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.
A key expression in Moody's press release is "Without adjustments to taxation and spending".
What does "without adjustments" mean? There are two interpretations: under current law and under current policy. If you were to say this sounds like dou…
These are exceptions that prove the rule. The sovereign ceiling rule is a de facto rule, i.e. one generally followed in practice by Fitch, by Moody's and by others. The fact that S&P followed this rule uniformly in the only instance in a singl…
The sovereign ceiling rule (that corporate lenders should not have a higher credit rating than the sovereign debt) is applied by many credit rating agencies. This is a rule of thumb, not an ironclad rule, though agencies tend to apply it strictly e…
There are several different reasons why the asset-weighted fees have dropped. I wonder how much is due to funds reducing fees and how much is due to changes in investor behavior.
Investors have been moving to index funds which cost less to run. I…
(If you ask me, Queens, New York comes a lot closer to being who we are now.)
I hope Krugman's economics are more thorough than his demographics. While Queens is often cited as the most diverse county in the country, that diversity is only, pardon…
Is it normal for the POTUS to instruct a retail company (Walmart) to eat tariffs that he was responsible for?
As to FOTUS demanding companies bend to his tantrums on tariffs, pricing, and production locations
WaPo:
Trump’s view of his role was ref…
You may need to change the M* chart settings. It sometimes defaults to monthly frequency. Make sure that this is set to daily, then try it again.
Also, make sure that you have selected the data type(s) that you want. NAV or price, with or witho…
The IRA is mostly in SPAXX now,
You might consider moving that to FZDXX ($10K min in IRA), though it would only have gotten you six extra basis points YTD. Almost enough to feel stupid about :-)
Summary prospectus
Whether it's an asset allocation fund (TDF with glide path or traditional fixed target allocation fund), or a pure robo advisor, they seem to all pretty much build cookie cutter portfolios and rebalance. So I agree that:
Most buyers of robo-adviso…
As I recall, when S&P downgraded US debt, treasuries went up in price.
ISTM that investors are well aware of the national debt, the projected $2T annual deficits as far as the eye can see, and the intramural GOP squabbling over the size of t…
When I see your question @dily the first thing I take a look at (for better or worse) is the portfolio composition. The top 10 and sector composition at Fidelity and M* match pretty closely and didn't provide any pokes in the eye with a sharp stick …
If anything this kneejerk reaction is a good time to lighten up on anything you want to get rid of.
I agree that if one is going to sell off assets this might be a good time (or not :-) - I'm more of a long term investor.)
If one is looking to m…
That last line, while solid practical advice, is not quite precise.
When you submit your application, its status is "payment pending". After the CC/debit card payment clears, the government changes its status to "received". Only then is your old…
You might be able to renew your passport online. I'm in the process of doing that now and can let you know how it goes.
https://www.hellogov.com/l/passport?h1=online
The hardest part was finding a relatively clean, white, untextured wall to serv…
Now that tariffs are significantly affecting GDP, it's become a bit more important to understand just what GDP represents and how it is calculated. I posted something similar here:
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/191776/…
Sorry if this sounds too obvious, but when I log out and try to log in, after entering my email address it prompts me for a password and also provides a link: "Forgot password?"
That's supposed to email you a link to reset your password, though I'm…
That comports with what I've usually read about long term bonds. The additional yield that one gets on long term bonds doesn't adequately compensate for their amplified volatility. Long term bonds are more for traders (betting on interest rate ch…
KaiOS for me - just a flip phone. $2/year (T-Mobile legacy plan) to keep the line active, 10¢ per min or text, prepaid. I've got about $100 prepaid which should last me a lifetime.
My SO was gifted a high end iPad several years ago. The front…
During the first and last 30 minutes of trading, spreads are typically at their widest, and prices can be volatile because professional traders dominate the buying and selling of shares as they look for ways to make a buck.
(From @hank 's link)
I t…
These days, many if not most brokerages automatically reinvest ETF divs to the penny, so I don't find that to be a problem. Purchasing is another matter. It's hard to find a brokerage that will sell you fractional shares of ETFs (e.g. Schwab doe…
Relatedly --
Peter Navarro is delusional .... on CNBC: says this morning's horrible economic numbers are actually good news because if you remove the effect of tariffs "you have 3 percent growth. So we really like where we're at now."
That's the s…
Are you also rearranging the chairs? Or just standing pat.
FWIW, I rarely make changes figuring that I'm in for the long haul. I already had a good amount of foreign exposure. And for pure, blind luck, I'd raised cash at the end of last year …
"President Donald Trump, while en route to Italy for Pope Francis’ funeral, seemed to be more focused on football."
Reminiscent of one of his predecessors.
"On Nov. 15, 1969, the Vietnam Moratorium Committee staged what [was] believed to be the…
In the late 70s and early 80s, several states passed statutes and/or constitutional amendments to slow the growth of property taxes. Perhaps the most famous (infamous?) is California's Prop 13. Unlike Michigan, California allows for a "reset" of …
Hurricane season is just around the corner.
Not to worry. Remember Trump saying that "If we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases [of Covid], if any"? Works the same way with hurricanes. Cut NOAA funding, we'll stop tracking them, an…
WIth all due respect, you seem to have a bee in your bonnet regarding Schwab. I can appreciate someone liking one's financial institution (e.g. USAA) and being upset when it is bought out by another company. I've had enough of my banks bought out…
Yogi's description seems reasonable in light of Schwab's restrictions: only S&P 500 stocks (no ETFs) and market orders only (limit orders are harder to track). Further, fractional share orders are treated as ... market “not held” orders, and wi…
Like all class action suits the only ones who make money are the lawyers.
Not to worry. In case you feel that investors should instead be able to file individual claims, your wish has been granted:
If approved, Settlement Class Members will recei…
But who believes slapping huge tariffs on our friends is positive?
They weren't the last time.
The [Smoot-Hawley] tariffs upended relations with America’s northern neighbor, Canada. The outbreak of protectionism infuriated Canadians, who retaliated…
I've had my eye on Brandes funds for a long time. Though I've not been able to fit them into my portfolio without a significant reshuffling of funds (i.e. not just a simple one for one swap).
A distinguishing characteristic of Brandes is funds…
In light of the marketwatch piece cited by stillers, perhaps the question should be:
If he who can’t be named fires he who can't be fired (without cause or Supreme Court pretzel logic) ...
"Pretzel logic is an expression used to describe someone’s…
This administration also wants to dismantle FEMA and push the disaster relief responsibility to the states. Do you think Florida state can handle hurricane Katrina alone? We have witnessed how difficult to recover after Katrina even with FEMA assist…
Advocating teaching first graders how to accessorize their steaks! Just wait until the North American Vegetarian Society gets wind of this.
For educational purposes only (note blue label):
Not directly related to the subject matter of the piece but still worth noting is the update at the very bottom of the page:
(An AI summary previously at the top of this story was removed because of misquotations.)
Instead of self-censoring, maybe …
Yesterday (Sunday) Fidelity was showing Friday figures (e.g. SPAXX at 3.98%). But today Fidelity is showing the weekend figures. For example, FDRXX shows 4.05% as of April 6th. When you look at the fund page, check the "as of" date right above …
FWIW, the Fidelity page for SPAXX currently reports a 7 day yield (as of Sunday April 6) of 4.99%. But if you look at the holding in your Fidelity portfolio (this is the default fund for taxable accounts), it shows a yield of 4.98% as of Friday, A…
We were in Antartica (including several islands) just a few weeks ago. Let me tell you, those penguins are all over the place. Even in March, months after breeding season. In some areas you can hardly move without bumping into them. Why, they…
I understood. What I reproduced above was from Schwab's page showing "wrong" (i.e. stale) data. The same numbers that M* showed at the time.
I've since figured out what is happening (with careful rereading of your post). I'll add more detail l…
Could you say where on Schwab you're looking? What I see as of 9:46PM is:
https://www.schwab.com/research/mutual-funds/quotes/summary/wcpnx
NAV Change Net Expense Ratio YTD Return
$9.68 +0.02 (0.21%) 0.65% 2.90%
Quote data as of close 03/31/2025…
