@Mark: Yes, $16.00 and some change.
Regards,
Ted

FYI: (I'd stick with PFF)
With 10-year Treasury yields up more than 12% over the past month, plenty of income-generating are being pressured. The list includes, but is not limited to, longer-dated bonds and real estate investment trusts.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.etftrends.com/2015/05/the-right-preferred-etf-right-now/

@Sven said Something is very fishy with Hanergy.
Hanergy not the only funny money valuation on the various Chinese Exchanges.
"Hanergy and Goldin Financial Hldgs both...surged more than sixfold in the past 12 months. Across the border in Shenzhen, there are 103 stocks that rallied that much in a year, compared with only four in the former British colony. Among the 1,721 stocks on the Shenzhen Composite Index,only four have declined this year.
“Hanergy and Goldin are a good reminder for investors in China,” Ronald Wan, chief executive at Partners Capital International Ltd. said in Hong Kong. “They have a close similarity with many stocks in Shenzhen which have rallied based on speculation rather than fundamentals.”
The 103 stocks in the Shenzhen 500 percent club trade at an average 375 times reported earnings, while their average market capitalization has risen to $3.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Many of them recently sold shares for the first time."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-22/hanergy-goldin-s-wild-rides-are-nothing-next-to-shenzhen-stocks

Something is very fishy with Hanergy.
Financial Time
ft.com/cms/s/2/cea87e76-fedb-11e4-94c8-00144feabdc0.html#slide0

@TSP_Transfer: Hello !
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/21225/jeffrey-gundlach-warns-advisers-on-unconstrained-bond-funds#latest

The trade is used to achieve negative duration and benefit from rising rates, and is often coupled with low-credit junk bonds of the same maturity as the shorted Treasuries.

@TSP_Transfer Thanks for the post. I would have missed it.
1. "same maturity as..." ? I wonder if JG was misquoted; surely he would have meant duration, right?
2. obviously, mentioning specific names would have been impolite, but do you know to what funds he could be referring? Yes, I'm in one of the unconstrained bond funds that is shorting (SUBYX) and the expense of the short is ex-ing out the monthly dvd (most but not all of the time). But they are not coupling it with junk--- most of the rest of the portfolio is diversified in short-duration, safer stuff. Anyone know of an unconstrained that is loading the rest of the boat with junk?

FYI: Many market watchers have warned this year about a highflying Chinese solar stock—Hanergy Thin Film Power Group—and its leading role in popular ways to bet on solar stocks like one Guggenheim ETF.
On Wednesday, Hanergy’s 0566, -46.95% aerial routine ended with a crash, as one Wall Street Journal headline put it. And the Hong Kong-listed stock’s dive after a meteoric rise was helping to take down the Guggenheim Solar ETF TAN, +2.95%
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-solar-stock-implosion-a-reminder-to-look-under-an-etfs-hood-2015-05-20/print

Ukraine raised the pressure on creditors to accept a writedown on their holdings on Tuesday when it passed a bill enabling the government to halt payments if it can’t reach agreement with bondholders by its June 15 target.
Knife-catchers Noteholders BTG Pactual Europe LLP, Franklin Advisers Inc., TCW Investment Management Company and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. formed a committee awhile back and submitted the outline of a proposed consensual restructuring last month, followed by a detailed proposal on May 9th. Still waiting at the negotiating table for Ukraine to show up.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/05/18/2129699/and-then-there-were-four-ukraine-bonds-edition/
Russia (pre-crisis $3B noteholder) calls the BS what it is and may take a different route. The Russian bond is governed by English law and any disputes related to it would be settled in an English court, according the bond prospectus. The bond has a covenant allowing the holder to demand its money back if Ukraine’s public debt tops 60 percent of economic output, which the IMF said took place last year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/russia-will-take-ukraine-to-court-if-june-coupon-payment-missed
Experts agree that Tuesday's vote meant a technical default for the country and would impede Ukraine’s ability to raise private investment from the EU and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), a European source told TASS on Wednesday. Failure to cut a deal risks future tranches of a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund loan that Ukraine needs.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-20/putin-pans-ukraines-debt-moratorium-de-facto-default-threatens-court

Ah, yes, that's exactly what happened. Remember that his post was the "anchor" for that thread (being the original post in that thread) and I would guess that you can't remove that first post and retain any answers to it. Or something. It's been a rough day over on the "Is $1 Million Enough" thread. No wonder you don't like to engage in verbal challenges. I need a gin and tonic.
OJ

Hi Old Joe,
To refresh your memory, your initial post that was time stamped 12:14 PM only contained three words: "Mostly Just Gas". It was that silly, childish acronym that I referred to with my "shameful" characterization. Your memory is highly selective.
Best Wishes.

More Gundlach
DoubleLine Capital founder said managers with wide latitude are taking too much risk
By Trevor Hunnicutt | May 20, 2015 - 1:25 pm EST InvestmentNews
EXPENSIVE SHORT
"At the heart of Mr. Gundlach's concerns are the use by managers of a potentially expensive short on Treasuries, the cost of which weighs on returns.
The trade is used to achieve negative duration and benefit from rising rates, and is often coupled with low-credit junk bonds of the same maturity as the shorted Treasuries. (Duration measures the potential sensitivity of a bond's price to rate increases.)
Mr. Gundlach described that trade as an “unacceptably high commitment to credit risk” that's “long credit risk and short safety.”
“Investors are probably encouraged to believe that the funds will always go up, and I think that's poor communication on the part of the sponsors,” said Mr. Gundlach."
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150520/FREE/150529994?template=printart

@Heezsafe: Hello !
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/21207/etf-industry-hits-morbid-milestone-500-funds-have-come-and-gone#latest

This is simply a factoid post, in the interest of "keeping it current."
http://investwithanedge.com/500-etf-closures
A grand total of 2,207 ETFs and ETNs have been listed on US exchanges. 1,929 have been ETFs and 278 have been ETNs. 500 closures consist of 430 ETFs and 70 ETNs. So far, ETF survivability has been 77.7% and ETN survivability comes in at 74.8%. Of the 1,712 products still remaining and listed for trading today, a full 315 are on the May ETF Deathwatch list. [There were 113 starts in the past 6 months, not included in the deathwatch stats]

"The planned Bay Bridge section will be a huge success and will be a lasting example of American engineering expertise for a century or more."
[Timeline of problems/costs in 2015, as opposed to those found and paid for in 2013]
Unfortunately, subscription to the Chronicle is required for these articles, so I haven't provided linkage. If you are interested I suspect that corroborating information is available on the internet.

SFGate is pretty good at providing access to Chron articles.
Try here: http://www.sfgate.com/author/jaxon-van-derbeken/
(a list of recent articles by the reporter via SFGate), starting with the most recent (updated Monday):
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Salty-water-swamping-some-Bay-Bridge-rods-6268443.php

Why did Brewer and another manager of this new fund take "sabbaticals" from around 2008-2010? It sure would be nice to have their performance figures from that period when high-flyers mostly crash landed.

Anna, and all,
Regarding the extreme (exponential) fungibility of debt, this from 2009 is very good and nicely explained, even though some of the points have been modulated if not superseded since:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/01/outsmarted
Had forgotten that in these derivations, JPM was so much more careful and precise and prudent than its many imitators.

"The planned Bay Bridge section will be a huge success and will be a lasting example of American engineering expertise for a century or more."
@MJG: With respect to the new Eastern tower of the Bay Bridge, it is evident that your commentary is completely divorced from reality. Construction is well past the planning stage. It has been, theoretically at least, completed, and has been in service for some time now. Ironically your comment regarding American engineering expertise may well be accurate, although perhaps not in the sense that you meant it. Here is a short list of recent articles from the San Francisco Chronicle:
• March 1, 2015 Bay Bridge leaks: Toll payers on hook for Caltrans' blunders
• March 16, 2015 Tests of Bay Bridge rods find more widespread cracking
• April 3, 2015 Anchor rod on Bay Bridge may have snapped
• April 6, 2015 Snapped anchor rod adds to Bay Bridge concerns
• April 23, 2015 Caltrans was warned of Bay Bridge leaking before span opened
• May 5, 2015 Ominous signs of problems with new Bay Bridge foundation
• May 7, 2015 Bay Bridge news gets worse: Tower rod fails key test
• May 9, 2015 Plague of problems puts Bay Bridge seismic safety in question
• May 11, 2015 Bay Bridge revelations are 'game changers,' panel chief says
• May 11, 2015 The bridge oversight panel approved spending up to $4 million in tolls to find out the extent of the Bay Bridge's problems.
Your historic footage of the Tacoma Narrows disaster is well-known, except perhaps to the current crop of engineers responsible for the Eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. At this point the ability of the new span to resist, without serious damage, the earthquake that it was allegedly designed to handle is very much in doubt. Evidently neither a spreadsheet nor Monte Carlo modeling was used by the bridge engineers.
Unfortunately, subscription to the Chronicle is required for these articles, so I haven't provided linkage. If you are interested I suspect that corroborating information is available on the internet.
Edit/Add: Thanks to later info from msf, here are some links that should work to illustrate many of the above references:
SFGate is pretty good at providing access to Chron articles.
Try here: http://www.sfgate.com/author/jaxon-van-derbeken/
(a list of recent articles by the reporter via SFGate), starting with the most recent (updated Monday):
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Salty-water-swamping-some-Bay-Bridge-rods-6268443.php
Thanks much, msf!
Regards- OJ

Hi Dex,
Given the 12 Monte Carlo simulations that I completed, your objections to exactly how the composite 350K nest-egg presumed in the analyses was deployed is at the noise level.
The final 6 simulations I ran postulated that the total 350K was entirely invested in a portfolio earning at an annual 7% rate. That is a bounding calculation.
That bounding calculation set does project a higher portfolio survival expectation. The survival odds get much better, but a significant potential bankruptcy is still in the picture. The results were too close to the cliff for my comfort.
Many workarounds exist, like changing the annual spending profile downward after a market negative year (the wine is an attractive target). Small changes impact portfolio survival prospects. Monte Carlo analyses should never be the only input in retirement decision making.
You seem to have made your decision. You asked and didn't like my analyses outcomes. I didn't give you the confirmation encouragement that you were seeking. I certainly am not trying to dissuade you from your decision. I'm simply reporting the results of very few calculations.
I never make stock or mutual fund recommendations on MFO or anywhere else either. Do what you want to do. Just go for it. Good luck.
Best Wishes.

"Only the top 10% of boomers without generous pensions can retire."
Ridiculous STUFF!
"Oops, now who will step up to the plate and solve the aging boomer jobs problem?"
Who wants, needs a Job....that's over for investors/savers!