Paul Krugman this morning:
When an Arsonist Poses as a Firefighter
Tariffs: What the hell just happened?

Thanks for the question @Mark.
In February I became disenchanted with one large core holding, an etf “fund-of-funds”, and decided to create my own fund of funds. The idea was to construct a basket of CEFs which would replace the 17% core position of the etf I’d sold. Started with 9 CEFs. Over time added more CEFs - and a few stocks - to the basket. Today’s sale of RIO & FLO takes me completely out of stocks. The basket now has 13 CEFs plus 1 etf (which invests in CEFs). Over time I’ve increased the weight of the basket to 25% of portfolio.
There’s not much management needed. For $4.99 a month Fido allows you to create baskets of most securities (except OEFs). You set the weights within the basket. I use equal weights (about 7% each). You can initiate an auto-rebalance at any time. The necessary sells and buys are executed in seconds. You can also add a sum or withdraw a sum and the system will automatically do the trading according to your pre-set weights.
Later edited for brevity

In my 14 component CEF basket:
- Sold RIO after a roughly 15% gain in about 8 weeks
- Sold FLO after a roughly 15% loss in about 8 weeks
- Added MCN
- Added HEQ
Took the ”Hegseth Pledge” (Never again touch a drink stock)

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1217286/000119312525117329/d807905d497.htm
497 1 d807905d497.htm JPMORGAN TRUST I
J.P. MORGAN INCOME FUNDS
JPMorgan Total Return Fund
(the “Fund”)
(All Share Classes)
(a series of JPMorgan Trust I)
Supplement dated May 12, 2025 to the current Summary Prospectuses,
Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information, as supplemented
NOTICE OF LIQUIDATION OF THE JPMORGAN TOTAL RETURN FUND. The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of JPMorgan Trust I has approved the liquidation and dissolution of the Fund on or about July 29, 2025 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective immediately, in connection with the liquidation and dissolution, the Fund may depart from its stated investment objective and strategies as it increases its cash holdings in preparation for its liquidation. On the Liquidation Date (for settlement the date after the Liquidation Date), the Fund shall distribute pro rata to its shareholders of record all of the assets of the Fund in complete cancellation and redemption of all of the outstanding shares of beneficial interest, except for any proceeds from any securities that cannot be liquidated on the Liquidation Date, cash, bank deposits or cash equivalents in an estimated amount necessary to (i) discharge any unpaid liabilities and obligations of the Fund on the Fund’s books on the Liquidation Date, including, but not limited to, income dividends and capital gains distributions, if any, payable through the Liquidation Date, and (ii) pay such contingent liabilities as the officers of the Fund deem appropriate subject to ratification by the Board. Income dividends and capital gain distributions, if any, may be paid on or prior to the Liquidation Date. Effective June 1, 2025, Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees on Fund shares will be waived.
Effective immediately, the Fund’s adviser and/or its affiliates have agreed to voluntarily waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses other than certain money market fund fees as described below, dividend and interest expenses related to short sales, interest, taxes, expenses related to litigation and potential litigation, expenses related to trustee elections, and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.41%, 1.06%, 0.31%, 0.91%, 0.21% and 0.16% of Class A, Class C, Class I, Class R2, Class R5 and Class R6 Shares, respectively.
These waivers will be in effect through the liquidation of the Fund. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, affiliated money market fund fees and expenses resulting from the Fund’s investment of cash received from securities lending borrowers are not included in Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses and therefore, the above waivers do not apply to such investments.
If you have a Fund direct IRA account, your shares will be exchanged for Morgan Shares of the JPMorgan U.S. Government Money Market Fund unless you provide alternative direction prior to the Liquidation Date. For all other IRA accounts, the proceeds will be invested based upon guidelines of the applicable Plan administrator. Upon liquidation, shareholders may purchase any class of another J.P. Morgan Fund for which they are eligible with the proceeds of the liquidating distribution. Shareholders will be permitted to use their proceeds from the liquidation to purchase Class A Shares of another J.P. Morgan Fund at net asset value within 90 days of the liquidating distribution, provided that they remain eligible to purchase Class A Shares. If shareholders of Class C Shares purchase Class C Shares of another J.P. Morgan Fund within 90 days of the liquidating distribution, no contingent deferred sales charge will be imposed on those new Class C Shares. At the time of the purchase you must inform your Financial Intermediary or the J.P. Morgan Funds that the proceeds are from the Fund.
PURCHASES OF FUND SHARES FROM NEW SHAREHOLDERS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED ON OR AFTER MAY 19, 2025.
PURCHASES OF ADDITIONAL SHARES FROM EXISTING SHAREHOLDERS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED ON OR AFTER JULY 22, 2025, EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT PLANS AND AUTOMATIC PURCHASES.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT WITH THE SUMMARY
PROSPECTUSES, PROSPECTUSES AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
SUP-TR-LIQ-525

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1217286/000119312525117321/d905719d497.htm
497 1 d905719d497.htm JPMORGAN TRUST I
J.P. MORGAN INCOME FUNDS
JPMorgan Unconstrained Debt Fund
(the “Fund”)
(a series of JPMorgan Trust I)
(All Share Classes)
Supplement dated May 12, 2025
to the current Summary Prospectuses, Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information, as supplemented
At a meeting held on May 8, 2025, the Board of Trustees of JPMorgan Trust I (the “Board”) approved the Reorganization (as defined below) of the JPMorgan Unconstrained Debt Fund into a newly created exchange-traded fund (“ETF”), which will continue to be managed by J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. (“JPMIM”). The Board, including all of the Trustees who are not “interested persons” (as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)) of the Fund, determined that participation in the Reorganization is in the best interests of the Fund and the interests of existing shareholders of the Fund will not be diluted as a result of the Reorganization.
The Fund will be reorganized into an ETF through the reorganization of the Fund into JPMorgan Flexible Debt ETF, a newly-created ETF (the “Acquiring Fund”), which is a series of J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust. Following the Reorganization, the Fund will be liquidated (such reorganization and liquidation, the “Reorganization”). The table below sets forth the Acquiring Fund and the anticipated schedule for the Reorganization...

American levies on Chinese goods will drop from at least 145% to a base levy of 30% for an initial period of 90 days, while Chinese levies are set to fall from at least 125% to 10% on American goods.
The talks were led on the Chinese side by Vice Premier He Lifeng and on the U.S. side by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

https://npr.org/2025/05/12/nx-s1-5395027/us-china-tariffs-deal-trade-war-beijing-washington
There is details to work out, and there were lesson should be learned from 2020.

The U.S. says it is now negotiating for China to purchase more American goods, a throwback to a trade deal the Trump administration negotiated with China during another trade war in 2020. However, China ended up purchasing none of the additional $200 billion in goods that the U.S. said they would.

Future market is up strongly on Monday, May 12th.
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

You can renew online if you meet all these requirements:
The passport you are renewing is or was valid for 10 years, and you are age 25 or older. 
The passport you are renewing is either expiring within one year or has expired less than five years ago.
You are not changing your name, sex, date of birth, or place of birth.
You are not traveling for at least 6 weeks from the date you will submit your application. We will only offer routine service, and the time it takes to get a passport will be the same as renewing by mail.
You are applying for a regular (tourist) passport. You cannot renew a special issuance (diplomatic, official, service) passport online.
You live in the United States (either state or territory). You do not qualify to renew online if
you live in a foreign country or have an Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), or Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) address.
You have your passport with you, and it is not damaged or mutilated, and you have not reported it as lost or stolen. Keep your most recent passport and do not mail it to us. 
You can pay for your passport using a credit or debit card.
You can upload a digital passport photo.
You are aware that we will cancel the passport you are renewing after you submit your application. You cannot use it for international travel.

The Long View podcast titled ‘Be Very Wary of Illiquid Asset Classes’ features an interesting discussion
with Daniel Rasmussen, a hedge fund portfolio manager at Verdad Advisers.
Mr. Rasmussen believes Private Equity is the single biggest mistake that investors are making in markets today.
He states that Private Credit offers significantly higher yields due to much greater default risk (no "free lunch").
The section pertaining to Private Equity and Private Credit begins at the 30:31 mark.
The entire podcast is worth listening to if you have the time...
https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/the-long-view/9d04f752-4aea-4500-add5-af409f7129c4

US Officials Say Deal Struck To Cut China Trade Deficit
I can't wait to hear about the "substantial progress" from the "productive talks" with Chinese officials!
"U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday
they reached a deal with China to cut the U.S. trade deficit, describing 'substantial progress'
in high-stakes talks with Chinese officials but offering no details as two days of negotiations
concluded in Geneva."
"Bessent told reporters that details would be announced on Monday and that U.S. President Donald Trump
was fully aware of the results of the 'productive talks' with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng
and two Chinese vice ministers."
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-china-talks-defuse-trade-row-resume-geneva-2025-05-11/

Thank you, @fred495

From ICI Fact Book, 2025, Ch 5 - CEF

curious if anyone has already estimated total return to date for [prcfx-prwcx]
a. in 2025
b. since 2024 election

YTD PRWCX +0.81%, PRCFX +1.05%
From 11/5/24, PRWCX +1.05%, PRCFX +1.42%
PRCFX inception was 11/29/23. Since then, PRWCX +18.87%, PRCFX +11.40%

curious if anyone has already estimated total return to date for [prcfx-prwcx]
a. in 2025
b. since 2024 election

every 1-on-1 negotiation meeting exists to serve corruption and publicity, so there is only the highly predictable left to say after some ~100 new EOs on trade :
[trump] told reporters he would look at specific industry requests for exemptions.
But preferred to keep the duties broader and less complicated.
"I want to make it nice and simple. I'm not looking to have so many exemptions that nobody knows what we're doing. We have to make it very simple."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-not-willing-cut-u-054533015.html

If you are receiving SOCIAL SECURITY, be aware of several changes - WEP/GPO repeal, overdue student loans, fixes for SSA mistakes, online vs phone vs in-person services.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/11/social-security-changes-to-monitor-under-new-agency-leadership.html

Read more about ICI viewpoint here, https://www.ici.org/news-release/25-private-markets-accessible
ICI's argument is that private-equity markets are sufficiently developed now, so the regulators don't have to put gates that practically allow only institutions and wealthy to participate.
If you are a holder of Fido or other active growth funds, your fund likely has exposure to Private-equity.
So, the question is, should the gates be removed or just lowered for retail investors?

ICI Fact Book, 2025
New 2025 ICI Factbook is available. Both full PDF (long) & separate chapter PDFs are available; downloadable Excel files for each chapter are also available.
#ICI #MutualFunds #OEFs #ETFs #CEFs #TDFs #529s #401k #403b #IRAs
Fact Book Website www.icifactbook.org/

FUNDS. There is a push by the fund trade association ICI to expand access to PRIVATE-MARKETS. Several firms are also pushing in this area. Private-market AUM now is $25 trillion vs $4 trillion in 2013. Many companies are remaining private for longer and several are unicorns already. Private-market remains the domain of institutions, pension funds and accredited-investors; access is through financial advisors. There are only a handful of listed funds, interval-funds and nontraded funds. But the fund industry wants retail customers. In particular, ICI wants the 15% cap on alternatives raised for retail CEFs, inclusion of some private-market options in 401k/403b, and other changes.
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/810/weekly-business-digest-12-2025