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.
There are 4 FOMC meetings left in 2025 - July, September, October, December. Market expectations are for 2 cuts - September & December according to CME FedWatch. That's a total cut of -0.50% (not anywhere close to -3%). July FOMC may have a spli…
@Charles, a government-issued digital-dollar (with implied guarantees from Uncle Sam) would be seen by the crypto industry as conflicting with lucrative and profitable private-issue stablecoin operations.
You can see this in FDIC-insured money-ma…
@Derf, you have to wait for what may come.
After all, there are gold-ATMs in Asia and the Middle East. There are some in the US too,
https://goldatm.com/locations/
Can crypto-ATMs be behind?
Actually, there are many already. Find US crypto-ATMs h…
@WABAC, if you look at Tether quotes for ALL times at CNBC, Tether got badly un-tethered in 2014, but has been quite stable around 1.00 since 2020.
Unfortunately, some other stablecoins didn't fare as well in the unregulated environment and many p…
@lynnbolin2021, that is a good angle.
For many in Asia, Africa, Middle East, and elsewhere, where there are many restrictions on currencies, and holding dollar (or other hard-currency assets) is almost impossible, suddenly, there are dollar-asset-…
One concern had been about:
"Prioritizing stablecoin holders in insolvency: In bankruptcy, holders of permitted payment stablecoins have priority over other claims regarding reserve assets."
A casual reading may mean that if a bank is involved wit…
Under the GENIUS Act that is the 1st US crypto law, stablecoins will require backing with collateral - T-Bills/Notes, CDs, etc. That would support their dollar pegs, which would still be on a best-efforts basis. So, if the stablecoin sponsor goes ba…
When the amount of claim is not much above the policy deduction, it's pointless to file the claim.
BUT don't call the insurer to ask whether to file a claim. A friend did just that and was told that would be recorded as an insurance "incident" whe…
I have seen reports that there is one Executive Order coming to allow private-equity in 401k and another to just call soccer football (may be the other could be called American football).
AAIB report mentions that the investigative team does include an aviation psychologist.
Air India has countered media reports of medical leaves by Sr Captain Sabharwal (56 yr old) - he took some leave when his mother passed away in 2022 and also to…
Wiki has head spinning adventures / misadventures of Westinghouse. The name still exists in several venues.
And more than just making some radios, it started RCA (originally, the Radio Corporation of America) that was the hot in-stock of its era.
W…
For whoever follows Powell, hopefully after 05/2026 for the sake of markets, impossible expectations are being setup for -3% immediate rate cut. My concern is that someone may take the job with -3% cut promise that may be impossible to deliver throu…
Westinghouse makes nuclear power reactors that are far from nuclear weapons (typically shortened as "nukes"). The sentiment for nuclear power has changed in the US too and more large or small SMRs will be built. However, many more are being built ov…
It could be a temporary issue between Citi/C and Fiserv/FI.
My Bill Pay (& I have 2) don't even ask for mailing addresses for credit card companies, only the card#, so they won't even know what mailing addresses are in my card statements.
Fo…
Good look overall.
The 3-line Menu Bar looks better than previous 2-line Menu Bar.
Lot of good stuff is within ANALYTICS. The 3rd Menu line seems to highlight 3 items within ANALYTICS - FLOW, AVERAGES, FAMILIES.
However, a quick look showed that:…
From pg 6 of the AAIB report,
"The scrutiny of maintenance records revealed that the throttle control module was replaced on VT-ANB in 2019 and 2023. However, the reason for the replacement was not linked to the fuel control switch. There has been …
There is clearly more information than has been released by India AAIB (US NTSB, UK AAIB, Boeing and GE are also participating).
1. There is almost 26 minutes of cockpit audio (even video?) from the time the flight left the gate and it crashed. Onl…
See the AAIB report in links below.
https://aaib.gov.in/What's New Assets/Preliminary Report VT-ANB.pdf
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/3e6e572bb0cd57e7/8d66090a-full.pdf
It only says that engine fuel switches suddenly and simul…
My online/ACH Bill Pays for Citi Card are still going through. The Bill Pay doesn't even ask for address for a credit card setup. So, if an electronic link fails/denied, I don't know which address it will use.
But I will start monitoring Citi Card p…
@Vegomatic, do you have some link?
Most of Vanguard's equity ETFs have been passive and those do require daily disclosures. Why would that be an issue for indexed ETFs?
On the other hand, active equity ETFs are newer and daily disclosures had been …
When you pay something by eChecks, the only info needed is bank routing# and bank account# - but nothing else (PIN or password).
Anyone with your check on hand has that info.
Of course, they don't know the balance, so if they are greedy, they may us…
My online/ACH Bill Pays for Citi Card are still going through. The Bill Pay doesn't even ask for address for a credit card setup. So, if an electronic link fails/denied, I don't know which address it will use.
But I will start monitoring Citi Card p…
June 26 was Thursday. May be the package didn't leave shipper until after that weekend. Then, there was July 4th Holiday. Give it a few more days.
Have you signed up for USPS informed delivery?
I can see each morning what mail is coming. Some don'…
Many investors who won't touch margin or options are OK with +/- 2x ETFs (even worse, the ETNs). These bring leverage to folks who may not be approved for margin or options. And even if approved, those carry huge risks.
Remember, there is a saying …
@lynnbolin2021, I am fine with informed decisions. Many bought TIPS funds without knowing the intricacies and then complained when they didn't perform as they expected during credit crunches.
Morningstar recommends all funds all the time - that wa…
Quarterly stats (Averages) ending June 2025 don't load on Chrome or Edge. I assume that it may be because they aren't loaded yet. Please let me know if otherwise.
Edit/Add. I will update this link ASAP https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/disc…
TIPS have features that are realized only when held to maturity. They pay inflation-adjusted principal at maturity. So, when held to maturity, they deliver CPI plus tiny base interest. TIPS ladders can be effective.
Funds may be wrong vehicles for …
Actually, it's a bit different. In the past, techs rarely paid dividends, but tech dividends are more common now.
Keep in mind that when a company gets into some trouble, it cuts or eliminates dividends first. If more trouble, the preferred dividen…
After the recent rebalance, SCHD has become overweighted in energy (top sector at 19.4% vs only 3% for SP500), so I sold it, but may get back to it in future.
@hank, no but people could trade stocks with 5% margin equity then. Pump-&-dump probably comes from that era - buildup excitement to create a rush to buy, then pull the rug to wipeout overleveraged people.
What if?
First, keep in mind that there is no dedicated/separate fund for Social Security.
FICAs go into the general Treasury account, and there is a system to track these Treasury IOUs - the so-called SSA trust fund.
So, that IOU will be exhaust…
Great comments by @msf.
TIAA has been changing with times. It has expanding into corporate 401ks, and as @msf mentioned, opened previously restricted TIAA IRA to all - TIAA Traditional (SVs), private real estate T-REA (not to be confused with REITs…
I use Google Authenticator for many sites - Google, Login.gov (Social Security), social-media.
I continue to use Symantec VIP Access for Schwab and 2FA for several sites.
