At this rate, the 11 year bull never stopped.

Riffing on @LewisBraham responding to @FD1000: 2001 dot-com specialness -- a lot of "top" companies got to the top and....
In the short run, the market is a voting machine; in the long run it is a weighing machine. Belief in that principle (as well as the logic of buying a quarter for a dime) is what is makes value investing logic appealing to many investors.

Statements like this are really meaningless. 15 years is pretty long and over long term it's being proven that a very cheap, "stupid" but a smart idea like the SP500 will beat most managed funds
What is VALUE? value means different things to different investors. Is Buffett value equal D&C value.? Is T a better value than AAPL?
The best voting machine is the market thru the price. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks, the price reflects the end results of all decisions. The price is always right and the price will affect the SP500.

Another maybe bullish sign... This article from the NYT says it's institutional investors (aka smart money) driving this one while Mom and Pop investors (like me) wait it out.

I have also read that some of the buying has been driven by funds with a mandate to own the constituents of various indexes.
OTOH. From your link:

Cole Smead, a portfolio manager at the Smead Value Fund, has been snapping up bargains in beaten-up parts of the market, like oil and energy producers, homebuilders and shopping-mall companies, that are closely tied to short-term swings in the economy.

I won't be adding Smead Value to my shopping list. I regularly drive by one of the largest ghost town malls in the country.

Goldman Sachs economists, for example, expect the gross domestic product to contract at an astounding 34 percent annual rate in the second quarter, with unemployment reaching roughly 15 percent.

I look at numbers like that on top of the burden of corporate leverage, and I wonder what could happen if their debt is down graded.

And don’t underestimate the fear of missing out. As shares rise, professional money managers feel pressure to buy stocks to protect their reputations.
“If you wait until the coast is clear, you will have missed a huge part of the gains,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, a trading and asset management firm. “And professional investors can’t afford to do that.”

That doesn't sound like the sort of discipline Old_Skeet describes as his process.
Thanks for the link.

In announcing what may prove its most groundbreaking step in the crisis fight, Fed chair Jerome Powell said the Fed’s role had now broadened beyond its usual focus in keeping markets “liquid” and functioning, to helping the United States get the economic and financial space it needs to fix a dire health emergency.

https://reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-fed-mainstreet/fed-rolls-out-2-3-trillion-to-backstop-main-street-local-governments-during-crisis-idUSKCN21R1WY

The Federal Reserve said it would buy some junk bonds in a package of announcements that could pump $2.3 trillion into the economy

https://nytimes.com/2020/04/09/business/economy/fed-to-buy-municipal-some-riskier-debt-as-part-of-expansive-programs.html

Concerns are being raised as QE Infinity begins to be implemented:

By pushing the Federal Reserve into corners of financial markets it has mostly shunned in its 106-year history, Chairman Jerome Powell is running into some thorny questions.
Like, for instance, how to maintain independence from the U.S. Treasury when the economic-support package Congress passed says they should work together? Or whether the same guidelines for companies receiving federal aid, which range from compensation limits to off-shoring restrictions, apply to the Fed if it gets more money from Treasury? And how about which companies -- and perhaps eventually, municipalities and states -- are invited to borrow and at what cost?
The Fed’s steps into credit allocation are tantamount to “a complete redesign of central banking on the fly.”
The CARES Act “forces the Fed into this almost intimate relationship with Treasury,” said Mark Spindel, co-author of a book about the relationship with Congress. “This is fiscal policy, picking winners and losers.”

https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/powell-pushed-to-edge-of-fed-s-boundaries-in-fight-for-economy

Hi guys. I have the S&P 500 Index current up off its 52 week closing low of 2237 (March 23rd) by +22.9% (513 points). According to Mr. Paulsen's thesis I wonder how much near term upside is left?
I'm thinking from here we drift sideways and become range bound for a while. Should Q1 earnings surprise then perhaps we go higher ... Perhaps, not. For the near term, I feel most of the upside has already been made.
For me, since I was an active buyer of equities during the downdraft it is now clip coupons and collect dividends, that my portfolio generates, while I await this out.

bullish sign? Investors keep piling up cash: Money market mutual fund assets rose $120 billion in the seven days ended Tues. Total money fund assets now a record $4.39 trillion, up from $3.50 trillion at the start of the year. (iMoneyNet)

@Nick637 It has proven totally unethical and cruel in many other parts of the country:
https://washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/collection/homes-for-the-taking/?utm_term=.61cb93babcea
https://citylab.com/equity/2015/06/how-the-black-tax-destroyed-african-american-homeownership-in-chicago/395426/
And now in the current environment, it could prove a particularly vicious time for such sales and evictions unless the government steps in to stop them: https://inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-eviction-foreclosure-philadelphia-gym-council-resolution-20200312.html
A lot of people are going to miss their mortgage and property tax payments in the current environment.

Everyone knows the appeal, I bet, but I have to ask (being too lazy to do the work myself, at least now), over what multiyear spans since the later 1970s has VOOV outperformed VOOG or RPV RPG?

Hi guys. I thought I'd post an update with today's rally which puts the S&P 500 Index up 10.5% thus far into the week and up 22.9% from its 52 week low; but, leaves it down 18.8% from its 52 week high. With this upward price movement moves the Index from bear market territory (greater than 20% off the 52 week high) into correction territory (which is less than 20% off the 52 week high but above the 10% decline mark).
With this price movement today the Index moves from being oversold (with a reading of 165) to undervalued (with a reading of 160) on the barometer's scale. Generally, a lower barometer reading indicates that there is less investment in the Index over a higher reading.
For me, I have been enjoying the stock market rebound and still with my plan to position new money on the income side of my portfolio. This is to help maintain my current asset allocation of 15% cash, 40% income and 45% equity as equities are having a good upward run plus I was a buyer of equities during the downdraft.
My three best performing funds for the day were PMDAX +4.5% ... FRINX +4.4% ... and, PGUAX +4.0%.
Thanks for stopping by and reading.
Take care ... be safe ... and, I wish all good investing.
Old_Skeet

Riffing on @LewisBraham responding to @FD1000: 2001 dot-com specialness -- a lot of "top" companies got to the top and....
In the short run, the market is a voting machine; in the long run it is a weighing machine. Belief in that principle (as well as the logic of buying a quarter for a dime) is what is makes value investing logic appealing to many investors.

@MikeW. Literally, just looking around by Fund Family. Also, David's posts re: RiverPark. Just wanted to mention a couple examples. I'm sure there's a lot more. It did strike me that PIMCO's Total Return, once top dog, outperformed DoubleLine's Total Return. With Display Period set to "YTD", you can select any criteria then sort return by MAXDD (just click-on header title). I also think fixed income investors have a different mindset than equity investors. Down 10% on a core bond fund feels like down 30% for equity investors. And 30% down? Like 60% or worse! Horrible. c

It was a bad month. The pandemic's economic impact is reminiscent of the financial crisis, only transpiring much faster. The world was unprepared. Hearing about "CV-19" at first seemed remote and contained, like the term "sub-prime mortgages." Then, all at once, it was everywhere and raging.
Just posted Damage Report.

Anyway, let me add that FXAIX does not outperform either Vanguard SP500 product if you go back to their spring 1988 origin, only more recently.

Nothing to do with insecurity, trying to be accurate. FXAIX didn't perform better because it didn't have a lower ER all these years. The main difference between me and others is that I supply numbers and not just narrative ;-)

As you're a numbers sort of person, could you provide some numbers to go along with your narrative? The story saying that FXAIX "didn't have a lower ER all these years"?
I can find some early years over the lifetime span when VFINX had an ER more than a single basis point below FXAIX's. But there aren't very many years like that, and the VFINX advantage in those years was just 6-9 basis points. In contrast, there are a greater number of later years where FXIAX had the advantage. More sizeable to boot, 8-15 basis points.
From what little I can find, it seems that FXAIX overall had the lower ER all these years. I look forward to seeing the ER numbers for "all these years".

Yes Sirs!.. up +3s% today. hope finish strong/ or we may end up flat again like yesterday
Just wait until jobs reports/unemployment/earning outings next few weeks, we maybe having another 3-9% down days
In a blink of an eye, many will start writing next wk recession maybe ceasing and perhaps new bull market starting
'No One Wants to Call Canada’s 21% Stock Surge a Bull Market
S&P/TSX Composite has rallied at the fastest pace on record
Economic pain is just getting started as shutdowns take a toll
As quickly as the Canadian stock market fell into a bear market, it has even more rapidly surged 21% from its bottom. Yet, few are willing to call the rally by its technical definition -- a bull market.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-06/no-one-wants-to-call-canada-s-21-stock-surge-a-bull-market'
[same maybe said of Oil/EEM or US market]

Hi @MikeM
You noted:

I am eliminating bonds from my self managed portfolio as much as I can

Obviously, I don't know what type of bond funds you have already or will eliminate. I can only offer this, as we all "see" the markets from our own knowledge and perspective.
Note: The following view/comparison does not include either narrow focused or junk bond funds; with the exception being AAA narrow focused bond funds/etf's.
SO. I had 2 phone calls from friends, about a month ago, regarding their bond funds. They're both conservative investors and don't fiddle with their holdings often and hold about an even mix of equity (SP500 type) and bonds (active managed total return bond funds). They were concerned that their bond funds had become negative for returns. This was the short period when credit markets became stuck. As we know now and what could be assumed, is that the FED moved in to unwind the log jam.
The had fully expected that these would show positive returns when the equity market was crashing. Generally speaking, this would be normal expectation; except a short period in bondland was different. However, I did express that indeed their bond funds were supportive in their portfolio, although showing a small negative return at the time.
I provided the following information (now updated through April 7) using $SPX and FTBFX (a fairly typical total return bond fund).
The $SPX and FTBFX start at Jan. 2018, as this period found 4 periods of equity "fits"; being, Feb. 8, Mar. 21, Oct. 29 and the big melt of Dec. 24, 2018.
This is the total return data from Jan. 2018 through April 7, 2020 and two other periods:
--- Jan. 2018 - April 7, 2020
$SPX = - 1.4%
FTBX = + 9.9%
--- 1 year, April 7, 2019 - April 7, 2020
$SPX = - 8.1%
FTBFX = + 6.2%
--- March 19, 2020.....this date, being a period + or - a few days of when bonds, including AAA where behaving badly; and when I received the phone calls. The following is the YTD returns as of March 19.
$SPX = - 25.5%
FTBFX = - 5.4%
The conversation expressed that while the bonds were not + YTD; the bond fund did indeed function properly, in regards to the loss comparison with $SPX.
The above amounts to how one views an outcome and what are or were the reasons for arriving at a given monetary place.
As for today and with many U.S. bond areas; there is not likely a prior period or a future period when more support from the FED is taking place.
The support crutches, for many bond areas, are in place, IMHO.
Be well.
Catch

One of our former clients managed some tax lien funds on the side, they did quite well (Kislak is the name if you wanna google them). There are also a host of other funds available, like Voyager Pacific. I never pulled the trigger on any of those, as I too have scruples & think this kind of stuff is just wrong & predatory. I have, however, had lots of success with trust deed investing through Ignite Funding...nice easy 10% returns, just try to be selective & pick investments from folks that have done several past offerings & have 100% payback...I don't wanna mess with the default stuff, though Ignite does all that, it just would take extra time.

Just heard this from a friend of mine. I had no clue anything like this existed. My friend said he invested around $50K across 10 liens. It's really an auction where you can bid for how much you willing to pay (equal / over to tax owed) and how much interest you accepting to collect. I could keep explaining, but article below will no doubt do much better job.
https://www.bankrate.com/investing/investing-in-tax-liens-fraught-with-risk/
Wanted to ask if anyone diversifies their portfolio investing in tax liens and / or if any real estate funds out there we know invest significantly in them (since it falls in RE investment category).
Thanks much for any insight / advice.

Hi @MikeM. Your thinking sounds reasonable to me. However, there is a lot of money in the system and it is not going to be happy with a 0% to 1% yield when one can make more in stocks and bonds. This is why I loaded equities in the stock market sell-off. The stock market sell-off lead to the bond market selling-off. with this, I'm now buying in the income area of my portfolio since bond prices have felt compression.
Mike, by all means ... you might be right ... I'm not saying you are not. It is just that I'm taking a different perspective ... and, that is what makes a market.
Take care ... and, I wish you the very best.

Thanks gentlemen, appreciate your thoughts!!!
I've said this weeks ago on this and other boards and platforms regarding COVID-19 forecasts, they are, AT BEST, misleading and at worst, useless. The data that is imputed has been incomplete, skewed, unreliable and just inaccurate. This can ONLY leads to IN-KIND outcomes.
FD (and others), what signals are you looking for in order to move back into the Bond market? Stock market?
Obviously, none of us can predict the "bottom" so what should i be looking for?
Thx for any and all responses!!!!
Matt