It can be a little frustrating - "Not quite ready for Prime Time" sums it up. My IOS tracking app is so good at splicing, dicing & charting that I probably wouldn't even need Fido's basket. I have 3 baskets, each with 10 holdings. However, some stocks (ADRs I believe) cannot be bought or sold in fractional shares and Fido won't allow those inside a basket. So with one basket I can only include 9 holdings. The 10th (HEINY) has to be held outside. Not a huge problem as my own tracking app compensates for their omission.
The biggest advantage ISTM with their baskets is the ease in withdrawing sums. Instead of putting through 10 separate sells I can do just one transaction. Rebalancing works. However, if you're manually updating your own tracking app it would cause a lot of extra work updating everything after performing their auto-rebalance. What I do is sell off a little from the top 1 or 2 holdings and add that money to 1 or 2 laggards to bring things into close balance.
- I've had no trouble with "smart buys." Has always worked as expected. To my knowledge there is not yet a "smart sell" option. Read some grumbling elsewhere about that.
- I share your frustration at moving holdings out of the basket. A real chore. I learned to set the potential "dump" to 1% or less and later trash it, just as you apparently did successfully.
- I can't explain why it wouldn't allow your friend to invest all available cash into a basket. I haven't encountered that. But 100% of available? I haven't tried that.
- Sounds right about not being able to buy / add / sell basket holdings outside market hours. Not a problem here. But it sounds as if you have a workaround.
- Early on (March) I received pretty good help from a rep. After that it just became a game of "Try this / Try that".
- If you make a significant change in a basket (adding something new or trashing an existing asset) there is a time lag of at least 10 minutes and often an hour before you can work with the basket (buy, sell, edit). If you try, you should get a message to the effect that the basket is being updated.
- Even though I have all my dividends set to "reinvest in holding" I noticed recently that several had not moved into the baskets. It was a quick & simple procedure, once I caught on to the omission, to manually move the dividends which promptly were added to the existing basket positions.
My baskets:
CEFs - 10 holdings / 15.5% portfolio
Hedged - 10 holdings / 15.5% portfolio
BARF (long-shot stocks) - 10 holdings / 7% portfolio

TGT and CLX look interesting.

Yes, CLX does look interesting. Near a 52-wk low. 4.9% dividend yield. Wide moat and M* 5-star rating always piques my interest. This may be a good entry point.

I typically use Value Line and compare with Morningstar. Then I do my own analysis.

Rate & QE Summary: Fed fund rate cut -25 bps to 3.50-3.75%, bank reserves rate at 3.65%, discount rate at 3.75%. A new QE started for buying T-Bills & T-Notes (up to 3 yr maturities). Futures reinvestments for Treasuries & Agencies will be in Treasuries.
Due to another commitment, I missed listening to Powell's presser, so no post-presser notes this time.

Key Points
• IBM’s Quantum System Two is its most advanced quantum computer, utilizing quantum mechanics
for complex computations beyond conventional systems.
• IBM has deployed 85 quantum systems to over 300 organizations, including 25 systems with more
than 100 logical qubits, outpacing competitors like Google.
• IBM aims for a fault-tolerant supercomputer, IBM Quantum Starling, by 2029, targeting 100 million
quantum operations with 200 logical qubits.
"Big Blue has been working on quantum technology for decades.
It has shipped more quantum computers than any other company,
and it now has major breakthroughs in its sights.
Equally important, its array of other businesses—cloud computing, IT consulting, artificial intelligence,
and various hardware and software products—provides valuable ballast that can keep the company
on course even if quantum doesn’t pan out."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ibm-once-dominated-computing-quantum-technology-could-put-it-on-top-again/ar-AA1S3cGH

I wrote a comment to this article pointing out that he neglected to mention that with the TSP "Mutual Fund Window" participants can use 25% of their balance to invest in one of 5000 mutual funds. Many are ESG funds and a lot of them avoid a lot of the problems he mentions. IT does take a little work and poking around. Many of them are at Schwab but there are GMO funds and lots of DFA
Of course "Project 2025" is targeting the mutual fund window claiming it is "woke" and wants to close it. would be stupid and ironic if eliminating "woke" pushes more federal retirement money into Chinese companies

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1120543/000110465925119779/tm2533039d1_497.htm
Target funds:
Baillie Gifford International Concentrated Growth Equities Fund
Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Fund
Baillie Gifford U.S. Equity Growth Fund

I think this is a *very* good idea for index stability. So of course, the biggest name in the space is raging against the notion....if for no other reason than his stock price will go down. LOL
Strategy Inc. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor publicly slammed a proposal to bar the Bitcoin-buying firm from US indexes as “misguided” and “harmful.”
In a 12-page letter dated Wednesday, the co-founder of the digital asset treasury and Phong Le, Strategy’s CEO and president, laid out four key objections — spanning technology, accounting and politics — to MSCI’s proposal to exclude companies whose crypto holdings exceed 50% of total assets. Strategy, the original and largest of the so-called DATs, holds roughly $61 billion in Bitcoin, more than 85% of its enterprise value.
Strategy warned of “profoundly harmful consequences” if MSCI adopts the proposal, with a decision expected by Jan. 15. A representative for the index firm didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The potential ejection comes as the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin grapples with falling token prices. In a note last month, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. warned that as much as $2.8 billion could exit Strategy if MSCI moves ahead — and billions more if other index providers follow suit. However, the risk of exclusion has already been priced in, according to the bank, casting the upcoming decision as a potential upside catalyst, even though removal would still prompt passive outflows.
< - >
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-10/strategy-s-michael-saylor-slams-msci-plan-to-bar-crypto-heavy-firms-from-indexes?srnd=homepage-americas

The Week in Charts (12/09/25)
The State of the Markets, including...
00:00 Intro
00:27 Stocks
15:23 Bonds/Fed
25:20 Real Estate/Housing
32:23 Commodities
36:18 Currencies
40:30 Crypto
45:46 Intermarket
51:43 Economy
Video
Blog

"In conjunction with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held on December 9-10, 2025,
meeting participants submitted their projections of the most likely outcomes for real gross domestic product
(GDP) growth, the unemployment rate, and inflation for each year from 2025 to 2028 and over the longer run.
Each participant’s projections were based on information available at the time of the meeting,
together with her or his assessment of appropriate monetary policy—including a path for the federal funds rate
and its longer-run value—and assumptions about other factors likely to affect economic outcomes."
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcprojtabl20251210.htm

"In support of its goals and in light of the shift in the balance of risks, the Committee decided
to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3-1/2 to 3‑3/4 percent.
In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate,
the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."
"Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair;
Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Susan M. Collins; Lisa D. Cook; Philip N. Jefferson; Alberto G. Musalem;
and Christopher J. Waller. Voting against this action were Stephen I. Miran, who preferred to lower
the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/2 percentage point at this meeting;
and Austan D. Goolsbee and Jeffrey R. Schmid, who preferred no change to the target range
for the federal funds rate at this meeting."
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20251210a.htm

Howdy folks,
I've been following the GSR for years now and I'm in the camp that it's skewed. Why? Various and sundry reasons. Here is a brief history.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080316/historical-guide-goldsilver-ratio.asp
Right now it's at 68 to 1. Recently it was over 100 to 1. Historically, until they went to fiat currencies, it was 15 to 1. Now, they talk about using it in your investing in PMs in the article, but I don't care for their method of going long on one and shorting the other. You're guessing the direction it's going to move AND you're shorting one of the PMs. Sketchy at best. More simple is to buy both metals in the same percentage as the ratio. If it's 100 to 1, you buy 100 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold. When it reverts to the mean and drops back to, let's say, 60 to 1, you buy 60 and 1, but your existing stack of silver from the previous purchase is worth much more. This approach works great with a DCA approach to acquiring a stash.
Of note, silver just broke thru $61 an ounce before falling back slightly. For the record, I bought my first roll of American Silver Eagles for a total of $85 including S&H when silver was around $4. As I write, a roll is around $1400 not including S&H. And BTW, I was still buying last week.
The issue with silver is the lack of supply in the face of enormous industrial demand. All solar, EVs, electronics, military technology, photography, medicine creates a huge demand that is not going away. Supply is drastically restricted because over 70% of mined silver is a by-product of other base metal mining (i.e. lead, zinc, copper). Oh, and try to bring a new silver mine online in the near term.
Pretty basic stuff, boys and girls.
and so it goes,
peace,
rono

"As of last night, 500 Index (VFIAX) has gained 17.7% this calendar year.
That’s on the heels of returning 26.2% in 2023 and 25.0% in 2024.
Even if 2025’s return doesn’t crack the 20% line, there’s no denying that 500 Index shareholders
have enjoyed a terrific run—compounding at a 22.9% annual pace."
"The chart below shows 500 Index’s rolling three-year annualized returns (based on calendar years).
If 2025 ends around the 22.9% mark, this three-year window would land well above the fund’s 12.2%
long-term average—ranking as the fifth-best three-year stretch since the index fund’s 1976 inception.
The only better periods? The late-1990s tech bubble and 2019–2021."
https://www.independentvanguardadviser.com/weekly-brief-three-great-years-now-keep-expectations-in-check/

I've got no expectations to pass through here again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URyqGD99Owg

Purchased in taxable acct:
CUSIP # 3130B3A60 Federal Home Loan Banks 4.05 yield; YTW - 3.942
Callable 10/27@100
Maturity 10.1.29

Well, trump didn't get his 25% "taste".
No worries, trump will pardon them all.

It is how the index is constructed that indirectly spills over the exposure to China and Russia. Companies these days do business globally. Microsoft, for example, is likely to have over sizable business outside of the states. Yet, it is in S&P 500 index. So what’s new?

From Markets A.M. newsletter by Aaron Back.
On this day in 1906, Grace Murray Hopper (née Grace Brewster Murray) was born in New York City.
She later served in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of rear admiral,
and invented the COBOL computer language.
She also coined the term “bug” for an electronic glitch when, in 1945, she opened a malfunctioning computer
and captured a moth inside that had caused electrical relays to fail.

Vanguard's 2025 final year-end distributions estimate was published today.
https://advisors.vanguard.com/tax-center/year-end-distributions

TGT and CLX look interesting.

Yes, CLX does look interesting. Near a 52-wk low. 4.9% dividend yield. Wide moat and M* 5-star rating always piques my interest. This may be a good entry point.

Sold 300 WBD @ $28. Not waiting to see how this plays out after 165% gain YTD.

Nvidia can now sell chips (H200) to China that are/were "National Security Threats". Clearly we do not want our mortal enemies to have them.
But wait, if the government gets its beak wet (say 25%) then poof, national security threat abated!
But wait again, by playing politics with such items, China is strongly incentivized to create their own and compete with us. Possibly to Nvidia's detriment. Tight policy, for sure.