Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
The June 2025 budget recorded a surplus of over $27 billion, the first monthly surplus since 2017. Economists had expected a deficit of $41.5 billion for the month. A key factor was the surge in customs duties, which totaled roughly $27 billion for …
After a meeting in Brussels today, the EU warned it would impose countermeasures
against the punishing 30% tariffs if no agreement is reached by August 1.
We frequently have thread drift at MFO—I doubt this caused the thread to be closed.
Your last post seems fine so I don't think it led to thread closure.
Some comments in my prior posts may be to blame.
This is just a guess as I haven't received any…
The Week in Charts (07/11/25)
The most important charts and themes in markets and investing, including:
00:00 Intro
00:49 Topics
01:58 Breaking Down the Big, Beautiful Bill
11:18 The Sky's the Limit
16:13 When Do the Chickens Come Home to Roost?
19…
On another forum, a pilot with over 30 years experience flying Boeing aircraft
stated that it is impossible to knock the fuel switches into the cutoff position inadvertently.
Award-winning Causeway International Value Fund’s Sarah Ketterer is finding numerous opportunities
in Europe, as the continent undergoes an investment renaissance.
https://wealthtrack.com/european-investment-renaissance/
I'm very concerned about the potential negative consequences associated with several recent policies.
Since my portfolio allocation and investments are (mostly) satisfactory, no corresponding changes were made.
The VIX closed above 52 on 4/8/2025.
…
David Gergen seemed to be a fine gentleman.
Yesterday's PBS News Hour episode had a segment about Mr. Gergen.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/remembering-presidential-advisor-and-political-analyst-david-gergen
"If something doesn’t resonate with you, you can simply move on."
You should take your own advice to heart!
It might be best to remain silent instead of posting irrelevant, deceitful, or highly repetitious information.
Please be reasonable for a ch…
The referenced M* article examines the U.S. Dollar situation objectively.
I don't understand why certain people become so defensive when factual data is presented.
These same people will often try to be clever by cherry-picking random data
and ignor…
M* published a good article today regarding the U.S. dollar.
Key Takeaways
• After the dollar’s steepest half-year drop in decades, investors see continued declines ahead.
• Receding confidence in the dollar is driving investors to sell dollars an…
Coincidently, I just ran a portfolio backtest for several quality funds.
GQETX, SPHQ, JQUA, and QUAL were included in the backtest.
VFIAX was added as a benchmark.
Note: GQETX has a $1M minimum initial investment.
QLTY has the same portfolio mana…
Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji was a guest on The Long View podcast
recorded at the recent Morningstar Investment Conference.
This podcast was published on July 8.
https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/the-long-view/1bdada96-5893-45e1-969f-6ba3440902b3
Trump feels emboldened by recent favorable Supreme Court decisions
and passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which was one really ugly piece of legislation.
As AndyJ mentions, we have a trade surplus with Brazil.
The Brazil tariff situation exe…
Here's my understanding of the situation after reading a number of posts in the Bogleheads thread.
Only certain clients were affected when Vanguard updated cost-basis methods
for non-market orders (limit orders, stop orders, stop-limit orders) in Ja…
A poster on another forum discovered additional information
via their Profile and account settings on Vanguard's website.
For the full text, navigation on Vanguard personal website is:
Profile (at the very top) > Profile and account settings >…
@msf
Thanks for the additional info.
This change shouldn't affect investors who are using average cost,
FIFO, HIFO, or MinTax as their default cost-basis methods.
https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/taxes/cost-basis-methods-a…
Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji attended Morningstar's recent investor conference
where he reportedly stated: "Vanguard’s technology spending is paying off."
The following info is from Jeff DeMaso's IVA Weekly Brief for Wednesday, July 9.
"Ramji pointed …
The winner was announced today.
Exemplary Stewardship: Dimensional
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/announcing-winners-morningstars-2025-awards-investing-excellence
The winners were announced today.
Outstanding Equity Portfolio Manager: Will Danoff, Fidelity
Outstanding Fixed Income Portfolio Manager: Bryan Krug, Artisan Partners
Outstanding Allocation Portfolio Manager: David Giroux, T. Rowe Price
https://ww…
State and local governments hired 73,000 workers in June.
Some laid off federal government workers may have been hired
but the nonfarm payroll report lacks corresponding data.
The 'Total private' category encompasses numerous industries within 'To…
"in 2004 they released their Kiplinger 25. their top 25 mutual funds. they update it from time to time. only 1 bond fund still is in the list from 2004. none of the other 24 survived. most funds don't even last 5 years on the list. how useful is tha…
I hope we never have to experience the Stagflation of the 70s again!
Since I was a teenager then, I didn't pay too much attention to the economy.
Although I didn't own a vehicle, I do recall the gas rationing of the early 70s.
Our economic situatio…
“Trade negotiations have been chaotic since the administration hit pause on the tariffs it unveiled on April 2
in its bid to rapidly reorder the global trading system. The goal is to reduce the country’s $1.2 trillion trade deficit along with many n…
"We got a decent monthly job report today.
We created 147K jobs, the government lost more jobs, unemployment is still good at 4.1%."
Non-farm payrolls increased by 147,000 in June which was higher than the estimate of 110,000.
Government employmen…
Non-farm payrolls increased by 147,000 in June which was higher than the estimate of 110,000.
Government employment (state and local) led all categories with an increase of 73,000.
Private payrolls had the smallest gain in eight months—74,000.
Also,…
On a somewhat related note, 139 EPA employees were placed
on administrative leave after they signed a letter critical of Trump's policies.
"The letter was made public earlier this week and titled as a 'Declaration of Dissent.'
'It accused the feder…
The Week in Charts (07/04/25)
The most important charts and themes in markets and investing, including:
00:00 Intro
00:17 Topics
01:06 Strength Begets Strength
03:40 The Last 6 Months vs. The Last Decade
05:59 A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
09:53 Jo…
"Given that the letter celebrates a bill passed entirely by one party the message,
in addition to being less than transparent,,, is highly political."
Yes, this was strictly a political missive.
Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano sent th…
From the NY Times article:
"Three times in the past half-century, Republicans have enacted large tax cuts
that necessitated significant increases in federal borrowing.
Each time they insisted the cuts would drive economic growth, even claiming
tha…
During the past 45 years, Congressional Republicans were fiscally conservative
only when Democrats controlled the executive branch.
Oh, how they wailed obsessingly about fiscal rectitude!
