The federal government will be providing free N95 masks early next month in a way that IMHO makes more sense than the way it is providing free test kits.
Instead of N per residence address, regardless of number of people, three masks per person will be provided.
While one will still have to venture outside to get those masks, they will be available at local pharmacies much as vaccines are.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/n95-masks-biden-administration-covid-19/index.html

Howdy folks,
So typically government. How many years ago did they auction off the spectrum? Duh.
That said, I favor 5G over the airlines. It's more important. Sorry, but we've morphed from transportation to communication. Think about it. It's a continuum. Albeit moving goods and moving busses of data.
I also don't believe the airlines. They're not having issues overseas AND these are the peeps who lied to us for what? 10? 15? years over cellphones in planes.
Nah, roll it out completely. It's more important.
and so it goes,
peace and wear the damn mask,
rono

CTFAX Only down 2.18% YTD Good or bad for a fund with 10% in equities ?
Enjoying the ride, Derf

Perfect:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/tech/airlines-5g-flights-canceled-explainer/index.html

19th January, 2022: -0.11% today. But worse than that, YTD, about -2.7%. Not too bad. Curious to see what sort of monthly divs I'll get from my bonds at the end of the month. At mid-month, PTIAX unusually paid a mere 2 cents per share. That's way out of the ordinary. My others: PRSNX. RPSIX. PRFRX. TUHYX.

my small-cap is my smallest fund-holding these days. so volatile. no thanks, not anymore. PRDSX. TRP. Quant fund. Down -10.98% YTD.

@hank
>> How many employees have wasted their company match 401 K money by “borrowing” against it in their working years or taking highly speculative market risks with it?
so ... what's the answer? do go on.

The Russell 2000 recently dropped to a 12-month low but it still isn't cheap.
The S&P 600 fared better during this time (and long-term) due to additional criteria applied for index inclusion.
I was never a fan of the Russell 2000 because it tends to include more unprofitable companies.
Also, front-running the index before its annual reconstitution is not uncommon.
Article
StockCharts

+1

Jason Zweig, WSJ
THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
"What the Hell, It Is Going Up Anyway"
"My column last weekend, How a Flood of Money Swamped Cathie Wood's ARK, looked at how the billions that poured into the ARK funds might have impaired their returns.
That's an old story, of course. Money has always chased past performance.
Imagine a $100 million fund. It puts $5 million, or 5% of its assets, into a stock that has a total market value of $100 million. If it doubles, the fund gains 10%.
Now say the fund has grown to $10 billion. If it puts $5 million into a stock, that’s only 0.05% of the fund’s assets. Such a teeny holding will have to go up 200-fold to contribute 10% to your return. If the manager wants to make a big bet, it takes $500 million now to put 5% of the fund into one stock -- larger than the entire market value of many smaller companies.
You aren't the same person now as when you were a little kid. Why would you expect a fund to be?
Yet all too many people do. No wonder they buy high and sell low: They are extrapolating an unsustainable past."
So Cathie Woods bought into Tesla and the stock went ballistic putting ARKK on an unsustainable trajectory. So I know, lets attack her credibility, her investing acumen and methods, her personal beliefs, whatever we can think of including shorting her fund. We do that with all the fund managers when we lose our ass chasing performance don't we? It's good to be king. Wasn't ever our own personal faults or bad investing decisions. Too bad you can't close an ETF like you can a mutual fund. At least I don't think you can.

CTFAX, Columbia Thermostat Fund, should have adjusted/increased equities as follows:

Should be up to 25% equities, from 10%.
Rick

@Rick, I don't follow. Your link takes me to the same allocation table they've had on the site since last May, showing the same 10-90 allocation, and that it would take an S&P 500 below 3600 to get them up to 25% equity.
Is there a new table somewhere? If there is, I can't find it on their site.

T. Rowe Price was the second largest holder of DKNG as of the end of September (behind Vanguard) https://www.holdingschannel.com/institutional/holders-of-dkng/
-
Interesting snippet on Wood’s troubles https://seekingalpha.com/news/3788991-cathie-woods-arkk-closes-at-an-18-month-low-as-all-its-holdings-end-negatively
“Cathie Wood's troubles continue as ARKK experienced its most significant one day of capital outflows in 10-months last week, totaling $352M.”

It wouldn't surprise me if many of the investors who recently exited ARKK got in near the top.
Those investors would not have profited from the fund's spectacular 2017 or 2020 gains.

T. Rowe Price was the second largest holder of DKNG as of the end of September (behind Vanguard) https://www.holdingschannel.com/institutional/holders-of-dkng/
-
Interesting snippet on Wood’s troubles https://seekingalpha.com/news/3788991-cathie-woods-arkk-closes-at-an-18-month-low-as-all-its-holdings-end-negatively
“Cathie Wood's troubles continue as ARKK experienced its most significant one day of capital outflows in 10-months last week, totaling $352M.”

Sure: https://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sports-betting-skyrocketed-pandemic-experts-warn-ticking-time-bomb-n1266518

Yes, no load and no fee at Schwab. I just made an order. 1.42 ER is a higher than I like, but Smead has proved to me to be a manger worth the fee and a good investment. We shall see if the domestic success transfers to international as well.

We are inundated here in SE MI by TV ads for several online sports books. All of them appear to offer “risk free” wagers to the newcomer. The fine print at the end of the ad gives a phone number for those who have a problem with gambling.

Let’s not get moralistic here. How many employees have wasted their company match 401 K money by “borrowing” against it in their working years or taking highly speculative market risks with it? Any of us can login to our accounts and make any number of risky plays 24 / 7. We just don’t call it gambling. Unfortunately, there’s no cure for stupidity.

Here’s 7 High Risk Funds You Can Buy (Click arrows to scroll L - R)
Sorry your days are being disturbed by those ads Ben. I don’t like them either. Michigan is getting to be a challenging place to live. Between the nuts plotting to kidnap our governor and the stoned drivers I frequently need to dodge while driving (because the state’s legalized pot) - YIKES
ARTICLE: Online Gambling Tax Revenue in Michigan Far Exceeds 6-Month Predictions
“After just six months of legal online gambling in Michigan, tax revenues have already exceeded the initial industry predictions, with the state taking in almost $90 million so far in 2021, nearly doubling what some experts had first expected.”
“ Most of the online gambling tax revenue will go to help finance the Michigan School Aid Fund which covers the per-pupil foundation allowance, special education, at-risk programs, school lunch and breakfast, vocational education, and many other costly aspects of public education.
“Also benefitting from these online gambling tax revenues is a fund for state firefighters afflicted with a certain type of cancer as well as a state fund through the Department of Health and Human Services meant for compulsive bettors whose gambling has gone beyond recreational.”

And the roughly 27 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, who receive Medicare coverage through private insurers, must check with their carriers if they will pick up the tab
IOW, for these private insurers, nothing¹ has changed. Before Jan 15, they like all private insurers could voluntarily pick up the tab², but didn't. And after Jan 14, they could still pick up the tab, but don't. At least I haven't found one that does. So far, I've checked Humana, UnitedHealthcare, and Aetna.
¹ Technically there was a change even for these insurers: their exposure after Jan 14th could be limited to $12/test should they voluntarily add coverage.
² "Insurers can, but are not required to, reimburse enrollees for OTC COVID-19 tests purchased prior to January 15."
Source for both footnotes: HealthAffairs.org. Excellent article with links to government releases.
Covid-19 has been a bonanza for health care providers. That's why the $12 cap was imposed. Testing labs are not subject to caps. By not covering home tests, the government (original Medicare, Medicaid) and private insurers (Medicare Advantage) wind up more likely to be gouged. Penny wise and pound foolish.
Consumer Reports: "U.S. rules allow labs to charge whatever they want for tests"
https://www.consumerreports.org/covid-19/how-much-should-it-cost-to-get-tested-for-covid-19-a1011758904/

It's probably not fair... but... I've been watching PRBLX closely and even appreciate the Parnassus sell sheet showing the volatility being less than SPY during market corrections.
YTD:
FXAIX -3.91
PRBLX -4.34
Not fair in that its just a snippet of time...and perhaps we are not in correction territory for anything other than Nasdaq but... still watching the fund on the sidelines.

+1

CTFAX, Columbia Thermostat Fund, should have adjusted/increased equities as follows:

Should be up to 25% equities, from 10%.
Rick