Re: IOFIX
Somehow received (Lipper’s) “Multi-sector income” classification
1.50% ER / Inception: May 2015
The chart : Steady climb upward following inception, gaining over 50% for investors in fewer than 5 years - during an era of 2% (or lower) interest rates on investment grade paper. Leverage and / or derivatives had at work to achieve that stunning record. Dropped completely “off the radar” in mid-March and plunged to the ground with breathtaking speed. Without really having the data, obviously there was a rapid exodus of investors heading for the gate when things started to come unglued. Harkens back to the liquidity issue addressed by many here, including Lewis Braham most recently.
I’ve never observed a chart like that nor seen a fund fall so precipitously so fast. I can empathize with those who were taken to the cleaners. (There but for the grace of God ... ) On the other hand, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. The only thing remotely similar in my memory would be Oppenheimer’s “Core Bond” and their “Champion Income” funds - both of which imploded in 2008 and resulted in numerous (successful) lawsuits. The difference: Oppenheimer was a large long established full-feature fund house and the travesty involved a couple funds that had been in existence many years. For some reason they decided to reach for yield and ended up wrecking the funds ... likely contributing to their own future demise.

The basics are still the same: Know what you own, expect the worse(which is what I do) and past performance and volatility are not guaranteed.
When a black swan shows up most categories don't work except treasuries and the only way to avoid the meltdown is to sell. It happened in 2008-9 and 2020. This is pretty good break if you think about it.
Reminder: VCIT (Vanguard investment-grade corp bond) lost over 13% and a proof that even higher-rated, simpler bonds from conservative Vanguard were affected by market extreme.

Well, it follows previous patterns of coronavirus but news out of India report the opposite, mutations that are worse. For example, google "coronavirus India" in Google News. Here is my first hit:
https://www.indiatvnews.com/science/coronavirus-mutant-positive-cases-deaths-covid-19-scientists-614526

@Derf That's not YTD, that's 1-year performance. :) I got the stat from Morningstar. https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/biawx/performance

Shades of Irving Fisher ... I must say flipping channels back and forth last evening to occasionally catch the global “futures markets” while observing the spreading protests / violence in this country seemed a bit surreal. Yes - guns at our state capital and outside the Governor’s residence. The symbolism of armed (masked and unmasked) men confronting a female Governor and AG shouldn’t be dismissed.
So much paradox.
Most of the Michigan gun-wielders possess an economic philosophy and political doctrine one would find quite contrary to that of the protesters on the streets of NYC, DC, Minneapolis, Atlanta.
Than there’s the paradox of billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio warning repeatedly in recent years of civil strife / eventual revolution if the widening abyss between wealth and poverty isn’t rectified peaceably. https://observer.com/2019/04/ray-dalio-explain-capitalism-weath-gap-inequality/
Throw in the paradox of an intense election debate four years ago over building walls - both figuratively and literally - when we need desperately to tear down walls for our own survival.
Like I said, lots of paradox. Take your pick.

@Crash; Where did you find the 1 yr. return ? Yahoo states 11.+ % Maybe that's your own return ?
Stay Safe, Derf

In this months newsletter below is Dr. Madell's opening paragraphs. They read as follows:
With all the pandemic, economic, geopolitical, and now societal angst being felt worldwide recently, it should be no surprise that many stock funds have taken it on the chin lately. On the other hand, most bond funds have proven to be a ballast during this period, as discussed in last month's Newsletter. This once again proves that, for many, in order to more safely avoid the risks of an all-stock portfolio, one containing both these asset classes makes a whole lot of sense. (Of course, the reverse is true as well: If bonds enter a prolonged period of poor or even negative performance, it should prove to be wise to be a holder of at least some stocks as well as bonds, as the two asset classes tend to go in somewhat different directions.)
But what is truly surprising is how well stocks have confounded our worst fears which might have suggested a more drastic collapse. In fact, for those who have been long-term holders, it might almost appear that nothing at all has been happening. In particular, had one stayed in the game over the last 10 years, the majority of holders of quality stock funds and ETFs, if they, similar to Rip Van Winkle, had just woken up from a one decade long sleep and took a glance at the performance of their portfolio, they would hardly be aware of anything out of the ordinary having happened.
As you will see in the many performance results presented in this article, Armageddon has not yet occurred for most stock investors, although that is certainly no guarantee that things may still not get worse rather than better.
To continue reading click on the link below.
http://funds-newsletter.com/jun20-newsletter/jun20.htm

Here's link to April marketing brief:
http://alphacentricfunds.com/funds/IncomeOpp/presentation.pdf
No mention of liquidity crisis.
Just: "Turn in Q1 2020 Marks The Sharpest Reversal in History"
Once the Fed stepped-in and the redemptions stopped (aka once it survived a run on the fund), the fund has rebounded nicely, if still a long way to go.
I still like the strategy, but as an MBS value trade, not for no-drawdown, steady-eddy behavior the fund displayed for nearly 5 years.
At the end of the day, it's still a high-yield, non-investment grade bond fund ... concentrated in one sector.
Allocate accordingly unless you are willing to treat it as a trade and exit at first sign of trouble.
Eyes wide open and fearful everyday you own it.

Wish I had more in BIAWX, myself. That fund allows you to get in with just $100.00 and I've been adding exactly that much, each time. One-year perf of that fund = 26.59. YA!

Have faith in the FED, they will come to your rescue if something goes baad. Forecasts by GMO, Bogle, Gundlach, Arnott(PAUIX), PE, PE10, inverted yield doesn't assume FED INTERVENTION. Follow the mantra (not mine) -Don't FIGHT the FED. Buy TESLA - next TRILLION DOLLAR COMPANY.

I’ve no prediction for the S&P. He could have it right. However, his unwarranted arrogance gets in the way of communication here. Agree with @davidrmoran. This guy struggled to earn a C in high school comp class. But let’s see what we can glean from his four investing “gems.”
- Rule Number One : The market is not going to do what you want it to do. You cannot invest in your opinion, your bias, or in the headlines that you agree with.
I like that one. I find it the most challenging obstacle to my effective buying / selling. It’s called “confirmation bias”. Here’s a good definition: “Confirmation bias is the natural human tendency to seek or emphasize information that confirms an existing conclusion or hypothesis.” Fight not to let your own confirmation bias lead you in the wrong direction.
- Rule Number Two : You will get a lot better feel for the market by looking at 100 one-year charts than you will from reading 100 headlines.
That’s BS. One year tells you little. Anything can happen in one year. I like charts - but 5 & 10 year patterns are more useful. As previously reported, Yahoo Finance lets you dig up performance figures for funds all the way back to inception. Wonderful tool. Use it. And than to further indict all “headlines” ..... ? Depends which headlines idiot! Twitter? Probably “No.” While ignorance may be bliss, Franklin had it right when he wrote that emptying one’s “purse” into his head is a road to better dividends. Reading widely (WSJ, Barron’s, Reuters, FT, etc.) helps provide the grounding for making informed decisions.
- Rule Number Three : The market is forward-looking.
Agree.
- Rule Number Four : Stocks and the market follow earnings and earnings expectations.
Not my forte. But judging by the way certain tech stocks have behaved in the past (AAPL, TSLA) I wonder whether that’s true.

Fact sheets (compare and contrast before and after):
http://web.archive.org/web/20190411093154/http://alphacentricfunds.com/funds/IncomeOpp/FactSheet.pdf (4Q2018)
http://alphacentricfunds.com/funds/IncomeOpp/FactSheet.pdf (1Q2020)
A few things stand out to me. One concerns investments in asset-backed securities (ABS).
The current (August 2019) prospectus (see Lewis' link) says that "The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by primarily investing in asset-backed fixed income securities ... and non-agency residential and commercial mortgages". Yet in both late 2018 and early 2020 the fund had less than ½% in ABS. For that matter, no commercial mortgages at all.
But there was a change in how the fact sheet described the fund's investments.
4Q2018: overlooked segments of RMBS, ABS, and securitized markets
1Q2020: primarily non-agency RBMS and other residential housing debt (ABS is omitted)
Risk/reward changes also stood out.
4Q2018: Sharpe ratio 2.22, std dev 3.81%
1Q2020: Sharpe ratio: 0.03, std dev 17.86%
current (M*): Sharpe ratio: , std dev 23.38%
Finally, here's the main supplement, dated March 23, to the current prospectus. (There are two others; one is for change of address, the other is for load waivers.)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1355064/000158064220001282/alphacentric497s.htm
To the section on liquidity risk, it added two sentences, saying that the coronavirus affected liquidity in fixed income markets "including many of the securities the Fund holds." It went on to say that "it is more likely" (than before, I guess) that the fund will conduct fire sales to meet redemptions.
To the market risk section, it added two paragraphs of boilerplate about war, terrorism, public health, depressions, etc. This addition, unlike the first, applied to all AlphaCentric funds.

I've included a link for all of the IOFIX SEC filings.
https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=C000153407&action=getcompany&scd=filings
http://www.garpc.com/iofix/

This short article discusses changes Nicolas Colas, co-founder of DataTreck Research, thinks have taken place during the 21st century compared to the prior 50 years. He thinks these changes have increased what the stock market accepts to be reasonable valuations. Its interesting he includes a "DC Put" in his description of the crisis response tools the markets will expect to be utilized going forward.

A new model for assessing stocks may include higher valuations, as the old paradigm is no longer valid, according to a research note from DataTrek Research on Tuesday.
More aggressive Fed interventions will keep the stock market bottoms higher, and low interest rates and more innovation can boost the tops.

https://marketwatch.com/story/were-in-a-new-paradigm-for-stocks-this-analyst-argues-get-ready-for-permanently-higher-valuations-2020-05-19?mod=home-page

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.
“The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today,” said Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the San Martino hospital in the city of Genoa. “It is clear that today the COVID-19 disease is different.”

https://reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-virus/new-coronavirus-losing-potency-top-italian-doctor-says-idUSKBN2370OQ

Municipal market closes out May steady
By Lynne Funk, Christine Albano
May 29, 2020, 4:38 p.m. EDT
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/municipal-market-closes-out-may-steady
The municipal market concluded the final trading session of May on steady footing, with secondary yields remaining flat Friday amid a pickup in issuance.
Meanwhile, New York City will begin to reopen starting June 8, the mayor and governor said Friday.
Generic municipal yields have held at steady levels, though some sources said that is a signal that a breakout in movements in either direction could occur
High-yield issues were slightly higher on the day.
Tightening spreads and low yields ended the week on
“As high-yield fund outflows subsided, benchmark liquid high-yield names such as Buckeye Tobacco, COFINA, and Illinois GOs all tightened 20 to 25 basis points on the strength,” Horowitz said.
In addition, he said last week's NuStar Logistics new issue traded up eight basis points. The Guam Water deal this week, he said, was the only “real yield” and summoned demand over 22 times the amount available, bumped 25 basis points, and then rallied another 33 basis points on the break, according to Horowitz.
Looking ahead, the high-yield spreads should continue to tighten as the generic market will continue to see a supply-demand imbalance.
“Next week's yield calendar is again very light, so we are expecting spreads to continue to grind tighter as high-yield funds look to re-deploy cash and the secondary market selling pressure has all but abated,” Horowitz said.
“Looking at the high-grade, tax-exempt calendar, we would expect subscription levels to be heavy next week as there does not appear to be enough supply to satiate the market's demand,” he added.
docket but no date set. Wells Fargo is lead manager.
in the previous week. Ex-ETFs, muni funds saw inflows of $870.959 million after inflows of $1.234 billion in the prior week.
The four-week moving average was positive at $776.244 million, after being in the green at $189.374 million in the previous week.
Up little bit in may..will trend continue next month,

I remember reading a GMO article by Grantham saying that the S&P 500 was overvalued when it reached 1500 back in 2003 or 2004 (I can't remember year). That caused me to be cautious. The S&P 500 went on to double from those levels. I understand that people can't predict what the fed and other central bankers will do (i.e. low interest rates and QE forever) and fed decisions influence PE,.. but yes GMO has been WRONG for a while now. I am buying EM right now though. We shall see. I guess another thing that is impossible to predict is inflation which can also have effect on PE,.. Bottom line I guess is that making forecasts with respect to markets (bonds, stocks,..) doesn't work and yet I keep reading financial articles about them and people keep publishing them. As Buffett says, keep emergency cash and invest in the S&P 500 for the long run. I guess like the late Bogle Buffett doesn't mention investing in international markets.

GMO has been wrong for 10 years already. I posted about them for years. Their forecast for US stocks were off significantly, they prefered EM stocks which lagged by a lot too.
I kept GMO forecast fro 2010, see the (link)
Since 2008-9 and massive intervention by the Fed all the following forecasts were wrong GMO, Bogle, Gundlach, Arnott(PAUIX), PE, PE10, inverted yield
Follow the charts and trends and dismiss all the forecasts.

WARAX has a lower expense ratio of 1.53%. Unfortunately this fund run by Inker is still a stinker !