What are your concerns with these funds? Day to day, IOFAX seems to move in very small increment (price) and then pays a nice dividend monthly/yearly. They both have a short life span (open in 2014) so pretty much untested in down markets. @Junkster or @Charles or others could probably provide a better synopsis of these strategies and there place in your portfolio so I'll stop here.

"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.

Longleaf Partner Funds (PDF):
https://longleafpartners.com/sites/default/files/categories/Documents/Longleaf-Partners-Funds-Capital-Gain-Distribution-Estimate-2018.pdf
Distributions Page
https://longleafpartners.com/investment-offerings/longleaf-partners-fund/distributions

FYI: Over the next decade, defaults from 401(k) loans could account for $2 trillion lost in potential future account balances, according to a report from Deloitte.
The average defaulting plan participant stands to lose approximately $300,000 in potential retirement account balance, according to “Loan Leakage: How can we keep loan defaults from draining $2 trillion from America’s 401(k) accounts?”
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/deloitte--401-k--loan-defaults-are-a--2-trillion-retirement-problem-41303.html?print

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

In a way it's kind of sad. I remember as a kid that Sear's & Montgomery Wards pretty much ruled the world. Things change and stuff happens. Mostly I feel sorry for the rank and file who will lose their jobs and who knows what else.

I guess we’re dating ourselves. When I began working in the Southeastern Michigan area in 1970 the local big sprawling mall was quite splendid. It’s three “anchor” stores were JL Hudson’s, Sears and Montgomrty Ward (affectionally known as “Monkey Ward”). All were very large beautiful multi-floor stores with virtually everything your heart might desire. Hudson’s was the most expensive of the three, specializing more in clothing, home furnishings and jewelry. Sears was squarely in the middle. Wards, while nice, catered more to the working class. KMart was big and rapidly growing in the outlying areas - but was “bargain-basement” compared to those other three and had no presence in the big malls.
FWIW: JL Hudson’s apparently merged with the parent company of Target. While Hudson’s is history, Target lives on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Target_Corporation

If it's chapter 11 they still might have a chance of restructuring. Much like what Kodak did. In any case they will be small, struggling and insignificant in the stock trading world. Maybe just a slower extinction than chapter 7.

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

831 points... Any one buying tomorrow

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

FYI: Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management LLP and Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec teamed up to acquire control of wealth-management services provider FNZ in one of the year’s largest fintech deals.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-09/al-gore-s-generation-caisse-are-said-to-near-fnz-fintech-deal

My small/mid cap sleeve is off its 52 week high by -6.8% as of market close on 10/9/18. This sleeve consist of the following three funds with (percent off 52 week highs) AOFAX (-11.28%), NDVAX (-4.09%) & PMDAX (-6.26%). Year-to-date the sleeve is up +6.5%.

@MFO Members: Sequoia Fund letter to shareholders.
Regards,
Ted
https://acquirersmultiple.com/2018/10/sequoia-fund-q3-2018-letter-david-poppe-retiring/

FYI: Most people watching have noticed that the recent weakness in equities has been especially tough on the small-cap space, and another illustration of that trend is to look at the distance that stocks are currently trading from their 52-week highs. Within the large-cap S&P 500, the average stock is currently 13.2% below its 52-week high. Moving down the market cap spectrum, though, the numbers get progressively worse. In the S&P 400 mid-cap space, the average spread is 16.9%, while members of the S&P 600 Small Cap index are down an average of 20.7%. Using the standard bear market definition of a 20% decline from a high, the average small-cap stock is in a bear market!
Looking at the spreads between current prices and 52-week highs, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector are further from their highs than any other sector (-22.9%), but Technology isn’t far behind at 21.4%. For two sectors that were market leaders, Tech and Discretionary have certainly seen a good deal of profit-taking lately. Outside of these two, other sectors where the ‘average’ stock has seen a pretty sizable pullback from its 52-week high include Materials (-19.8%), Health Care (-17.9%), and Consumer Staples (-16.6%). On the other end of the spectrum, Utilities (-6.1%) is the only sector where stocks are currently down by an average of less than 10% from their 52-week highs.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/average-small-cap-stock-in-bear-market-territory/

FYI: The SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF (XPH) hasn’t quite kept pace with the market this year, but Guggenheim sees brighter days ahead for big drugmakers.
Where we were: XPH has risen 5.2% year to date, even as plenty of analysts have argued the bull case for pharma stocks.
Where we’re headed: Innovation and new product launches should set the stage for more profitability, says Guggenheim.
Health care has been the second-best performing sector this year, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) rising more than 14.3% year to date, not far from the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF’s (XLK) 14.7% gain, as market-leader tech has been tarnished lately. Yet big drugmakers haven’t necessarily seen much of the benefit, as XPH’s performance shows.
Nonetheless, Guggenheim’s Seamus Fernandez writes that he sees a positive outlook for the global pharma sector, as headwinds fade and innovation and new drugs boost sales and an earnings per share compound annual growth in the mid- to upper single-digits from next year through 2024.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/5-reasons-investors-should-take-a-fresh-look-at-big-pharma-1539103777?refsec=etfs
M* Snapshot XPH:
https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/ARCX/XPH/quote.html

FYI: It’s a rare year when total returns on U.S. Treasuries are negative, but when they are, the ripple effect on global markets is potent.
Stocks, credit, high yield and emerging markets, in particular, suffer as investors bail out of the world’s safest and most liquid asset, pushing up the cost of money, squeezing liquidity and tightening financial conditions.
That’s the running assumption, and it’s setting the narrative for financial markets right now as the U.S. bond selloff gathers pace and Treasuries close in on what will be only their fifth year of negative returns since the early 1970s.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/global-bonds-vigilantes/column-bad-years-for-us-treasuries-dont-mean-bad-years-for-markets-mcgeever-idUSL8N1WL49E