Hi openice.
All the definitions are here ...
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2013/06/ratings-system-definitions/
And basic equations here ...
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/5125/a-look-at-risk-adjusted-returns
But if I'm missing something, please post/email me.
The STDEV deviation is textbook standard.
c

FYI: Sears Holdings Corp . filed for bankruptcy early on Monday morning, the culmination of a years-long decline of the American retail institution, providing another example as to why hedge fund managers should steer clear of retail.
Sears (ticker: SHLD) sought Chapter 11 protection and announced a deal with its lenders that will let it keep many stores open and continue paying vendors and employees. Its $1.8 billion debtor-in-possession asset-based credit facility gave it some $300 million more than it had before filing.
Bankruptcy enabled it to “reject leases” on about 220 store locations, almost all of which are “dark stores” not open to shopper traffic where Sears has already shut operations. Sears will start “going out of business sales” at another 142 unprofitable stores, which will close by year-end. It had already announced intention to close 46 stores by November. The 125-year-old company operates about 700 Sears and Kmart stores, and employs about 70,000 people.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/sears-bankruptcya-cautionary-talefor-hedge-fund-managers-1539619499?mod=hp_DAY_2

Your Financial Adviser’s ‘Sleep Easy’ Portfolio May Be Riskier Than You Think
Don’t you love these “may be“ statements? Hell - I “may be” the King of England. :)
I’ve never viewed 60/40 as a sleep-well combination. It might, however, be described as “sleep better”. The 60/40 has a couple strikes against it today. First, the equity portion is priced at near multi-year highs. Secondly, the interest rate on the bond portion is still low by historical standards. I don’t have an answer to that dilemma. It’s fodder for further discussion - but that’s about all.
I happen to like Dodge and Cox, But their very fine balanced fund, DODBX, did not stand up well during the ‘07-‘09 market rout. A couple of their equity funds lost more than 50% from peak to trough. Just guessing here - but DODBX did somewhat better, dropping perhaps 30-35% during that period. Like I said, Sleep a little better - but not well.
Maybe some creative minds would like to offer up alternatives to a 60/40 fund for jittery investors who need some long term growth but are frightened by today’s high equity valuations and still low interest rates. Despite the currently running thread on how well cash is doing these days, I just can’t get excited about 2.5% - especially if it means locking-up your money for more than a year.

FYI: That was the question on investors’ minds after a 1,300-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday and Thursday. “It,” of course, is a correction, or worse, in what had been a steady, nearly unstoppable ascent in the U.S. stock market.
While the decline was arrested for the moment Friday, the major averages ended the week with their steepest losses since the week ended March 23. The Dow ended down 4.2%, the S&P 500 fell 4.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.7%. That was a far sight better than the 7.6% plunge in the Shanghai Composite but in line with declines in other bourses, from the Stoxx Europe 600 to Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 to Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/why-the-stock-market-went-loco-1539361320?mod=hp_LEAD_3

Thanks for the link. I figured I'd post VMSXX mentioned in the interview.
Money market funds are more easily researched directly through the fund house's website.
Here's Vanguard's link:
Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund (VMSXX)
As a comparison. Here's Fidelity tax free MM Fund:
Fidelity® Municipal Money Market Fund (FTEXX)
and,
Fidelity® Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund (FMOXX)
T. Rowe Price:
Tax-Exempt Money Fund (PTEXX)
Outside the Tax free space what is your "cash" Mutual Fund choice? My research leads to THOPX.
Others on my radar:
BBBMX
CLMVX
FCONX
TRBUX
UUSTX

Always appreciate these refinements. In this case, under Risk in the Miraculous Multi-Search tool, it would be helpful to know, e.g., how the following may be calculated by curious minds:
Choosing POGRX, for example, or any other fund of your choice:
This fund’s Standard Deviation (STDEV or Std Dev) is 16.7, which measures the annualized volatility of its returns. Read STDEV in conjunction with your fund’s APR of 15.4. A fund with an APR of 15.4 and STDEV of 16.7 is telling you “we’ve averaged 15.4, but you’d have to endure returns that range from -1.3 to 32.1 in order to get there.”
Thoughts?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/11/heres-where-to-hide-out-if-market-continues-to-tumble.html
Several utilities exchange-traded funds have done well over the last week despite the market drop, including the Reaves Utilities ETF.
Several consumer staples funds also fell less than the market, including the iShares Evolved U.S. Consumer Staples ETF.
Funds that track steadier stocks like the Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF could also do well.

50% Equity 50% bonds/cash Retired over 14 years and no withdrawals

I use these two funds to fill in my bond portion of the portfolio along with a short-term bond fund. 30-35% total

@ Bobpa, are you saying you have 65-70% is in stocks? If so, and you're roughly retirement age like a lot of us around here, you've got quite a bit in equity/credit risk already, so I'd put relatively more in SEMPX (more balanced risk; see the holdings on the Semper site). If it were me, in retirement as I am, I'd strongly consider adding to IOFIX and reducing equity a bit.
Of course, I may not be interpreting your brief posts correctly; if not, what I'm saying shouldn't play any part in your decisions.
Good luck, AJ

FYI: Investors have plenty of options for income-oriented mutual funds. The table below lists five such portfolios, which are also known as multi-asset income funds.
“Investors really need to look a bit deeper to see exactly what the strategy is to generate that income,” cautions Jeff Holt, director of multi-asset and alternative strategies manager research at Morningstar.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/income-investing-mutual-funds-1539277846?refsec=funds

Down (-.92) on the day. Since the slide began about 4 or 5 days ago, I'm off by (-4.325%) from my all-time high. Hurts. Wife's 403b VSCIX was up 12% ytd and now up by just 1%. Glad to recall that investing is not gambling, but a long-term process. Today, PTIAX (bonds) was up by .18% and PRSNX was up by a penny. (World bonds.) My foreign stuff's been getting hammered. Uncle Donald.... Glad I'm just 9% foreign.
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J2C5Y6/donald-duck-illustration-cartoon-J2C5Y6.jpg

I use these two funds to fill in my bond portion of the portfolio along with a short-term bond fund. 30-35% total

"In the 10 years ending Dec. 31, 2018, retirement plans lost approximately $2.5 trillion in potential assets at retirement due to $86 billion worth of defaults." - Christopher Robbins, Time Traveler.

FYI: There were just 17—and you know what we mean.
Wednesday was the worst day for U.S. markets in several months, with the S&P 500’s 3.3% decline the index’s sharpest drop since Feb. 8, 2018. All 11 sectors declined, led by technology’s 4.9% drop. Not every stock was down, however: Seventeen of the S&P 500’s 505 components (some companies have multiple share classes, such as Alphabet ’s GOOGL and GOOG) ended the day in the green.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/these-are-the-17-s-p-500-stocks-that-rose-today-1539209089

@MFO Members: Hope this changes before tomorrow morning's opening !
Regards,
Ted
Dow= -1,044
S&P 500=-115
Naz 100= -395
Regards,
Ted

FYI U.S. stocks dropped sharply Wednesday as an ongoing surge in Treasury yields pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 500 points and put the S&P 500 on pace for its longest losing streak in nearly two years.
The selloff put both indexes on track for their biggest losses in a single day since April, while the S&P 500 was poised to slide for a fifth straight session. The pullback sent a measure of stock-market volatility, the Cboe Volatility Index, up 19% in recent trading, suggesting investors were bracing for further swings in the market.
Fast-rising bond yields and signs of inflation have spooked investors that profit margins could narrow, sparking one of the biggest downturns of the year among shares of fast-growing companies that have benefited from a decade of near-zero interest rates.
The selling undercut the strong gains companies like Amazon.com , Netflix and Salesforce.com have contributed to the stock market this year and left some investors who hold those shares flat-footed.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-10/your-evening-briefing
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-09/asia-stocks-point-to-mixed-start-treasuries-rise-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-pause-amid-doubts-over-growth-1539158283
Reuters:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/utilities-defensive-stocks-buck-drop-is-it-time-to-sell-microsoft-stock/
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stock-market-today-dow-breaks-support-nasdaq-worst/
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-fall-sp-500-could-notch-longest-losing-streak-since-november-2016-2018-10-10/print
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/us-markets-bond-yields-and-data-in-focus.html
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/tech-selloff-causes-sharpest-fall-in-three-and-a-half-months-for-european-stocks-idUSKCN1MK0ZV
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-in-hong-kong-china-try-to-stay-afloat-nikkei-slips-2018-10-09/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/us-bonds-and-fixed-income-key-economic-data-eyed.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/forex-markets-dollar-us-treasury-yields-british-pound-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/oil-markets-imf-global-growth-outlook-hurricane-michael-in-focus.html
Gold
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/gold-markets-us-treasury-yields-dollar-in-focus.html
WSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/us
Major ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitor
SPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
SPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
Current Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FAIRX has also been dinged by its large bets on Fannie and Freddie that never materialized. The fund bleeds 1% in ER as well. It is holding over 25% in cash.
M* categorizes the fund as Large Value with and investing style of small growth...emphasis on small...often negative growth. If that wasn't enough, Hurricane Micheal is slamming the panhandle where it's largest equity position, St Joe Co (JOE) holds most of its RE assets this week.
Finally, its trailing returns have been very consistent over the 1 month through 10 years time frame (rank 100th)...ouch.

Whither FAIRX and Bruce Berkowitz?
Rather dramatic 30% drop as of 10:15 or so EST.

FYI: Over the past hundred years, the George family’s farm has been sharecropped, grazed by cattle and planted with cotton. By the late 1980s, Clayton George was growing soybeans and struggling to make ends meet.
A new federal program offered farmers money to reforest depleted land. Pine trees appealed to Mr. George. He bought loblolly seedlings and pulled his pickup into a parking lot where hands-for-hire congregated.
“We figured we’d plant trees and come back and harvest it in 30 years and in the meantime go into town to make a living doing something else,” he said.
Three decades later the trees are ready to cut, and Mr. George is learning how many other Southerners had the same idea.
A glut of timber has piled up in the Southeast. There are far more ready-to-cut trees than the region’s mills can saw or pulp. The surfeit has crushed timber prices in Mississippi, Alabama and several other states.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-of-southerners-planted-trees-for-retirement-it-didnt-work-1539095250