Lawsuits filed.

The media company that Donald Trump recently took public is suing its co-founders, accusing them of failing “spectacularly” to get the company off the ground and then trying to “thwart the deal.”
The lawsuit filed in Sarasota County, Florida, civil court seeks to bar Trump Media & Technology Group co-founders Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky from appointing members to the company’s board — or from owning any of its shares.
[snip]
Moss and Litinsky failed “at every turn,” Trump Media alleges of the two men, both former contestants on Trump’s former reality TV show “The Apprentice.”

Are we sure this isn't a pilot episode for a new TV show?

Just in case anyone thinks this is just a ruse to allow those two co-founders to sell their shares before the lock up period ends, No. Q is seeking to zero out (null and void) their 8.5% ownership. This is a case study on how to use the free life time secret service protection to its fullest extent.

The Week in Charts (03/29/24)
The most important charts and themes in markets, including...
00:00 Intro
01:14 Topics
01:52 Biggest Q1 Surprises
02:13 One of the Best Starts to a Year
07:51 Enormous Eight Divergence
12:57 Higher Growth, Higher Inflation, But Still 3 Cuts (Fed)
23:33 Biggest Surprise From Here?
26:13 Smooth Sailing
31:49 Signs of Froth?
43:32 Cuckoo for Cocoa
47:48 The Housing Affordability Gap
57:40 The Power of Dollar-Cost Averaging
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First, note that all of the "Preferred" CDs shown are new issues. OK, the "Quoted price" simply means that if you wanted to buy $1.00 of a particular CD the cost to you is $1.00 (100%). You will find that there are also older CDs out there, paying rates lower than newer ones.
Obviously you wouldn't buy those when you could just as easily buy one paying a better rate. So the "Quoted" (asking) price for one of those lower-paying CDs will be something less than 100%, so that the total income at maturity (YTM: Yield to Maturity) will be competitive with the higher-paying ones.
Similarly you will also find some older CDs paying more than the currently available ones. You can expect the "Quoted" to be higher than 100%. Same reasoning.
No one is interested in selling you a really small CD- the minimum is typically $1000.
The default 1-year "Preferred" list is only the tip of the iceberg-
• If you want a maturity other than the one-year default simply click on the maturity that you want- they go from 1 month to 10 years.
• If you really want to explore the CD universe use the "Visit Find CDs" link for a detailed CD search. There you can enter any parameter that you want, such as "non-callable" or a different maturity, or a minimum rate that you will accept.

I'm not sure I understand what you're visualizing, but most people probably shouldn't be fiddling with their positions all the time.
I enjoy the process of replicating a portfolio--as you described it-- because at this stage in my life I have become interested in funds with average, or better, returns, and betas below 1. I am also a fan of Sortino, Treynor, and Martin.
I wouldn't say it's different this time. But things are different than they were a few years ago. And without looking, I'm not sure the market, as defined by the 500, has been all that kind in the 21st century. So anything approaching, or exceeding, "market" performance with less beta is of interest to me for my IRA at least.
What I'm wondering about is how far this exercise can be pushed. So far I have only exercised a few funds, sectors, and portfolios; e.g. IYK looks much better than FSUTX. And here is LCORX.

Versus VDIGX.

The stock is trading at $25.75 when the transaction closing price is $27.5. Current insider shareholders already own 91% of the voting and voted in favor of the deal.
http://archive.fast-edgar.com/20240402/AJ2ZV22CZZ2RR9ZA22ZS2ZYSVU9KZZ22Z86G/d733429dex991.htm
"The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals. No other stockholder approval is required. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2025."
Current discount is less than 6.8%. If the transaction drags out for a year, not enough discount IMO, given potential litigation by minority shareholders for more consideration and given one can make nearly that much buying 1 yr BBB corporate bonds.
If you are a betting person,
What is the likelihood (assign probabilities) this transaction will close in Q2, Q3, Q4 of 2024 or never closes?
I am betting this will close no later than Q4, 2024 after minority shareholders' suits for a higher price are cleared by the courts. (I am assuming there will be litigation from minority shareholders.)
What is the likelihood any litigation by minority shareholders will actually result in a higher deal price (i.e., higher than $27.5)?
I am betting the deal price will not increase above $27.5 unless a competing bid with a higher price comes along but my probability for a competing bid is less than 20%.
@Devo?
Anyone not wishing to discuss the above in public but otherwise willing to help me out, please send me a private message. I would appreciate all opinions.

I really should be doing something else right now, but this is for all you fans of PVCMX.

Crash. At Schwab as of 30 seconds ago they have one year call protected, FDIC insured CD’s from 8 different banks paying 5%. And when the interest is paid the share price doesn’t go down. For part of your portfolio it’s a no brainer. But as others have pointed out it’s for money you will not need for the full term. Oh. The minimum purchase is generally one grand.

Brokered CDs
@Crash, brokered CDs are expensive for the banks to raise money. They have to pay brokerage platform fees to be listed (25-50 bps), and then offer competitive rates. But banks can raise deposit money through this channel quickly, without tying up their branch staff for days/weeks. Despite high costs to the banks, they find this a lucrative channel so much so that banks in trouble keep tapping this channel way past their time. The Fed knows this too, so keeps an eye on banks that top the lists of brokered CDs repeatedly. Big banks are mostly on/off those Top CD lists, or offer unusual maturities so as not to be on the top CD lists - ever wonder what's the big deal about 11-mo or 14-mo CD?
Anyway, the good news is that you as a consumer don't have to pay any extra fees for brokered CDs. Just make sure that they are FDIC insured - Fido, Schwab, etc offer only FDIC insured CDs, but small brokerages may also offer higher rate non-FDIC insured CDs (not worth the headache). You also have to get used to their fluctuating values, but they will pay 100% on maturity (principal & interest).
Keep in mind that brokered CDs aren't very liquid, so if there is even a small chance that you may need money before maturity, stick to very liquid T-Bills/Notes.

@Crash - Why not buy brokered CDs? I can easily search for and buy the highest yielding CDs at Fidelity, and I assume Schwab has similar offerings. They are all FDIC protected.

Hello!
I have looked into that prospect, just briefly. What I saw scared me away. I could of course try to find a brokered CD that's not callable. Does such a beast actually exist? At any rate, when I saw that fees are involved, for the privilege of buying one of those critters, I steered all the way around and out the other side. (I was looking in the TRP website, at that time.)
Sure, my bond funds all carry an E.R., too. I own 3. The ERs range from 0.81 down to 0.25. Better than a 2% up-front fee. Smells awfully like a front-load fund, eh? No way, Jose. That's what I recall, but my memory is hazy by now. I enjoy the steady bond fund monthly dividend payments as they arrive.

:)
Understood. As for me, no CDs. One big reason is that one of our CUs puts a severely low limit on the amount of cash you can give them in order to get that 5%.
And the other CU? ridiculously low offered rates.
Unless the bottom falls out, my chosen bond funds are working very nicely.

My friend Crash,,,, my horizon is no longer 15 years ,,,, you youngsters can afford to wait.

Yes, gotcha. I am just looking at the 5-year performance. It lands in the top 7% of category, but at +1.89%, it doesn't seem worth the trouble, eh? Of course, the Covid-put is a big piece of that picture. ...Going back FIFTEEN years, it's up by 4.2%, in the top 21 percent of category. That sounds much more worth our time. It does not own junk.

US News-listed "best Interm. Core Bond funds:
current SEC rates, per M*:
DODIX 4.06%
SCHZ 4.41
AGG 4.33
CMBS 3.98
SPAB 4.45
GBF 4.6

AT&T has said that "the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier", so hopefully anyone joining AT&T after that timeframe has not been compromised. Yet. Today. Maybe.

They had some 75 million ex customers' data breached. Why are not there rules about what ex-customer data can be retained and for how long? Why did they need to keep SS# of ex-customers when they no longer worry about those customers' credit profile? If every company keeps all customers data for ever, we are just sitting ducks for the hackers.
I think our elected politicians are the rascals that allow all these shenanigans continue.
Are the data breaches in EU and Japan as prevalent as in the US?

@yugo - The yields on my 5-year CDs are 5.0-5.1%, all non-callable. I bought them when rates peaked in 2023, so they have 4+ years left until maturity. Some of the shorter term CDs will start maturing in May, and I doubt if I’ll be able to buy new 5-years with yields that high. I may buy some federal agency bonds that are still yielding more than 5%, but they are callable. Or I might start investing in intermediate bond funds again if it looks like rates are stabilizing.

I don’t ever buy CDs with automatic rollover. When they mature, I either reinvest in CDs with the highest rates, Treasuries or short-term to intermediate bond funds. I also have set up several CD ladders extending out 5 years, with yields averaging more than 5%. If yields drop, I’ll continue to get good yields from my ladders.
Look at it this way, I don’t own or track a single bond fund that has returned 5% over the past 10 years. My CD ladders will provide me a guaranteed yield of 5%. What’s not to like about that?

Could I ask what are the yields on the the 5-year legs of your CD ladders? Are these callable?

MStar. Currently showing: 0.11 / -4.48 at 5 / 10 y for VSMIX, which is a notable improvement in just a couple of days. One might say that m-stars are moving in your favor...

Thank you for the info. I forgot they have five and ten year numbers under the risk tab. I just don't spend much time there anymore.

Down 20% today......lol
Oh, wait - maybe this is why? "...it had a net loss of $58M in 2023 on $4.1M in revenue."
When regulators inquired about Truth Social’s number of signups and users, the company pushed back, and ultimately disclosed only the signups, filings show"

So the FMV is roughly....$0 to $1?

I'd go with the lower end of that range. As I joked with the one FS broker I still have the other day, "I wouldn't touch this stock with YOUR money..."

Down 20% today......lol
Oh, wait - maybe this is why? "...it had a net loss of $58M in 2023 on $4.1M in revenue."
When regulators inquired about Truth Social’s number of signups and users, the company pushed back, and ultimately disclosed only the signups, filings show"

So the FMV is roughly....$0 to $1?