Art: Totally agree with you there. Please link below.
npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/18/304528064/china-admits-that-a-fifth-of-its-farmland-is-contaminated
Years of environmental neglect is catching up with them. Heavy metals (cadmium, nickel and arsenic) have NO viable way for soil remediation. If current policy continues, China will have to import majority of their food, not a good situation given the size of the population.

STB65 Ted will probably post this and maybe it should be in its own separate thread but here's Gundlach latest musings.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gundlach-could-verge-one-biggest-190053082.html
As an aside, he's not the manager but his Doubleline Emerging Markets Income fund (DLENX) has been an impressive and consistent low volatility performer. If I get stopped out of NHMRX would consider going there assuming its bull trend continues.

I admit this comment is pretty far down in the thread, but:
Gundlach's argument that retirees will be buying bonds yielding under 3% because they need stable income must apply to a more successful class than mine. I had assumed that foreign governments or rich people (of any nationality) bought US treasuries because the bonds' security was more important than their yield.
If you can afford to buy $1M in bonds to earn $25K before taxes and inflation, you must either be a multimillionaire or have a very frugal life style (which may be forced upon some of us).
The argument that we should intentionally use up our principal for retirement income is partially valid, but most of us do not plan for our funds and our existence to expire simultaneously, because we hope to insure our progeny against an uncertain future.
Gundlach is obviously a smart guy, and I invest in his funds, but it seems one would need to have significant retirement savings for this view to prevail. I think that higher return on US bonds vs other developed countries is a more valid reason.

12.84% of portf. in US Treasuries: DLFNX. Up +4.33 ytd.
5.97% of portf. in UST: DLTNX. Up +3.87 ytd.
I own DLFNX. I just thought to compare them.
MAINX is SHORTING USA 10-year notes. (labeled "CBT." What's that? Dated June, 2014. Callable Boot Trash? CBT?) But it's near the bottom of its holdings list. I asked about this earlier, and David got an answer from Fund Manager Teresa Kong which seemed to make sense.
MAINX ytd: up +3.52%.

Please don't enlighten the bond haters. They are needed to keep propelling yields lower, prices higher. What we don't need is a major shift in consensus that bond yields can only continue to go lower from here and for the bears to go into hibernation. Remember how entering January bond bearishness was rampant and near record levels. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry was calling for an inevitable and immediate rise in yields to 3.50% and then later in the year to 4.0%. We've seen how that has played out YTD so far. Conversely, entering January stock market optimism was by many measures at historic highs. And the result is that market hasn't exactly set the world on fire YTD.
Below is a link to a hater of bonds.
http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2014/05/15/deutsche-bank-sees-swift-and-violent-treasury-yield-rise/?mod=BOL_hp_blog_ii

For US Bond haters to consider (which includes any "unconstrained" bond fund managers out there)

http://www.wallstreetrant.com/2014/05/many-government-bonds-yielding-less.html

KraneShares Weekly:
Summary of this week's market update with Mainland Chinese broker insights translated to English:
China to Increase Stimulus Measures
Foreign Corporations to Have Greater Yuan Flexibility
Walt Disney Makes Further Investment Commitment to China
Alibaba Continues to Invest Ahead of IPO
Chinese Tourists to Increase Global Travel Dramatically
http://kraneshares.com/resources/kraneshares_capitalvue_may06.pdf?utm_source=KraneShares+Weekly+-+General&utm_campaign=db8bd8612a-KraneShares_Weekly_Email10_17_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d32ba24ce-db8bd8612a-27509461
Book Excerpt
All you need to know about business in China
Six big trends are shaping the country’s future, as investor Jeffrey Towson and McKinsey’s Jonathan Woetzel explain in this excerpt from The One Hour China Book.
April 2014 | by Jeffrey Towson and Jonathan Woetzel
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/winning_in_emerging_markets/all_you_need_to_know_about_business_in_china?utm_source=KraneShares+Weekly+-+General&utm_campaign=db8bd8612a-KraneShares_Weekly_Email10_17_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d32ba24ce-db8bd8612a-27509461

Scott Minard /Guggenheim Macro View
"Of course, with much of the U.S. fixed-income market now overvalued, we must guard against the pitfalls of overvaluation, but, as I have said before, markets that are overvalued and then become even more overvalued are called bull markets."
http://guggenheimpartners.com/perspectives/macroview/breaking-good
John Flahive, director of fixed income at BNY Mellon Wealth Management, said he’s considering closing the company’s Municipal Opportunities Fund (MOTIX) to new investors as tax-free yields fall to 11-month lows.
“A lot of the opportunities have been washed away in the last month and a half,” said Flahive, who helps oversee $22 billion in munis from Boston. “There really isn’t much out there.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-15/bny-mellon-may-close-muni-opportunities-fund-amid-tax-free-rally.html

Gary: Timeline:
Article: (WSJ) 5/15/14: 11:43 AM EST
Posted: (Ted) 5/15/14 3:15 PM CST
Read: (Gary) 5/15/14 4:20 PM CST

At 4:05 PM I viewed a WSJ article Russell 200 Tumble that cleared the wire this morning at 11:43AM. Ted posted it at 8:11 PM and I read it at 4:03 PM what's the deal???

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304547704579563611710366646#printMode
Major Stock Indexes: http://markets.wsj.com/us

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101676985

more:
"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) posted another relatively firm increase in April, with the headline number increasing 0.26% and the core number rising 0.24%. By no means does the US have an inflation problem in the traditional sense, but with the three-month annualized run rate on core CPI sitting at 2.26%, it doesn't feel as though "lowflation" is dogging the economy either. Based on today's number and yesterday's PPI, we project that the core PCE price index will advance 0.15% in April, which would take the year-ago increase to 1.41% -- this would be low relative the Fed's 2% objective, but noticeably above the 1.10% figure registered as recently as February. It is hard to say with precision if this drift higher is in line with the Fed's latest forecast released in March (which has a 4Q14 mid-point of 1.55% on year-ago core PCE), but at the least their outlook for a directional move higher in inflation is being confirmed. "

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL1N0NY0T220140512

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-smarter-mutual-fund-investor/2014/05/12/avoid-supporting-your-fund-managers-lavish-lifestyle

$5K in 2010 is now $7.8+.
I've done worse. It supposedly avoided the tax consequences of holding MLPs in tax-advantaged accounts. Hope that is true, since that's why I bought it.

Howdy @heezsafe,
A blip I noted this past February; that I noted previous at FundAlarm, prior to MFO. The Goldman forecast was interesting (link near bottom of linked page).
>>>Jeez, did I write this??? .....who just day's ago claimed to be batting 100% on interest rate predictions, need to ask me that?
Ah, the problem with getting older and the brain function.....my political aspirations are finished.
However, I will say that I was confident about interest rate movements.
As to risk/reward and the big trump at this point of life at this house is capital preservation to let the monies live and compound another day forward.
Lastly, not directly related to any and all flavors of bonds; is that we have never been fussy about, from where the profits arrive.
Thanks for the reply.
Take care of you and yours,
Catch

Another good day to test your overall global diversification. :-)
Well diversified portfolios would likely be flat +/-0.15% today given how mixed tbe day was over all asset classes.

@hank. Nice!
HCP, SIGIX, and WBMIX were up for me.
Rest down or even...making portfolio off -0.35% for day.