws in the Dow.
The pathetic thing is that Nobody. Can. Plan. Effectively. China fiasco aside, he's flailing more and more ... i.e., the economy is 'booming' and the 'best ever' but he needs the Fed to cut rates anyway. He announces, or hints of announcing, something and then needs others to clean up after him before he reverses/suspends his decision once it polls poorly. Yes, there's the usual marketplace uncertainty we all accept as investors, but we've got a whole new level of instability here -- and then factor in algos that trade off of headlines between themselves, and you have a recipe for disaster. Speaking of algos, gods help us if the idiot rambles about gun violence, war, and the markets in the same tweet.
He was actually tweeting jokes about the Dow's drop on Friday, too. Average Joe/Jane investors may be nervous about their financial well-being, college funds, retirement plans, etc, and he's totally oblivious to them -- just has to snark on his political opponents quitting the race. Because, it's all about him and being the authoritarian strongman bully.
I shudder to think what this regime would have done if they were in charge during the GFC. We'd probably still be in it, based on their current track record for effectiveness, planning, and competence. But it'd never be *his* fault, because in the world of delusion created by his liddle stable genius chosen-one mind, he can do no wrong, ever.
GRUMBLE.

more
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/new-koch
and
https://www.theonion.com/david-koch-pumps-billions-of-dollars-into-campaign-to-s-1837513455

If he signs China would not be surprise if DOWS upswing 10 to 15% in few days WEEKS... He need to be fair and compromise everyone... Which maybe very hard to do w personalities issues

The whole thing amounts to a mini-tantrum and he is angry at everybody including China who he blames them on the market and the economy on chairman Powell. The biggest mistake is the belief that lowering interest rates by 25 or 50 bp (or even 100 bp as he floated the idea early in the week) will do anything to revive the economy. Realistically there is not much left in Federal Reserve to bail out the economy, unlike the 2008 timeframe.
In the recent weeks, Friday marked third declines in S&P500 of more than 2% with the a total decline of 5.8% of the last 4 weeks. Next fight is at G7 summit.

I agree that giving money to the top tier museums is not a bad thing. But let's face it - giving money to a specific recipient in exchange for publicity is not exactly high up on Maimonides' eight levels of charitable giving. At best what you've got is trickle down culture.
Citing NYC museum admission policies, and the Met's in particular, was not the best example one might have come up with. The Met sits on public land; as a condition of that public gift, it is required to offer free admission. Until recently, "free" was interpreted as requiring at least a penny's payment from all visitors. But in early 2018, the Met started limiting "free" admission to only those visitors who could prove they were NYS residents. (Ironic that your link was to a tourist site.)
MoMA and the Guggenheim suffer no such constraints. Consequently, they charge visitors full freight; no "pay what you want" policy for them.

“We’re the only major art museum in the world that has recourse neither to mandatory admissions or significant government funding,” he said, pointing out that both the Smithsonian in Washington and the Louvre in Paris receive considerable public support. The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim already charge $25 — though, unlike the Met, they are not in city-owned buildings nor supported by taxpayer dollars.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/arts/design/met-museum-admissions.html
To add to the matter of NYC, the Cooper Hewitt museum, a NYC branch of the usually free Smithsonian charges mandatory admission (except for three hours of "pay what you want" once a week). And the Met implemented the mandatory fee for out-of-towners in part because NYC had decided to spread its art dollars around more widely to enhance diversity. So NYC at least is not a local government unwilling to pay for "artsy" things. It's just more interested in supporting the arts more broadly than wealthy donors tend to do.

I would have concurred last week in the first sentence from @kings53man, but this is sobering, about self-reinforcing trade stupidities:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/23/1880993/-The-Trump-presidency-may-well-have-entered-its-endgame-today

as a 'tribute ' to the koch's read DARK MONEY by jane mayer ISBN 385535597
it will provide insight into 'well spent' money across the government, education and culture.
+1 BenWP

@MFO Members: "“He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone"
Regards,
Ted
(A Lot of people benefited from his donations)
$185 million
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
$150 million
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
$100 million
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
$100 million
New York State Theater at Lincoln Center
New York City Ballet.
$66.7 million
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
$65 million
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
$35 million
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History
$15 million
Museum of Natural History in DC.
$26.5 million
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
$26.2 million
The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York
$20 million
American Museum of Natural History, New York
$20 million
Johns Hopkins University
$10 million

FYI: With stocks just below all-time highs and bond yields near record lows, many investors are left searching for capital appreciation and current income. There’s one often-overlooked asset class that could satisfy both needs, while insulating investors from a downdraft: convertible bonds.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/as-uncertainty-rises-investors-may-seek-the-defensive-attributes-of-convertible-bonds-51566559802?refsec=funds
M* Snapshot FISCX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/fiscx/quote
Lipper Snapshot FISCX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/fiscx
FISCX Is Unranked In The (CS) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/convertibles/franklin-convertible-securities-fund/fiscx

FYI: A former employee of the Vanguard Group was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for a $2.1 million fraud scheme he perpetrated while working at the company.
Scott Capps, 48, pleaded guilty in March to charges of mail fraud, money laundering and filing a false tax return, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia. He will also forfeit $649,000.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=LABhXZbrJsXysQW3kYngDg&q=Vanguard+Supervisor+Sentenced+To+Four+Years+For+Fraud&oq=Vanguard+Supervisor+Sentenced+To+Four+Years+For+Fraud&gs_l=psy-ab.3...3012.3012..4172...0.0..0.76.76.1......0....2j1..gws-wiz.wzE3ZLtc4Rg&ved=0ahUKEwiWsaTnlZvkAhVFeawKHbdIAuwQ4dUDCAc&uact=5

FYI: Doomsday scenarios don’t have to come with the hype, speed, and spectacle of a Hollywood blockbuster. The biggest threats today are slower-moving and decidedly less visual: The U.S.-China trade war could become an all-out conflict that plunges the world into recession and undoes globalization; a Japan-like deflationary funk could spread through the U.S. and Europe; or state-sponsored hackers could paralyze critical infrastructure, undermining confidence and sparking a cyberwar.
A relatively healthy U.S. economy, along with global central banks’ willingness to cut interest rates, have allowed some measure of optimism, despite alarming headlines. In fact, investors’ equity holdings as a share of their financial assets hovered around 30% earlier this year; the last time it was higher was in the late 1990s.
But that’s exactly why some strategists, fund managers, and financial advisors are beginning to consider the investment versions of survivalists’ supplies, including Spam, gas masks, and gold. “It’s really the first time in seven or eight years that we are starting to meaningfully derisk across portfolios,” says David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors, which oversees $2 billion. “Whether the tariff war escalates or lingers, the downside is a no-growth world where risk sentiment evaporates. And central banks around the world are trying to provide a safety net, but it’s a small net with a lot of holes.”
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/how-to-prepare-your-portfolio-for-the-worst-when-the-worst-is-a-real-possibility-51566603417?mod=past_editions

FYI: America’s top sport is ready to show off its history—and plot its future, making the year ahead a pivotal one for the business of television.
On Sept. 5, when the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers, the National Football League will begin celebrating its 100th season. The broadcaster, NBC, will mix nostalgia with game play. The network has been testing some technological tricks during preseason, including a second Skycam for a view down the line of scrimmage on every play and expanded use of Doppler radar to show if a field-goal attempt misses, say, by four feet right. Throughout the season, the league says it will honor the top 100 players of all time.
Less publicly, the NFL will also be negotiating a new generation of long-term media rights packages. If past patterns repeat, investors should learn late next year where and how viewers will watch NFL football through the 2020s.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/nfl-season-comes-at-key-moment-for-the-future-of-tv-51566605219?mod=past_editions

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1444822/000119312519227736/d794909d497.htm
497 1 d794909d497.htm AQR FUNDS
AQR FUNDS
Supplement dated August 23, 2019 (“Supplement”)
to the Class I Shares and Class N Shares Prospectus
and the Class R6 Shares Prospectus,
each dated May 1, 2019, as amended (the “Prospectuses”),
of the AQR Style Premia Alternative Fund
and AQR Style Premia Alternative LV Fund
(the “Funds”)
This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Prospectuses. Please review this important information carefully. You may obtain copies of the Funds’ Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information free of charge, upon request, by calling (866) 290-2688, or by writing to AQR Funds, P.O. Box 2248, Denver, CO 80201-2248.
Effective September 1, 2019, the Funds are no longer closed to new investors. Accordingly, all references in the Funds’ Prospectuses to the Funds being closed to new investors are hereby deleted in their entirety from the Prospectuses. Additionally, the section entitled “Closed Fund Policies,” on page 190 of the Funds’ Class I Shares and Class N Shares Prospectus and page 188 of the Funds’ Class R6 Shares Prospectus, is hereby deleted in its entirety from the Prospectuses.
Please refer to the section entitled “Investing With the AQR Funds,” beginning on page 183 of the Funds’ Class I Shares and Class N Shares Prospectus and page 181 of the Funds’ Class R6 Shares Prospectus, for a description of investors eligible to invest in the Funds.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE

FYI, this is a partial delay of a proposed Canadian tax law. It pertains to Canada's "allocation to redeemers" methodology.
As I understand it (from a brief skim of the article given below), the idea is that when you sell shares of a fund, any gains that it triggers (because the fund has to sell appreciated shares to raise cash) gets passed to you directly. That would seem to eliminate the problem of distributing capital gains annually, or at least cap gains triggered by redemptions. (The fund is allowed to reduce its tax liability by the amount of the gain it allocates to the redeeming shareholder.)
I'm not sure if I got that right. Just a quick skim, and not all that interested in Canadian tax laws. But for those who are, here's a background piece:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=18581104-5813-4f3e-a434-5a144cc25cd2

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/brace-yourself-take-these-10-steps-right-now-to-prepare-for-a-recession-2019-08-21
By Brett Arends
Published: Aug 23, 2019 9:15 a.m. ET
Share
Tougher times may be coming. Better be ready

IMHO, Vanguard has been taking too much of the heat for the error made by the FTSE Group.
People have been saying for decades that index funds could be run by monkeys. I've argued that there's some intelligence needed: for cash flow management, for sampling (if the fund does not use full replication), for efficient trading, and so on. Nevertheless, the "monkey" perspective is somewhat appropriate in terms of what an index fund is supposed to do. That is, to follow its index, warts and all.
The cited articles says that "ETF portfolio managers are expected to match at least 80% of their holdings to whatever index they're tracking, with wiggle room to allow for pricing execution, liquidity or other concerns." It is mistakenly referring to the 80% rule for fund names, which is merely a minimum requirement.
Contrast the prospectus statements:

Vanguard Mid Cap Growth VMGRX: "Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks of mid-size companies."
Vanguard ESG US Stock ESGV: "The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index."

The last time Vanguard played that fast and lose (with a prospectus that allowed 15% wiggle room), its index funds underpeformed by 2% or more.
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Vanguard_bond_index_fund_tracking_error#Sampling_strategies
I understand that people buying an ESG fund expect it to follow ESG standards. But people buying an index fund should understand that the fund is required to follow the index.