ONE MORE TIME- Please use the following link to request access to the private TBO Board:

★★★   Link: TBO private board - respond to this thread to apply for access to the board    ★★★

Your request at that link may take some time to be activated. It isn't automatic- an actual human being will need to activate your request, and that may take some time since those volunteers also have a life doing other stuff.

Question - So, I go over to Market Watch and the 1st headline mentions a bond "crash". When equities "crash", they, in my lifetime, recover quite nicely. How do bonds recover? Noone is going to want to buy the losers that are in a crash when there are better bonds to invest in. It would seem to me that the current bond funds are already predestined for collapse. How is this wrong? And how does the market, itself "crash" when there are new bonds to be bought and discounted old bonds to be considered? (Yes, I am this ignorant on this subject.)

@hank, as noted by @LewisBraham article in Barron's Funds Quarterly, the some of the outflows from active funds are going into unlisted CITs, index mutual funds/OEFs and (indexed) ETFs. Among the large money managers, Price has missed 2 revolutions - indexing and ETFs. It will be forced to change its business model, or will become a boutique shop (it is too big for that now).
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/60139/barron-s-funds-quarterly-2022-q3-october-10-2022#latest

TROW is down sharply on declining AUM
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-rowe-price-group-reports-123000033.html
"T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ-GS: TROW), today reported preliminary month-end assets under management of $1.23 trillion as of September 30, 2022 (Edit: vs $1.688 trillion, 12/31/22). Preliminary net outflows for the third quarter of 2022 were $24.6 billion, bringing preliminary year-to-date net outflows to $44.6 billion....."

This seems to be a little different than 2012. According to Morningstar, Vanguard switched the benchmark index " on 22 index funds and exchange-traded funds in 2012."
In contrast, VINEX is an actively managed fund. The internals (components) of the benchmark are not being used to drive the security selections. Only the performance figures are used, as, well, a benchmark. "Vanguard believes the new benchmark will improve investors’ ability to assess performance relative to peer funds."
Here's an article from 2012 describing the Vanguard move then. It is "premium content" in the Philadelphia Inquirer. But it was written by an AP writer, so it is available for free at Yahoo Finance. Now there's an idea - switching to a different provider to reduce cost. Maybe Vanguard should look into that :-)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vanguard-move-highlights-little-known-211153486.html
It is not clear whether Vanguard (or any institution) pays simply to compare performance with published benchmarks. This article illustrates the confusion. Its Inquirer headline reads: Looking at Benchmark Licensing Fees, while the AP headline (at least in Yahoo) reads: Vanguard move highlights little-known index costs.
The body of that article starts out with "Index mutual fund investors are a cost-conscious bunch." It goes on about how index funds are cutting costs.
So do the benchmark providers receive remuneration every time someone reprints their performance figures? Does the WSJ pay MSCI, S&P, and all the rest when it reports how much they moved yesterday? Do they have agreements with all the benchmark providers waiving fees? Or is this data in the public domain? I don't know, and I hadn't thought about it before.
Once again, the shift to MSCI means Korea is benchmarked differently. The old benchmark was from S&P that treats Korea as a developed country and gives it more weight in the S&P EPAC SmallCap Index. MSCI still treats Korea as an emerging market. So there's no Korea in the new MSCI EAFE Small Cap Index benchmark (as represented by SCZ).
This won't make any difference in how the fund is managed - as of last April only 1.6% of the fund's assets were invested in Korea, vs. 6.1% in the old S&P benchmark (Sept. data). It will just result in the chosen benchmark being better aligned with the actual fund portfolio.

I found this lengthy interview (with a book plug) to be fascinating and entirely relevant to today’s investing environment. Not sure about the M* paywall for non-subscribers. I definitely saw myself making the same mistakes with my trades and portfolio that he warns about. Very insightful comments on momentum, investor behavior, and costly errors. Pisani also provides info on what he himself owns and says that rarely do the talking heads on the media reveal what they own, despite what they have to say about a stock, a fund, or a strategy. If Pisani’s book reads as well as the interview, I might put it on my Christmas wish list.
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1117225/bob-pisani-everyone-talks-their-book-on-wall-street?utm_source=eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_morningdigest&utm_content=39323

Interesting.
Remember 2012? That is when Vanguard dumped MSCI as indexer for almost a couple of dozen Vanguard funds because MSCI got too greedy (after its spinoff from MS in 2007) and forgot how Vanguard had nurtured it when it was developing within MS. In 2012, Vanguard switched to then unknown CRSP (origins at U Chicago) for most of these funds and to FTSE for some. I think that Vanguard kept only 1-2 MSCI indexes after 2012.
Now it looks like that MSCI is out of Vanguard's doghouse. Took only 10 years!

MFO has established a special conference board for those who have comments or questions regarding the TBO debacle. This was done to provide a degree of privacy for your posting. To join that group, see-

Link: TBO private board - respond to this thread to apply for access to the board

...Or will they continue to get screwed?
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/10/11/biden-labour-proposal-to-shake-up-gig-economy

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1949594/000119312522260617/d351784dn2.htm
Principal Investment Strategies. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in Credit Instruments (as defined below). The Fund will opportunistically allocate its investments in Credit Instruments among (i) foundational credit, which includes private credit (direct lending and real estate debt), and liquid and less liquid credit (leveraged loans, high yield bonds and collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”)) and (ii) opportunistic credit, which include stressed and distressed investments (distressed debt, special situations, rescue financing and hung deals) and opportunistic investments (convertible bonds, preferred stock, commercial mortgage-backed securities and privately originated reverse inquiry credit solutions) (together, “Credit Instruments”). The Fund may invest in additional types of Credit Instruments and strategies in the future.

10-4.

Yes, right now Britain is in the midst of a real mess, thanks in large part to the libertarian-influenced changes introduced by Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss.
Her interest in and links to various right-wing libertarian groups has been known for years, but has not really received much attention currently.
However, a recent perspective from the New York Times takes a look at her background. Here are some excerpts, heavily edited for brevity:

LONDON — For the past decade or more, Tufton Street has been the primary command center for libertarian lobbying groups, a free-market ideological workshop cloistered quietly in the heart of power. In September, it stepped out of the shadows. The “mini-budget” presented on Sept. 23 by Kwasi Kwarteng, Britain’s finance minister and key ally of Prime Minister Liz Truss, clearly owed a debt to Tufton Street.
The plan spooked the financial markets, sent the pound crashing and forced the Bank of England to intervene to halt a run on Britain’s pension funds. It was, in economic and political terms, a disaster — something made plain on Monday when the government, in an attempt to mitigate the damage, scrapped a planned tax cut for high earners. But the package was more than folly. It was the consummation of plans designed on Tufton Street, and of an alliance with Ms. Truss stretching back years. Under her watch, Britain has become a libertarian laboratory.
In Ms. Truss, they found a friend. After a youthful dalliance with the Liberal Democrats, the new prime minister’s belief in small-state libertarian politics has been a mainstay of her political career.
Appointed head of international trade, Ms. Truss seized the chance to staff her operation with libertarians. In October 2020, just a couple of months before the start of Britain’s new life outside the European Union, Ms. Truss appointed several pro-Brexit, free-market figures to advisory bodies in her department.
This battalion of free-market thinkers has now been welcomed into 10 Downing Street. Five of the new prime minister’s closest advisers are Tufton Street alumni, including Ms. Truss’s chief economic adviser and her political secretary, and at least nine Tufton Street alumni are scattered across other major government departments.
Under Ms. Truss, once nicknamed the “human hand grenade” for her ideological obduracy, the libertarian right has detonated the British economy. The cost, for all but the richest, could be incalculable.

There's a 100% chance of babblespeak in financial "forecasting".

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/787623/000119312522260357/d256905d497.htm
TRANSAMERICA FUNDS
Transamerica High Quality Bond
Supplement to the Currently Effective Prospectus, Summary Prospectus
and Statement of Additional Information
The Board of Trustees has approved a reorganization pursuant to which the assets of Transamerica High Quality Bond (the “Target Fund”), a series of Transamerica Funds, would be acquired, and its liabilities would be assumed, by Transamerica Short-Term Bond (the “Destination Fund”), a series of Transamerica Funds, in exchange for shares of the Destination Fund. The Target Fund would then be liquidated and shares of the Destination Fund would be distributed to the Target Fund shareholders in complete liquidation of the Target Fund.
Under the reorganization, Target Fund shareholders would receive shares of the corresponding class of the Destination Fund with the same aggregate net asset value as their shares of the Target Fund. It is anticipated that no gain or loss for Federal income tax purposes would be recognized by Target Fund shareholders as a result of the reorganization.
The reorganization of the Target Fund into the Destination Fund is subject to the approval of the shareholders of the Target Fund. A proxy statement/prospectus describing the proposed reorganization was mailed to Target Fund shareholders on September 29, 2022. If the reorganization is approved by Target Fund shareholders and all other closing conditions are satisfied, the reorganization is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2022. Effective on or about December 8, 2022, the Target Fund will be closed to all investments. Prior to that date, shareholders can continue to purchase, redeem and exchange shares of the Target Fund subject to the limitations described in the Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
* * *
Investors Should Retain this Supplement for Future Reference
October 11, 2022

https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3681408-social-security-cola-increase-to-be-announced-thursday-heres-what-we-know/
8.7% increase + small decrease in MediCare. This is estimate. Actual numbers released 10/13.

@yogibearbull and @Sven: thanks for those directions. As soon as the TD site informed me my trade did not occur, it froze my bank information to the extent that I can't do anything, either re-enter the info, delete it, or add another bank. When I referred above to jumping through hoops, I meant that I despaired of trying and left it for another day. Signature guarantee? Spare me.
FWIIW, the IRS had no difficulty yesterday in accepting my tardy 3rd quarter estimated taxes debited from the same Schwab account. I missed the 9/15 deadline because we're dealing with a death in the family. I've been filling out forms for the funeral director and my patience and tolerance are at ebb tide.

Foreign central bank holdings of Treasuries at the US Fed are down sharply as the dollar has become strong (there is an inverse relationship). For foreign central banks, these are savings/reserves to be used in difficult times. They are using these dollar-funds to defend their own currencies and for other purposes. Anyway, the Fed is the first to know about this trend. Twitter LINK

I get many Bloomberg articles on Apple News ($10/month). I Google the title and find a free website where they post free articles.

Fed's Brainard: “Move with caution” on rates.
These guys all seem to be whistling from the same flute collection. Powell must be the master composer. They’re apparently in the process of shifting messaging from a fast paced Fox-trot to a slower tempo waltz. Something got their attention? Or perhaps they had preconceived notions of how far they’d let markets tumble before bringing out the stops. (Good luck guys.)
Read Story
Similar note from Fed’s Charles Evans on CNBC ‘s Squawk Box October 10:
“A little nervous about rate hikes …”
Read Story
ISTM Newton’s first law of motion might well apply here. Or to mix metaphors terribly - It’s a lot easier to start a brush fire than to put one out.