FYI: In the early 1990s, emerging-markets stock funds were the rage. Their subsequent results have been weaker than even the skeptics believed.
The appeal was obvious. Higher risk, according to conventional theory, meant higher returns--and there was no doubt that emerging markets carried higher risk. They also offered excellent growth prospects. The Asian Miracle was a catchphrase. South Korea, to name one example, had increased its per-capita gross domestic product from $158 (expressed in current terms) in 1960 to $6,516 in 1990. From behind Zambia to ahead of Turkey!
Regards,
Ted
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/925254/what-happened-to-emergingmarkets-stock-funds.html

https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/municipal-bonds--april-2019-highlights.html
Municipal Bonds - April 2019 Highlights
Several reads re muni bonds news monthly basis

FYI: Rather than paying attention to ESG factors, investment firms should concentrate on the ‘highest and best use’ of their money.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sec-is-right-investment-funds-are-wrong-to-focus-on-environmental-issues-2019-04-25/print

For what it is worth, the Canadian 3 month/10 year has inverted.
Also, that a bond rally has been in place for some time now. I presume the linked Putnam write is an article to their customer base presenting their viewpoints. IMHO, one should not take this article as new information for April 24, 2019. As of today, there are numerous bond funds that continue to move into the overbought area.
This is the chart of a decent intermediate bond fund, BAGIX.

A real professional job there on that link, Ted. And you call yourself "The Linkster". If you're going to do something, then do it right.
And here's the link.

I've thought about trying out for the Senior PGA Tour in retirement. They make pretty good money too. Biggest thing holding me back is they don't allow beer on the course while playing. That and my 18 handicap. Oh well.

FYI: Most professional sports leagues have very generous retirement plans for athletes. In the NFL, for example, each player can put more than $40,000 a year in their 401(k) when the team match is factored in. But golf’s PGA Tour seems to enrich athletes the most: Over 600 pro golfers currently have more than $1 million in their retirement plans, and some have significantly more.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hundreds-of-pro-golfers-have-over-1-million-in-their-pga-tour-retirement-accounts-2019-04-24/print

Frankly, I hadn't heard the term interest capitalization before either. I'm not taking out loans to go to college. But as a homeowner, I'm familiar with negative amortization - same thing, different name.
Students often don't have to start paying off their loans until they're out of college, or later. But during that time they're not making payments, interest is still accruing. One would hope that anyone taking out this type of loan would understand what that means. ("Today, 70 percent of college students graduate with a significant amount of loans.")
https://www.valuepenguin.com/loans/what-is-negative-amortization
That's why this question is on the quiz. Not the good life; just the opposite.

(The Closing Bell will be updated sometime after 4:00 PM CDST to include the latest updates from IBD and Bloomberg Evening Briefing.)
FYI: U.S. stocks swung between small gains and losses Wednesday amid concerns about the health of the world economy, a day after strong earnings propelled the S&P 500 to new highs.
The S&P was down .22%, after it registered its first record-high close of 2019 on Tuesday. It is up 17% so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also edged down 0.22%, having entered the day 0.6% below last October’s all-time high.
The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite fell less than 0.23%, after earlier in the day logging an intraday record following its first record close of the year.
Wednesday’s subdued market moves came after strong earnings reports boosted stocks earlier this week, in a year marked by a more cautious Federal Reserve and a stabilizing economy. This year’s powerful rally marks a reversal from the fourth quarter of 2018, when a selloff dragged the Nasdaq into bear-market territory and left the S&P 500 teetering on the edge of ending its longest bull run ever.
In one sign that investors were more anxious about the pace of economic growth, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 2.522%, according to Tradeweb, from 2.570% a day earlier. Bond yields drop as prices rise, though they have recovered since hitting a 15-month low late last month with investors selling ultrasafe Treasurys and favoring riskier assets.
Boeing shares added 0.4% after the company said it would take an initial hit of more than $1 billion on the global grounding of the 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes as the plane maker suspended full-year financial guidance.
Shares of eBay climbed more 5.1% after the e-commerce company’s raised its revenue and profit outlook.
In the energy sector, Anadarko Petroleum jumped 12% after Occidental Petroleum offered to purchase the shale driller for $38 billion, launching a potential bidding war for a company that previously agreed to be purchased by Chevron for about $33 billion. Occidental shares fell 2.2%.
Among other market laggards, AT&T and Caterpillar fell following their latest results.
Facebook, Microsoft and Tesla are scheduled to post earnings after the market closes.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 switched between gains and losses and ended down 0.1%, following modest declines across most Asian markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% while Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.3%.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-24/your-evening-briefing
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-stage-cautious-rise-ahead-of-boeing-caterpillar-earnings-2019-04-24/print
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-waver-after-earnings-driven-jump-11556091910
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-23/asian-stocks-set-for-gains-after-u-s-hits-record-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/news/technology/facebook-earnings-facebook-stock-q1-2019/
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/stock-market-wall-street-looks-to-facebook-microsoft-earnings.html
Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/sp-500-hovers-below-record-highs-on-mixed-earnings-idUSKCN1S01PN
U.K.:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/ftse-100-slumps-as-oil-price-boost-fades-kcom-jumps-on-buyout-bid-idUKKCN1S00TN
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/german-shares-hit-six-and-a-half-month-high-as-sap-surges-broader-europe-ticks-lower-idUSKCN1S012L
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-give-up-early-gains-following-wall-street-records-2019-04-23/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/us-treasury-yields-tick-lower-as-earnings-take-center-stage.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/forex-market-us-housing-data-european-economy-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/oil-market-us-iran-oil-sanctions-opec-spare-capacity-in-focus.html
Gold
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/gold-market-dollar-moves-stock-market-climb-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

Hi Sirs: @hank @catch22 - Not much changes in the short or long term game plans. We bought more junk bonds MNK [561234AE5 4.75%], HP corp bond [428236BR3], Vanguard healthcare etf and VTI recently. Otherwise we are not doing much because of heavily paid for taxations due 4/15, also paid high fees for home insurance/vacations expenditures w wifey few wks ago, and repair old car engine. We are still 80/20 at 401k from work/
We don't know if there will be a massive crash in 6-24 months, if that the case we may spend our cash/free up bonds and may buy real estate

@young - I have no bias against TCW because frankly I don't know that much about them. However, the particular fund you inquired about gives me pause because:
°It is a very concentrated fund, +52% in the top ten holdings, +12% in the top holding, There's nothing wrong particularly about that except be very aware of what you're buying.
°The fund has a pretty short history (3 years). I'd like to see a longer performance history, more info on the manager, and more info on how the fund is managed.
°Expenses or should I say the expense ratio, is all that you can control when choosing funds and this one is a bit high given most of the other growth fund options out there.
°This is a small fund in terms of AUM, $87 million. Given the concentration of the portfolio you'd better hope that the manager is on his stock picking game.
So again I repeat, there's nothing inherently wrong here but be very aware of what you're buying.

TGUSX-$100K installment at Schwab. ER 1.13% , currently ( .80%? ) Class N would be doable.
Derf

@ MikeM: That's why I asked the question. I thought I might be missing something. & when you replied it sparked my interest.
Hence forth, believe nothing you hear & only 1/2 of what you see.
Enjoy the weather, Derf

It’s true that only 24% of graduates taking the test got all 4 questions correct, but another 33% got 3 of the test questions right. That might be somewhat disappointing, but it’s not too bad either. The graduates out scored the other group categories taking the test.
A far more important statistic is that college graduates earn over 50% more per year than non graduates. Getting that degree has a measurable life changing impact so just do it. It is worth the effort and any sacrifices.

+1

FYI: The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity claims it wants to keep politics out of pension funds. But what does it really want?
Regards,
Ted
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1f3bld0jg586l/The-Dark-Money-Lobbying-Group-Going-After-Pension-Funds

@Mike M: I suggest you look up total return for S&P 1987! Another writer with not enough time.
Derf

@JohnN, Thanks for checking. BA closed near $362 on / around March 12 following the recent accident. This morning it’s at $374. That looks more like a 3% gain in price from around the time you reported buying. Not bad. Linked article talks about Boeing’s recent ups & downs (no pun intended) from an investment standpoint. https://investorplace.com/2019/04/boeing-stock-737-max/

@_hank hi sir... BA moves like a turtle up 1% since bought it... Folks told me to hold it for one two yrs... It's maybe a long term holding

"Still, history bodes well for stocks the remainder of the year. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has recorded 10 first quarters where the index gained at least 10%. On nine of those 10 occasions, the index rose for the remainder of the year, averaging a gain of 5.8%. The only year it declined was 1987, known for Black Monday, when the index fell 15% after the first quarter but still closed out the full year with a 2% gain"
If I'm reading this correctly, one should sell somewhere with the gain over 10 % ,as the yearly gain was ONLY 5.8% ?
Derf

Question 4 is completely different from 1, 2 3 -- it depends upon knowing the definition of the term "interest capitalization". I would not have been able to define the term, but I'd have answered the question correctly because of the way the answers were worded.
Which proves nothing.
In any case, I wonder how well Sallie Mae vetted it's survey before administering it.
David