Rates of death 20s% over 80 years old, 14% 60 to 80 years old, less than 1% if younger than 60
More than 1/5ths trump voters maybe out by end of may,/june
Trump Biden bernie Bloomberg may be gone, high exposures to crowded areas

With respect to Central and South America, here are elected excerpts from a current article from the AP via the San Francisco Chronicle:

Officials in Ecuador on Saturday confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the South American nation, while Mexico reported two more cases and Brazil one more.
It was the second case in South America, following a Brazilian case reported on Wednesday. The Sao Paulo state health department reported another Brazilian case later on Saturday — a person who had recently visited Italy.
Mexico's Health Department said late Friday that a new case had been confirmed in Mexico City, adding to the first two confirmed cases announced earlier that day. One of those was also in the capital, and the other in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
The governor of the northern border state of Coahuila said Saturday that federal health officials had confirmed a fourth case, in the city of Torreon: a 20-year-old woman who traveled to Europe, including Milan, Italy, in January and February and returned to Mexico in recent days.

If you don't proactively test for the virus then you have no idea if it's present or not. How many of those "Southern and equator" countries do you suppose have the resources for, and actually are, actively testing?

Analysis at the end, after the performance.

Performance......YTD...one week as of 2/29/2020
Multi
PDIIX……1.35....-1.0
PUCZX….0.7..…-1.35
JMUTX....1.3....-0.6
JMSIX.....1.4….-0.1 (JGIAX)
PTIAX….3.7….1.0
Multi(high % securitized)
PIMIX.....0.3….-1.0
EIXIX…..1.6….-0.1
VCFAX...1.75...-0.05
IOFIX.....2.85....+0.1
SEMMX...1.8....0    (ST duration, 3 year SD under 1, over 30% IG bonds-good cash sub)
DHEIX….1.4….0.35 (ST duration, 3 year SD under 1, over 80% IG bonds-good cash sub)
HY Munis
PHMIX…..4.6.....1
NHMAX....5.35.....1
MMHAX....4.15.…..1
OPTAX.....6.3.....1.
ORNAX….5.3……1.3
GHYAX......4.4......1
GWMEX….5.3…...1.5  (IG Munis but BBB+A rating)
NVHAX……2.8……0.4  (ST duration HY Munis-lower SD than the above)
Inter Term CORe/CORE PLUS
USIBX.......3.4.....0.7
BCOIX......3.5…...0.9
PINCX……3.5..…0.9
BND….......3.7…....1.1
Bank Loans/Floating rate
EIFAX.......-1.05.....-1.6
Uncontrain/Nontrad
IISIX..........0.4....-0.6
PUTIX......-0.1….-0.2
PAJZX……-1.45….-3.6
HY +EM
HYG.........-1.75.....-2.6
PHIYX.......-1.5.....-2.4
ZEOIX……-0.1….-0.8 (ST HY, 3 year SDCorporate
PIGIX….…3.2.….-0.15
VCIT……..3.4…..0.8
Preferred
PFINX…...-0.4……-3.2
OTHER
FXAIX.…..-8.3..…-11.4  (SP500)
PCI………-5.4... -7.6  (CEF)
“CASH SUB" (most with 3 years SD under 1 or close to it)
SEMMX...1.8....0      
DHEIX….1.4….0.35
ZEOIX…-0.1….-0.8 (ST HY)
DBLSX…0.75….0.1
LALDX….1.0….0.1
SSTHX….-0.85….-1.2  (ST HY)
MWCIX….1.0.….-0.1
PMZIX….1.3….0.25
BTMIX….1.3.…0.3 (ST Muni but I prefer NVHAX for LT)
Observations:
Last week was a clear way to separate the winner from the loser. Rates were down dramatically, stocks are in correction and panic is in the air. Since last week was such a major one I decided to post about YTD + one week.
Multi- mixed bag last week.  PIMIX+PUCZX lost badly while PTIAX shined. Most in securitized did OK
HY Munis continues to be a great category with 1+% for the week and very strong YTD and much better than Inter-Term higher rated funds.
Inter term – did well as expected when rates are down
Bank loans – as expected were down but not as much as HY.  I use this category only when I know rates are going up.
Uncontrain/Nontrad-are lagging and not impressive which tells you it’s usually not a good category LT
HY+EM – both lost money last week and not doing well YTD.
Corp – This category did well last week and YTD but PIGIX didn’t do well last week.
SP500-in correction
PCI-as expected from a CEF it was down last week.  At times like this CEFs are exposed.
“CASH” Sub-a unique category to make more money with minimal risk at SD less than 1.  It is obvious the best funds(SEMMX,DHEIX,PMZIX) are mostly in securitized which is my favorite category anyway. DHEIX has 80+% in investment-grade bonds if you like "safer" bonds.  SEMMX has the best peformance. PMZIX has done well YTD but not as good as the first 2 for 3 years.
===========================
Generic Views
My 2 favorite categories are Multi+HY Munis.
HY Munis-The funds that I usually invest in are NHMAX,OPTAX,ORNAX.  OPTAX has done best YTD
The Multi funds I’m interested are SEMMX,IOFIX,EIXIX,VCFAX,PTIAX,PIMIX,PUCZX,JMUTX,JMSIX/JGIAX.  SEMMX is the best performer for SD < 1 and IOFIX the best for SD<2.7. VCFAX+EIXIX are pretty good and invest at 85-90+% in securitized.  JMUTX+JMSIX are more diversified, actually, JMSIX was a nice surprise of losing just -0.1%. PIMIX+PUCZX are funds with moving parts and did worse than others, they are now going to my second-tier list. PTIAX has the best momo YTD so I have to pay attention.
“CASH” Sub-Investors who don't mind and understand the risk, may use SEMMX,DHEIX(ZEOIX is off the list)  as a cash sub LT, see 3 year SD<1(link).  In taxable you can use ST duration Munis. NVHAX duration is about 4 which is between ST to LT
IISIX disappointed.  Last year It looked like a better option for 3 years but VCFAX is the winner.  Again, funds with too many moving parts(PIMIX,PUCZX,PUTIX,PAJZX,IISIX) didn’t do well at this time of need.

Hi sir...imho if you have long term horizon >10yrs probably keep trucking and keep place your new monies into lifecycles etf funds or sp500/dows/qqq etf.
This is what we did before and continued after 2007 crash and we did extremely well
If short term horizon few yrs til retirement probably best to speak to fidelity or Schwab advisors./vanguard advisors and decide best actions maybe placed to high bond portfolio/cash/monies-CD high quality corporate bonds. We rebalance mama portfolio 16 months ago (she retired now high 50s%bonds and 40%stocks) ; she lost 1.5% over past 5 wks but lots Dividends from Corp bonds come in tomorrow so she maybe happy in next few days
Her few top holdings DODFX /fidelity contrafund(we stop distributing to these fund),
But continued to add to fbnd, phk, jnk, fidelity2015 lifecycle fund, poncx, lsbrx
Very conservative portfolio
For mine portfolio highest holdings are in brk.b, dows etf, vti vanguard primecap core, vgstx, spy, eem...we continued to add to these recently
2%in gold, 1% cash
We added vde energy oil etf late friday
Regards

Tis likely that you have a site or sites you may prefer, if you're curious about changing circumstances regarding COVID-19.
This news link is decent, although not fully inclusive of all changes. Note: depending upon your browser; you may have to refresh the page for the most current info (age of data shown just above first pic).
Two other sites I've been using, which are using data base graphics. You'll have to "play" with these to discover how the site functions.
John Hopkins
BNO, Netherlands Note: site updates have slowed in the past several days.
Add: The COVID-19 remains a concern for equity investments and a likely positive for investment grade bonds, in particular U.S. gov't. issues. Events and travel continue to be curtailed, be it government or private sector. These among many other reactions from global citizens will have an impact, yes? So, GDP/growth going forward will take a hit, IMHO. No fancy math required. Consumer spending in this country is a large portion of what "makes things go 'round".
A view from the past week ending is interesting. I don't know whether the "end of the month window dressing" is any longer something that active managed funds use or do. Although I suspect this attempt is no longer valid with so many other products and players in the markets, in particular, the algo driven investments. Must have been a choice of play....the large cap growth area. But, watching the U.S. equity markets on Friday had a few areas that were interesting. Mid-day on Friday found growth equity clawing its way for periods of positive direction.
The top 10 positive returns for active managed U.S. equity funds on Friday for Fidelity were all large cap growth. Hmmmm.
Bonds for the past week. Although I.G. bond prices were positive for the week, a lot of the bump arrived on Friday. I expected larger price movements for all days of the week. Also, that as U.S. equity had a bump in the last 30 minutes of Friday, bonds also found some selling from profit taking or whatever ???
Also, that China is supposedly opening some manufacturing. 'Course, who knows.
Be well,
Catch

Hi Bobpa
I must presume you have ready access to about whatever balanced fund you desire.
Over a +10 year time (the longer the better), none of your choices will vary much, or at least enough to cause concern, IMHO.
chart, from July, 2008 to date
Moderate Allocation list
Build your own: BAGIX and FDGRX , 198% average since July, 2008 chart
Comparative returns from my list in the chart, from July, 2008:
--- JBALX = 159%
--- VLAAX = 152%
--- FBALX = 143%
--- VWINX = 135%
*** BAGIX and FDGRX, build your own = 198% (note: FDGRX closed, with exceptions, but an excellent equity example in the growth fund area.
Overview: If one holds a 50-70% moderate allocation fund, active managed; there will be periods when equity takes a hit that will cause the investor to have "oh, crap" moments.
There is nothing designed into these type of funds that attempts to "out think" the markets, Standard balanced funds had "ah-ha" periods during the 2008 market melt, the 2011 downgrade of the AAA rating of U.S. debt by Moody's, a period in 2015-2016, a market thump in Feb. 2018, a big downward hit in Dec. 2018 and this past week. Given a long period, a quality fund in this area; from a firm that has a long enough track record to support a proper review, should allow an investor to pick from a top 20 or 30 list resulting in similar return outcomes over any 10 year period. A top 20 list is going to have comparisons, variations over shorter time frames due to management changes in holdings and what sector of the equity market in "hot" for awhile. A quality choice should serve anyone well in this area, with perhaps the greatest risk to the portfolio coming from the ability of the investor to stay with a plan. One may have faith in the skills of the management of a fund or build your own balanced fund. One bond fund and one equity fund or perhaps 2 of each at the most, for more of a diversified mix.
Only my view, Bobpa.
Regards,
Catch

Of course, high rated bonds were up and why EDV+TLT are up so much YTD, last month and last week.
As expected VWINX did fine because it has about 60% in high rated bonds and why VASIX with about 80% did better than VWINX.
The question is what funds have great LT risk/reward but also did well in a meltdown?
See a 3 year (chart) of IOFIX vs PRWCX,VLAAX,VWINX,VASIX. Then look at YTD (chart). This is what I call a great fund but not fair when stocks lost so much :-)

Worst: Two weeks ago, HACAX was up 13% YTD. Now it's down 2% YTD. So it's still beating S&P 500 YTD. I've held it around 20 years. The shares come with a seatbelt and owner's manual.
Best: DODIX.

These are the funds which generated the highest returns for me during this volatile week.
Bond Funds 1 WK YTD
Dodge & Cox Income (DODIX) 0.35% 2.49%
Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond (VUSFX) 0.25% 0.65%
Equity Funds 1 WK YTD
Vanguard Intl Growth (VWILX) -8.27% -5.21%
MFS Instl Intl Equity (MIEIX) -8.44% -8.44%

US treasury and high quality investment grade bonds have done the best. Junk and emerging market (USD hedged or local currency) bonds had declined.

When rates decline high rated bonds do great.
As a mainly bondholder like me who wants to make more money in bonds, I'm looking for more flexible funds that do better in most markets.
NHMAX (HY Muni) has over 70% below investment grade bonds but they still managed to make 1% last week.
While most Multi lost money last week IOFIX made just 0.07 but PTIAX made 1% and VCFAX,SEMMX just lost -0.1%
When rates will go up treasuries will lose a lot more.
PUCZX+PIMIX disappointed last week. I use PIMIX as a second-tier fund since early 2018 and now added PUCZX to the same list. I can still use both for trading. PUCZX is rated at the top 5-9% for 1-3 years at M* but 49 for YTD. PIMIX is rated at YTD-63 one year-69 3 yr-23

Re: 1955 Found this
Crossing Wall Street

@Puddnhead Eisenhower had a heart attack on 9/24/55. (I was a military brat living near Washington D.C. at that time and vaguely remember that happening.) On Monday 9/26/55 the market dropped 6.5%. My assumption is it dropped far enough further during the next several days to achieve that 10%+ distinction.

Hi davfor,
I got 46. But what happened in 55 to be so high?
God bless
the Pudd

@mark
This is a very unique time for me and why I will answer your question :-)
My goals as a retiree are: I need to make only 4.5% including inflation (Based on 2019, maybe I need only 4%) average annually to sustain our standard of living. But, I still want to make 6% with the lowest volatility (SD < 3) and never lose more than 3% from any last top.
YTD mostly in 2 bond funds investing at a higher % in NHMAX + lower % in IOFIX. Last Thursday, I sold half of NHMAX. On Friday, I sold all of NHMAX + most of IOFIX. This YTD (chart) is the answer to why.
So, why now? rates went low very quickly, NHMAX is up nicely YTD. I want to bank my sure money. Later. I will enter again depending on markets. Maybe a ST fund like NVHAX or less "risky" fund like OPTAX.
IOFIX did so much better than most other Multisector funds, again, I'm taking my profit and watching. There is no way to be sure how IOFIX will do if markets go wild.
VIX is extremely high and stocks crashed very quickly this week. I bet our Fed (and maybe other abroad) will do something, I will buy 10-20-30% stocks based on markets.
Volatility is my friend.
Generally, I'm rarely in cash. In the last 10 years, I was in cash for 2-3 weeks in 2013 and Q4/2018. I go to cash when I'm not confident about markets and especially about bonds.
The above is beyond the scope of this thread and just for info purposes. As I posted before I like to keep this thread as BOND OEFS analysis.
I don't mind discussing trades, my style or any other subjects (including stock funds or investment concepts) on a new thread.
I will make another substential post tomorrow for the month of February and more thoughts.

The former trader in me totally saw the "rip your face off" action into and after the Friday close (when the futures ROARED positively higher) -- given this week's action, it was pretty predictable imho. And RUMINT was that there might be some coordinated central bank action over the weekend off-and-on during the day as well .. but I agree, I doubt ppl wanted to be overly short going into the weekend, just in case. Asia's open on Sunday will be interesting!

Hi Skeeter,
Yeah, I agree with you. I added Friday about 3:45pm. How did I know right after I bought, the S&P went from -2.3% to -0.8% or so. Why???!!! It was Friday......getting weaker into the close. That's why I bought. No one wants to hold over the weekend.....no? So,.....why??? All I can say is it must be political. Anyway, don't sell bonds. I still think we go to 0%, so there's money to be made. Saying all that, I did buy FXAIX because I didn't know what else to do.....lol.
God bless
the Pudd

Hi Skeeter,
Yeah, I agree with you. I added Friday about 3:45pm. How did I know right after I bought, the S&P went from -2.3% to -0.8% or so. Why???!!! It was Friday......getting weaker into the close. That's why I bought. No one wants to hold over the weekend.....no? So,.....why??? All I can say is it must be political. Anyway, don't sell bonds. I still think we go to 0%, so there's money to be made. Saying all that, I did buy FXAIX because I didn't know what else to do.....lol.
God bless
the Pudd

Earlier in the week I added to a couple of my good dividend paying equity funds when the S&P 500 was down -8% (Wednesday) and then again at -12% (Friday).
Based upon recent stock and bond market movements ... I ponder ... should I continue to add to my stock funds as stocks are oversold; and (or) perhaps, trim from my bond funds as bonds are overbought? Hopefully, the FOMC will cut rates helping both stock and bond values? And, with this anticapted rate cut ... in mind ... I'll just rock along and watch for a while longer and see what the FOMC does. I'm pretty close to being fully allocated in both equities and bonds within my asset allocation. I'll probally wait towards the end of March and then square my asset allocation.
Sometimes, it pays to just sit!

PUCZX has dropped 1.36% in the last week, and PIMIX has dropped 1.01% in the last week--maybe you are right in that in at least the last week of this market correction, both of these multisector bond oefs were poor performers. JMUTX was down .58%--not great but better than PIMIX and PUCZX. VCFAX was only down .05%, so it held up very well in this correction so far. The last week is a good measure of how these funds will perform in major peak to trough downmarket periods.

PUCZX is a fund with several moving parts and why it's harder to predict every move. PIMIX is another fund like that. PUCZX is down 1.4% from its top while PIMIX is down "only" 0.7% but for 3 years PUCZX performance is better than most. BTW, IOFOX SD is higher than many but its performance is way better than most.
According to MFO databased when you search for Multi sector funds for 3 years + best martin ratio you get the following funds
Fund performace
ANFIX 5.3
IOFIX 10.6
SEMMX 5.1
BDKNX 5.7
ANGLX 4.2
PUCZX 7.2
ZEOIX 3.3
IISIX 5.2
TSIIX 4.9
JMUIX 6.2
RCTIX 7.8
DPFNX 6.2
ENIAX 3.9
JMSIX 6.1
MINC 2.9
PIMIX 5.7
For several years I have been using mainly a subsector of Multi which is securitized. The following funds have at least 85+% in it. DHEIX,SEMMX,VCFAX,DPFNX,IOFIX. In this category, SEMMX has the best performance for SD<1 and IOFIX has the best performance over 10% annually for SD< 2.7. There are only 2 Multi funds with performance over 7% RCTIX,PUCZX.

And one chart from Deutsche Bank’s Torsten Sløk shows just how severe this decline has been and makes clear to investors that the coronavirus selloff doesn’t just feel like a unique market event — this time really is different.

This is an impressive chart. My sense is rich valuations linked hands with uncertainty about the virus to produce this outcome. It will probably take a few weeks for a clear understanding of the situation to emerge. In the meantime, I suspect the Fed will lower the discount rate to try to moderate the pain. But, how much good will that do in the short term if it turns out people are afraid to get on a plane or go to the grocery store? Maybe Amazon and MMM will prosper! Anyway, here is a link to the short article.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-selloff-chart-magnitude-morning-brief-105856893.html