I will be adding a new link titled “Sandbox” in the right hand menu.
That link will get you to this page.
I had originally set up the “Reader Initiated Alert” page for ‘alerts’. I was thinking this, for instance, might be when a preferred stock is undergoing a temporary selloff and someone wants to let the population know about it quickly. Of course we all (including me) use the ‘alert’ page for general messaging.
I am requesting that we start using the Sandbox page for all general talk, and try to preserve the ‘alerts’ page for ‘alerts’.
I have had a screen up on one of my monitors all week where I see all comments – no matter where they are posted–it is a great page and I wish everyone had a page like that–believe me we all benefit from all the knowledge being shared. I don’t want to stifle any of the exchange of knowledge, but hope to get things a bit better organized by adding the Sandbox page.
IBKR has $225k Ask at 80.393 and $5k Bid at 80.391
Not $154.xx ? Interactive Brkrs
Nevermind- I see your same post below for the S jersey bond.
Weird
Can the 5 year Treasury ever go below zero when calculating a reset?
Pretty sure some resets have wording to the effect they won’t go neg- just to zero– not sure if all have it.
And you know where that wording is????? Of course! In the prospectus….. So the answer to af’s question cannot be a blanket one. It varies issue to issue. All roads lead to the prospectus.
Even the yellow brick road …
I hold the Tin Man’s fixed-rate preferred.
2wr-
Obviously correct. I did say some, not all.
Excerpt from Torsten Slok. Reminds me of the broken window fallacy.
“Creating a Recession to Lower Long Rates Is Not a Good Idea”
“Specifically, if interest rates decline by two percentage points, the US government would save around $500 billion in annual interest payments. But if the US enters a recession, the government will have lower tax collections and pay more in unemployment benefits, and the historical deepening of the budget deficit during recessions of around 4% of GDP would correspond to an additional $1.3 trillion erosion of US government finances measured in 2025 dollars.”
How about a recession to tame inflation and bring back a little more affordability of necessities like housing? Do you think the raging inflation of the last 4 years had anything to do with the outcome of the last presidential election?
The median household income can’t afford the median home in the United States. More people are impacted by the lack of housing affordability than the price levels of the S&P 500. The stock market performed very well from 2021-2024 and the incumbent party still lost. How about a recession to give the middle class some relief?
Sequence: layoffs, recession, massive stimulation, debt increased, debt service increased, inflation risk.
Recessions are deflationary, so yeah, for a while some prices might even be lower, but at what cost? Lost jobs, bankruptcies, more debt. The pain will be felt by those who can least afford it. The Covid recession was two-tiered.
One of the best price benefits of recessions is cheaper gasoline. That’s already happened with crude trading in the low 60s and gasoline futures at $2.
Who is in the middle class anymore?
Me. I’m in the middle class.
LOL, martin. That was rather specific.
Let’s try this, focusing on working age adults. How would you define the middle class today compared to 30 or 60 years ago?
How is any of that defined? How do we determine who is “rich”? Is it by adjusted gross income? Is it by net worth? Is it adjusted based on the cost of living in the area where a person lives?
New-
You’re right. All you can do is chose criteria to measure the population and see if you learn anything useful. One of the most interesting is who owns assets, real and financial, and who doesn’t? Haves and have nots. Can a “definition” of middle class be established on this basis?
Owning a home has been a middle-class marker for decades. From the Google AI: “The current homeownership rate in the U.S. is approximately 65.7%,” and “In 2022, approximately 39.9% of U.S. homeowners owned their homes outright.” More questions: Who owns the homes? Who lives in them? What is the historical rate of home ownership? Can the owners afford to keep them?
A sign of wealth is owning income producing assets. Middle class: owns a houseboat. Upper class: owns a fleet. Lower class: owns a row boat and two paddles.
I’ve spend a lot of my life buying, repairing and renting rental units/houses and at some point I concluded that I didn’t really own anything (even when there was no debt on some). The local tax authority can levy a ridiculous tax, local government can implement new regulations (zoning or otherwise), the State can take it by eminent domain, the Fed can take it for unpaid taxes or eminent domain, etc.
I remember there was a car dealership on the main road in the town I went to high school in. It was very successful and flourishing. The State took it by eminent domain to expand the congested road and they had a very valid argument for that. They forced it’s sale and paid what was thought to be a price below market. The business moved to another part of town and it completely sank. The State did not begin the process of expanding this congested road onto the land of that formerly flourishing business for more than 25 years as the former showroom sat empty. I always thought that was a tragic waste.
The concept of ownership, in my opinion, is an illusion. We sell and buy permissions to utilize assets for a finite (but often unknown) period of time. This perception has since been foundational in all of my investments since.
Apologies if that was too philo… but this is the sandbox so…
YH, the airport authority in Las Vegas did that with thousands of homes, then didn’t expand the airport. Only one person refused to sell, thinking it would be valued later as commercial property. He also liked his location. He now owns the only home in that area
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0800708,-115.114287,3a,75y,251.3h,70.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbpui4-6zfHIxzV4L6rBDVg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D19.449357115877262%26panoid%3Dbpui4-6zfHIxzV4L6rBDVg%26yaw%3D251.30202835645494!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNC4xIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw%3D%3D
Hard to tell if that guy won or not. He won a battle for sure, but did he win the war?
I guess that is only for him to decide.
I look at the bell curve. 3m in cash or cashable assets puts you in the 98% percentile. Income is irrelevant, most jobs are for suckers, and half of all people in our country have no money. You can adjust things however you want; when you turn off the heat in the west wing to save some coin, don’t pretend you don’t know where you stand. We all know what it means: cars that run, decent accommodation, available credit, access to opportunities, choices about food, and the ability to visit the doctor. 3m in a capital account is 30 years worth of median household wages in my county. 1m is way over middle class, and any cash assets at all is probably a baseline for not being part of the working poor. Median retiree has saved 200k.
I’m muddle crass
Again, have to make a comment: gas prices are relatively the CHEAPEST thing, and the USA has that over anywhere. How are we arguing gas at $3/gal when we pay $5 for a coffee, $3.00 for McD soda etc. In places where gas is more it is not a gas price problem, it’s locale and taxes. Don’t quote NYC, LA or other gas/gallon pump price – has nothing to do with the raw gas. I always laughed when I heard gas brought up as an inflation impact – IMHO it regresses the USA inflation. I think gas is as low here in western NY as I can remember in 12 years – so zero inflation in a heavy labor, transport, processing, and liability product. Amazing.
Isn’t that what happened in the Carter years to some extent? Higher rates to stifle inflation?
Funny but I rarely hear of the USA vs. others. Housing? Cheap in USA – even now- compared to other 1st world locales, by far. Wages? higher in USA by far. Healthcare costs: Arguable, but most procedures available in USA. Only shortcoming is vaction days/work hours (hahah). All this is even true in most of Canada.
So we live better than anywhere else, and until this admin (where who knows what), were still tracking a path above others. Raging USA inflation – it was a global problem and that ripples and USA did not get hit as hard as most.
So I think we overplay/overleverage the narratives. However, that posturing is now causing a LOSS of USA lifestyle versus others, and the USA is not used to that. Why did I write this? Because I think this playbook will head the USA backwards and that crashes traditional markets. So I’ve gone safe, (but near retirement as well) sold most common shares and will take 4-7% until the current directions play out. IMHO.
Japan is meeting with the US today. Japan badly needs a tariff deal. Bloomberg speculates that Japan, a large holder of Treasuries, might be pressured to buy more (yes, more) US Treasuries. The US needs Japan here. Faith in US Treasuries as safe-haven has been shaken and alternatives like gold are being sought world-wide. Good news and tweets would not surprise me.
A contrary view on China. In spite of continuously bad US-China headline news, going right down to stories that the trade war could end up in a shooting war, (an “unlikely but not impossible” scenario posed in a 2014 book), China and the US are slowly edging closer to trade talks. The two latest Chinese demands seem easy enough to meet – tell your officials to stop dissing us in public and give us a point man to work with. Any positive news here could ignite a huge relief rally. JMO. DYODD.
For the stock indexes the possibility of good news seems to be offsetting the reality of a bad business climate. Who wants to miss out on a huge relief rally? Can’t we just go back to the way things were?
Here’s something that hasn’t changed and probably won’t: the every increasing debt and interest expense.
I have been accumulating a position in the South Jersey Indus bond, cusip 838518aa6 (it is now privately owned by JP Morgan Infrastructure fund).
I have been buying at Vanguard and they currently show the price to buy at 83.411 but there have been a lot of buys in the 80..50-80.90 for the past week. Vanguard has no explanation for the lower priced trades. My question is does anyone see them available at this lower price on a different platform? Is so please tell me where. Thanks
Schwab has trades in the $84.70 range, and the latest trade is dated 4/1
Could they be dealer to dealer purchases and not to retail?
Maybe, but the TRACE activity shows that they are customer bot and the other side of the trades shows an Inter-dealer trade
IBKR has $225k Ask at 80.393 and $5k Bid at 80.391
I have had the same problem at Schwab. It feels like dealer collusion against the retail trade. They have inventory at some ridiculous price, then you reject that and put in a limit order and get no takers. Plus, having to call the bond desk is torture. IBKR is the answer, but I really don’t want to split an IRA account just for this security. Yesterday, I called to place a limit order for SJI at the bond desk and was told it could not be done. After asking for a supervisor, the agent said it could be done. Grid used to talk about going through the bond desk and asking for a “higher power” to get a better deal. Unless someone here has figured out how to get these bonds at a good price at Schwab, it seems like a waste of time to spend on the bond desk phone.
Schwab pricing is hit or miss, but they are a million times better than fidelity for bonds not in inventory.
As an aside, I still hold a slug of south jersey. In terms of being privately owned.. I couldn’t think of a better home than IIF/JPM. See link for a pitch deck on the fund as of Dec 2023.
https://www.principal.cl/sites/default/files/2024-03/jpmorgan-IIf-flipbook-q4-2023.pdf
Schwab — for bonds not in inventory how are they better than Fidelity? And do they have a minimum purchase for those (fidelity is either 25k or 50k, can’t remember). Have accounts at both but Fidelity is my main one and am not happy.
Yes, it was offered all week at about 80.40 on IB. I bought a huge $5k position mainly because why own something where you don’t know what the financials look like?
If you don’t want to open an IB account, you’ll never see the true market for many bonds . This is not meant to be an ad for IB, which I hate with a passion for specific , unrelated reasons.
Lt I own a little, about 15k since Dec 22 at 79
To be honest that is my most long dated bond outside the ETD notes I hold.
I now have about 7% of one account in bonds with a 6.46% yield on cost and everything from B2 to Aaa heavy to Baa2 ave. 90% mature in 2029. I figured that would get me past the unknowns in the economy for the next 5 years when I started buying them.
CharlesM,
I think I need to start looking at international stuff.
Everything our pols do lately seems designed to weaken the dollar.
Much of what I have is still in long -term munis
Keep to countries that have reciprocal tax agreements (at least for now)
“ASML Orders Miss Estimates as Uncertainty Over US Tariffs Looms”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/asml-orders-miss-estimates-as-uncertainty-over-us-tariffs-looms/ar-AA1D0i5E
Even with the price dip, I still think it’s expensive. Now NVDA is seeing that 5.5B expected tariff impact which should be a reflection of demand for chips and demand for ASML machines.
Waiting for fair value on this one.
This is strange. I got an email from Schwab about a month ago informing me that this bond would be called today 4/15/2025 about 11 months early : 02006DM32
ALLY FINL INC. 6.15%26 DUE 03/15/26
It is a monthly payer and I did get the dividend today.
On my account the bond was marked “called” for 4/15/2025, until about 5 days ago, it was no longer marked as called nor was it called today. Can a company call a bond then change their mind and rescind the call ? I am wondering if it was just a Schwab mistake or ?
Anyone ever have that happen ? Glad they didn’t call it yet, but still curious.
My favorite Italian olive oil is up 50%. Now it’s personal.
Rocks, On Monday I did a little shopping while the wife is gone for a few days, I haven’t confirm this is happening at all stores, but I went to Target for shave cream and mouthwash. Normally I buy the store brand as it’s cheaper. Not a bottle or can of TGT’s could I find. As a matter of fact they didn’t even have space on the shelves for the store brands. Plenty of the major brands like Colgate and Listerine, both the same prices over $7,50 a bottle. The cheapest shave cream was my old Barbasol brand I used to pay I think $1.50 and now it’s $2,50.
Of course TGT doesn’t really make their own brands but still.
Later I went to my discount grocery store Grocery Outlet and decided I wanted some beer. It’s been warm here lately. Well I know beer isn’t good for you, but the sticker shock gave me second thoughts. Almost all the Craft beers were $10.00 a 6 pk. or 20.00 a 12.00 pack.
I picked a 12 pack of a national brand one of the few for $16.00. I doubt I will be buying more beer this summer at these prices.
After this trip to town I want to check Wally World and the big grocery chain Safeway and Dollar Tree to see if a similar thing is happening.
I was joking when I said recently we could be like Russia or Venezuela with fewer items on the shelves and our dollar worth less. But now?
CM-
$1.67/can — or compare to buying at a bar /restaurant- $4-12 ea
Those are pretty much bottom prices for craft beers in OR & NV. Even Walmart & TJ’s chgs $9.98 for Deschutes Black Butte Porter or New Belgium Voodoo Ranger IPA. TJ’s has others 10.99 to 16.99 for 4 or 6 cans.
Lucky you
easily.
Make your own. It’s not much cheaper, but it’s fun!
John, my friend just made a batch of Irish red ale. I need to stop by and sample it! I was making my own when I was 16 and living at home. My parents thought that was better than running around and partying who knew where.
For a preferred stock investing site, this is spam.
Dick, it’s in the Kitty litter box and I know it stinks!
I know you’re an intelligent investor who likes to make snide remarks. I know you can add something to this website if you want to. Any observations on TFIN and it’s $5.00 drop in price this morning?
More spam Charles M. How many posts have you made today? Have you thought about getting a pen pal?
I’m working on what I should be looking at to invest in next Dick if you look at most of my posts I am trying to Focus.
I take a break just to have some repartee with you and your comments Dick.
BTY I was serious when I asked you about TFIN nothing serious to say?
And one more comment from Charles M!
If someone were purposefully trying to destroy the utility of this site, they would do exactly what you are doing.
Me ? Please post something useful Dick and do you know what is going on with TFIN ?
I wonder how this might affect TFINP
Most successful forum sites that I know have one page/section where chatter that might otherwise be off-topic is welcome. Of course, it is Tim’s site and it is up to him whether that would be this page, some other, or none at all. I am completely satisfied with the site as is.
FreightWaves has a decent article about TFIN.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/despite-quarterly-loss-and-battered-stock-triumph-financial-stays-aggressive
“Rocks, On Monday I did a little shopping while the wife is gone for a few days, I haven’t confirm this is happening at all stores, but I went to Target for shave cream and mouthwash. Normally I buy the store brand as it’s cheaper. Not a bottle or can of TGT’s could I find. As a matter of fact they didn’t even have space on the shelves for the store brands. Plenty of the major brands like Colgate and Listerine, both the same prices over $7,50 a bottle. The cheapest shave cream was my old Barbasol brand I used to pay I think $1.50 and now it’s $2,50.
Of course TGT doesn’t really make their own brands but still.
Later I went to my discount grocery store Grocery Outlet and decided I wanted some beer. It’s been warm here lately. Well I know beer isn’t good for you, but the sticker shock gave me second thoughts. Almost all the Craft beers were $10.00 a 6 pk. or 20.00 a 12.00 pack.
I picked a 12 pack of a national brand one of the few for $16.00. I doubt I will be buying more beer this summer at these prices.
After this trip to town I want to check Wally World and the big grocery chain Safeway and Dollar Tree to see if a similar thing is happening.
I was joking when I said recently we could be like Russia or Venezuela with fewer items on the shelves and our dollar worth less. But now?”
Did you buy anything else at the grocery store Charles M? What else is on your shopping list? This is all very interesting information and many people want to know.
Thanks Mike D, at one time TFINP was discussed on this sight. I think maybe by Gridbird who was flipping it for short trades. I bought into it but as a long term hold but then got out. I think this was right after the bank crisis and a lot of bank preferred took a dump but TFINP stayed steady.
I deal a lot with freight carriers in my business and have seen a lot of them go BK in the last few years. I didn’t completely understand TFIN business model of them buying carriers and independent drivers invoices for service due and paying the drivers ahead and taking a cut to advance the payment. Not understanding something and seeing the turmoil in the trucking business made me nervous.
Things could be at even higher risk now if the shippers who owe the payment on the invoices get in trouble and delay payment or even go under due to a lot of factors with these tariffs and delays of overseas material.
Thanks again for the link.
Charles M – I live in a modest ranch house in Texas. The sun beats down on my patchy lawn most days, but I don’t mind. I’ve got my air conditioning, my recliner, and a portfolio of preferred stocks that keeps the bills paid and the fridge stocked with Shiner Bock. I’ve been investing in these things for decades—steady dividends, low volatility, just the way I like it. Lately, though, my body’s been staging a revolt, and let me tell you, it’s more awkward than a board meeting where nobody read the quarterly report.
It started with the urinary incontinence. I noticed it about six months ago when I was analyzing the latest callable preferreds from CMS Energy. I’d be sitting at my desk, hunched over my laptop, crunching yield-to-call numbers, when—wham—a sudden urge to pee would hit me like a flash crash. I’d shuffle to the bathroom, but sometimes I wouldn’t make it. One time, I left a damp spot on my khakis right in the middle of a Zoom call with my investment group. I blamed it on spilling my sweet tea, but the look on Jerry’s face said he wasn’t buying it. Now I keep a pack of adult diapers in my desk drawer, right next to my highlighters and my dog-eared copy of The Intelligent Investor. They’re not exactly stylish, but they’ve saved my recliner from a few close calls.
The diapers crinkle when I walk, which is embarrassing enough, but the real kicker is the hemorrhoids. Lord have mercy, those things are like uninvited guests at a shareholder meeting. I’ve got three of ‘em, swollen and throbbing like overpriced REITs after a rate hike. They itch something fierce, especially when I’m sitting too long, which is all the time because I’m always glued to my screens, tracking dividend payouts. I’ve tried every cream in the pharmacy—Preparation H, witch hazel, even some off-brand stuff that smelled like a tire fire. Nothing works for long. I’ve taken to sitting on a donut cushion, this bright red thing that looks like a life preserver for my backside. My neighbor, Wanda, saw it on my porch one day and asked if I was taking up pool float decorating. I just mumbled something about “investment strategy” and hightailed it inside.
The worst was last week. I was at the local diner, meeting with my buddy Carl to discuss the new preferred from Bank of New York Mellon. I’d had a big glass of iced tea—mistake number one—and I was perched on the vinyl booth seat, trying not to squirm because of my hemorrhoids. The itching was so bad I could barely focus on Carl’s spiel about floating-rate dividends. Then, out of nowhere, my bladder decided it was time to sell all positions. I clenched every muscle I had, but it was no use. A warm trickle started down my leg, right there in the diner. I grabbed a stack of napkins and shoved them under the table, pretending to wipe up a spill, but Carl’s eyebrows shot up like a stock chart on a breakout day. “You okay, Earl?” he asked, leaning forward. I nodded, face redder than a stoplight, and muttered something about needing to check my portfolio.
I waddled to the bathroom, my diaper doing its best but not quite keeping up. Once I got there, I realized the hemorrhoids had picked that moment to start bleeding. There I was, standing in a stall that smelled like Lysol and regret, trying to clean up a mess that was both front and back. I used half a roll of toilet paper, wincing as I dabbed at those angry little knots. By the time I got back to the table, Carl was finishing his pie, looking at me like I’d just confessed to shorting Berkshire Hathaway. I paid the bill and left, vowing never to show my face at that diner again.
Back home, I sank into my recliner, popped a Shiner, and pulled up my brokerage account. My preferreds were still chugging along, spitting out dividends like clockwork. There’s comfort in that, you know? The market doesn’t care about my leaky plumbing or my throbbing backside. It just keeps paying out, steady as a Texas sunrise. I’ve started researching bidets online—heard they’re a game-changer for folks like me. Maybe I’ll use next month’s dividends to buy one. Until then, I’ve got my diapers, my donut cushion, and a whole lot of grit. Life’s messy, but so long as my stocks keep paying, I’ll keep shuffling along.
Future General Business Conditions; Diffusion Index for New York
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GAFDISA066MSFRBNY
An interesting chart I haven’t seen before.
– Major lows are associated with recessions and stock bears.
– Most of the time the trend is down.
– The drop to the current low was sudden, unlike the others.
Thanks Rocks–looks like things fell off a cliff. This jives now with the GDPNow model of the St Louis Fed-
https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow
But the Economic Index from the Dallas Fed is still showing GDP growth–
https://www.dallasfed.org/research/wei
The ‘New Order’ chart looks the same- not good.
TPGXL ….. payments are interest, but now I’m reading too late, the interest is from TPG Operating, which is a Limited Partnership. So, I bought only 100 shares in a taxable brokerage account, looks like I should be getting a K1???? Anyone know? Appreciate any inspight!
Create an account here once u know if you should get a k1. Anyone who owns MLPs should know of this website and how useful it is.
https://www.taxpackagesupport.com/
But are you sure it is an mlp?
its VERY useful and often the only site where you can get K-1’s before they are mailed
Fan, According to their IR page FAQ, they send out a 1099. There is no reference to a K-1 that I can see, without contacting IR directly.
Thanks to everyone! Fan
Bloomberg just did an interview with Scott Bessent, Nothing exciting. Bessent was calm and collected. He sees no evidence of foreign dumping of Treasury bonds. (I agree – looks like the usual suspects: hedge funds surprised by margin calls unwinding their over-leveraged positions.) He is not worried about the dollar as a safe haven. He meets weekly with Jay Powell. He’s working on tax reform next. Etc.
Of interest – the location of the interview: Argentina. Supposedly to celebrate an IMF deal. Which coincidentally may squeeze China out as an Argentine lender. Bessent dropped a comment about not wanting to let China do to South America what it did to the African continent, mentioning “rapacious” Chinese taking away “mineral rights.”
Argentina is a key Ag trading partner for China. China resumed Argentine wheat purchases in December 2024. China planned for the 2025 US tariffs by greatly reducing US soy purchases over several years while increasing its Ag buys from Argentina and Brazil. (FWIW, Mexico is a large US wheat importer and Argentina is a producer. If trade wars / retaliatory tariffs expand, Mexico may need a new supplier. I haven’t bought country ETFs, but I have looked at Argentina & Brazil as trade war winners.)
Long Ag in general and CHS. IMHO, CHS remains in the spotlight. It is on a Chinese banned companies list. I’ve lost track of tariffs on Canadian crude, which is used by one of CHS refineries. Higher input costs put CHS at a competitive disadvantage. Proposed US port / docking fees on Chinese ships could increase grain shipping costs for farmers. A government bailout for farmers is expected if needed. Watching. Not panicking yet. JMO. DYODD.
Bessent on Trade Talks, Powell Future, Argentina, Dollar
Warning – YouTube has annoying ads -Skip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuNo6fhuRpk
Not worried about the dollar as a safe haven—-what else is he going to say??
Of course he’s worried. We need foreign governments and companies buying our Treasuries.
The argentine peso is in a period of stability. It was 1250 when I visited BA last year and it’s 1250 today (dolarhoy.com). There’s a piece in Spanish on that site where Milei talks about possible dollarization of the Argentine economy. I don’t see that…economy is too big for that
On another note I covered the shorts in PFF, MUB, HYG last week and went to long puts on MUB going out past the date we are likely to know the budget deal. I’m hedging against change in the muni exemption. I did the same with PFF puts. I used the profits from the shorts to buy the puts
They may not be selling them, but not buying new ones as the old ones mature accomplishes the same thing.
What the heck-
ETRADE’s quote page with div, ex date, etc:
RIV.PR.A
RIVERNORTH OPPORTUNITIES FD IN 6% PFD SER A
$23.03+0.39 (+1.72%)
Bid x Size
$21.63 x 10,000
Ask x Size
$23.40 x 68,600
*************
But- on trade page, it’s correct:
RIV.PR.A RIVERNORTH OPPORTUNITIES FD IN 6% PFD SER A
Last price x size / Exchinfo_outline
$22.69 x 100 N up0.0500up (0.22%)
Bid x size
$22.67 x 100 V
Ask x size
$22.87 x 500 Z
Volume
4.81
**************
Schwab & Fido:
$22.69 / 1 XNYS
Bid/Size 22.67 /1 IEGX
Day Range 22.69 – 23.35
Change Day Change +0.05 ( 0.22% )
Ask/Size 22.87 /5 BATS
Etrade’s quotes can’t agree internally on B/A or high / low for the day.
Fido has last at 22.99 on time and sales when the reg quote says 22.69
AND- in the search function for RIV-A, t- instead of the actual up 5¢ to 22.69, they have 22.69 extended hrs -1.24 (5.18%)- but Marketwatch.com show no
after hrs action- they do tend to show if there is any.
Confusing- if they aren’t showing an after hrs last price, but can show how much it changed.
NYC triple tax exempt (for NY residents) housing bonds AA+ long end offered through brokers 2064 at 5.45% TAX FREE
No, the bond market isn’t broken at all…..
During GFC I recall buying AAA munis at like 6% yields while UST was like at 2%. In a crisis liquidity and safety is everything and yields dont really matter..
yeah, but were they really AAA+? the GFC inflated lots of ratings – that’s what caused it, in fact, no?
If you remove health and education the amount of municipal that failed to pay is ridiculously low. I don’t think the GFC shenanigans really stepped into municipal land that much based on a few books about municipal that I read written before and after the GFC. This specific topic was not even discussed at all. Only warnings about the 2 weakest sectors of muni. Even those 2 sectors have low failed rates but obviously a wee bit higher then other sectors. Seems the ratings were reasonably accurate over the decades.
Person & His work who’s trade policy is implemented by Trump – chairman of economic advisors Stephen Miran . Video made by a couple of Canada professors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsUARktJGes
Bloomberg headlines:
“Lutnick Says Tariff Pause on Phones, Computers Is Temporary”
““NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook,’” Trump said in a social media post Sunday.”
I certainly feel on the hook. Rhetoric unchanged.
I don’t like that Lugnuts guy. What’s he hiding behind that stupid beard?
Nothing coming from the White House is honest. MM still yielding over 4% is ok with this chicken
I am with you KingCash.
Regards re weekend postings . . . Great comments / views.
read an interesting back page comment in Barrons….. “Updated Investing Playbook for the New Geopolitics ”
Snapshot bullets ….current events symptoms of new contest for global leadership ….reshuffle of global order, econ & political.
China, BRICS…..
Past distinctions between developed and emerging markets becoming blurred. …
Trade is growing faster within coalitions than between them ….
I did not come away negative on the U.S. proven historical abilities, just that the old USA vs China is not the new picture.
Author for Barrons was…..Maria Vassalou
Our I I I posters comments are good relaxed food …. w/o the minute to minute S&P 1% moves !!!
Stormy Westie with a gloomy prognostication……..
The US had world-beating returns in its stock and bond markets from 2022 to 2024.
Investors from all over the world poured money into the US, helping to prolong the bonanza.
In 2025, the reverse has been true.
US stock and bond performance trails most foreign capital markets.
Foreign investors are taking their funds back.
The dollar has weakened against the Euro, Swiss Franc, Deutschemark, and Yen.
US long-term bond yields are rising, German falling.
I’ve long held a personal view about emerging market economies.
When they enjoy strong capital inflows, their economies boom.
When the capital inflows slow, their economies are hit hard.
If investors try to repatriate funds – economic serious problems result.
Why will the US be any different?
It is clear foreign investment is leaving the US in ever-increasing amounts.
There is bound to be an impact on our investment, interest rates, and stock market liquidity.
US Credit risk spreads have jumped 140 bps in the last 40 days.
Westie is gloomy..
I still hold on my prefs and my low P/E commons, despite their growing red results. At least the div yields have higher numbers as the security prices drop.
My few buys are gold.
I am leaving maturities and increasing bond calls in Cash.
4+% returns are look pretty favorable for now.
Westie-
Speaking of capital flows, I took a good look at DXY and yen and euro futures today. Both of the latter look to have bottomed and are trending up. DXY made a 3-year low and broke support. Could be headed to 92, although who knows?
Westie be careful with gold, you could be late to the party trying to build a position. I’m not savvy when it comes to individual stocks in international markets, but there are a few bloggers over on SA like Ian Belzak? And the investment Doctor. There’s a few others but I haven’t followed them constantly. Problem with international stocks they normally pay out bi-annually.
Be good I think to find an ETF that does international currencies or inflation trades.
Thanks Charles
Totally agree on gold caution.
Started buying GLD and GDX in 23.
Added through 24.
GDX position up 37% from cost, GLD 32%.
Both substantial size.
Additions just pittances for the reasons you cite.
Am well aware of Buffett’s: “Sell when others are greedy, buy when others are fearful.”
Not ready to start selling just yet, but bet I will when I think the market has fully digested the factors I’m gloomy about.
And…. I like the hedge. When SPY and my Commons drop – almost all the time GDX and GLD rise.
Is Westie related to George Costanza?
Gary
Am I related to George Costanza?
I guess the only way you could tell for sure is to look into the size of our respective wallets.
Gary thinks you could be correct – although his might be cold and wetfrom a swim.
I figure my job as an investor is to read the room, the room being price trends in various asset classes, the narratives being floated in the press, and statements and actions by government officials. I need to be dispassionate in this effort. Markets and people are full of emotions; I don’t want to overlay mine on top of those.
I see a trade war with China. The outcome of wars is unpredictable, and therefore as a policy tool should be used as a last resort. That is not the current situation. Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were lesson enough for me that it is a mistake to believe politicians know what they’re doing when it comes to war.
Chanos is well-known.
https://x.com/RealJimChanos/status/1911048638576415097
“What’s even worse (and we all know there will be more exemptions) is the message this sends to the US small-mid businesses that have their products manufactured abroad and won’t get that same relief.”
Chanos nailed one of my concerns. My daughter consults for a small business that designs and sells small electronic gizmos. All of the manufacture and assembly is done in China with the help of a local coordinator. It’s all efficient and high quality and will never be done here. This business, along with many others, will be punished for doing what Americans do well: invent and design.
I’m glad to see the smartphone exemption because it means someone got through to Trump. However, playing favorites is just another way to create havoc in the economy. If the (illogical) logic of the exemption is to allow time for industries to move production here, then that should apply evenly. And any industry which will never move here and would be undesirable here should be exempted. I know I’m asking for too much. Small steps…
R2S……. I read a lot on the Internet plus the Wall Street Journal every day. I read story after story of small private companies (say 100 employees or less) that are getting devastated by the tariffs. If this keeps up the number of bankruptcies and closures is going to be very high. The big publicly held companies most can survive due to deep pockets and political access. Small companies are still the driver of our economy along with the individual consumer. Both are getting killed by the shallow understanding of the global economic scene by politicians and much of the general public.
I’ve been reading/viewing similar stories…about Chinese companies. Not in the WSJ of course, but from a host of different trans-border e-sellers, factory owners, and shipping logistics specialists. The US tariffs are putting a real and immediate hurting on an already fragile Chinese export economy that relies on US consumers.
The bad news for the Chinese is that the rest of the world doesn’t want a flood of their cheap products/raw materials either, so it will be up to their domestic market to absorb the excess. No good options for the Communist government it seems.
Dj
And the BDC’s……?
Rock2stocks,
I’ve been thinking about the tariff exemptions, and I’m wondering how we will react if the market sells off instead of what looks like an obvious rally scenario. I’m starting to think that’s what indeed happens. Sell bonds, sell stocks.
The technical indicators of bearishness don’t mean much, because they don’t indicate anyone is positioned for a decline. Virtually all investors are net long equities or debt…always. So, even more than bullish indicators existing while stocks rally for months or years, bearish opinions are only an indicator of a bottom or nearly so if if the majority of sellers have acted. Even Cramer is telling people to HODL (I love the BTC terms).
That’s just a few thoughts. Frankly, I am looking for a decent arbitrage and the RKT/ COOP arb spread went to $38= (11X RKT+$2)=1 COOP during the tariff collapse before dropping back to about $21.50 late last week. That’s a great example of natural selling overwhelming arbs and forcing liquidation of leveraged positions.
lt-
Just as a guess AAPL, semi stocks, and some others up sharply on Monday. SPX and NDX too. Expiry week. What I really want to know is where will the 10-year yield be at the end of the week? Are there going to be more exemptions and concessions to reality? If trade with China remains on the chopping block, then nothing has really changed.
One of my favorites on finTwit Brandon Carl said last week to watch for a call from Tim Cook to Trump. He said Cook is the best there is on supply chains. Looks like that call took place. In another tweet Carl asked what it would take to recreate the entire supply chain for iPhones in the US. It would take years and make iPhones very expensive. It will never happen.
Rocks, Thanks for the translation.
Sorry Rocks, X is a fail for me. I read and listen to enough opinions. I grew up on the 30 second commercials on the radio and TV.
I don’t need more of that nonsense.
Twitter and other social platforms just allowed the meaningless babble to become like standing next to a roaring waterfall. The amount of water rushing by creates a deafening sound that means nothing.
Come on, you have to sign up to read that and it offers you the opportunity to follow Elon Musk?!
OT – but may be of interest to non-social-media-savvy retirees here – Wired, a tech magazine, reported that Social Security was moving its official public notices from the official government website over to X aka Twitter. This made me nervous.
Social Security later issued a “This is false” denial, but — got to love this — Social Security posted its denial on X aka Twitter instead of the official government website. LOL. https://x.com/SocialSecurity/status/1910841666870653128
“Who are you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?” – Chico Marx, 1933. JMO. DYODD.
Charles-
My feed on Twitter has been curated down to a dozen of so experts that I follow. It’s informative and efficient. I get very little garbage.
Charles,
While I agree with you on Twitter, I’m told by a crypto trading firm programmer that X is the main news source. It’s sort of the FT/WSJ of the crypto world, but these guys can’t seem to accept the idea that legitimate journalists with a reputation to lose are not first reporting their findings on X .
.
AFAIK
Howard Marks. Must read.
https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/nobody-knows-yet-again
“The problem is that in the real world, and especially in economics, there are second- and third-order consequences that must be considered.
Not only are repercussions often significant, but they’re also unpredictable.”
IMO, Trump anticipated a different reaction to his initiatives from markets, the Fed, and affected countries. The fallout has been Navarro getting the boot (thank goodness) and Bessent stepping in as primary advisor. Some sanity has emerged: the 90-day delay and backing off on smart phones, etc. Now it’s possible the economy and the RoW won’t be driven off a cliff. More needed.
R2S—good article! Thanks for posting it.
Rocks, Big thanks for sharing this with us. I sincerely mean that.
The clarity of the observations and how it was presented are outstanding.
I like the comparison to Brexit and the self inflicted damage to GDP, standard of living, morale, and alliances. Very appropriate
A very astute article by Marks. However he assumes POTUS wants to act in the national interest, whereas it is obvious POTUS acts in his own interest, loves chaos and profits from it. All may profit that play this game alongside POTUS. Investors in preferred stock? Probably not.
After reading the article on my phone I came away with the emotion that the author is pessimistic about change. I can only imagine he is supremely comfortable in his 10 million dollar home with no thought of day to day expenses allowing him to pen such articles.
I need to read it again but that is my first reaction. That the status quo has been wonderful for him but I have to wonder how much time he spends with fly over country dead as a door nail main st with a dollar general left on it. I am open to ideas that make people uncomfortable just to see what happens. At least we learn something from it.
Fc, I imagine this dude Marks speaks for most people that are/were supremely comfortable. They will be the same people whining about $50 trillion debt in 5 yrs time pining for tax increases while their stashes are all safety tucked away in their tax havens.
Fc just shaking my head. No one is making anyone stay in a town with a dollar general and 3 bars. Everyone has a opportunity to go and better themselves somewhere else. Nothing Trump can do will bring back towns where the coal is gone, the oil and gas is gone or the gold mine is played out.
Your argument that Mark’s doesn’t want the status quo to change could apply to the others who don’t want to change and expect prosperity to come to them.
On Sun NBC’s Meet The Press, Navarro kept denying the exemptions- saying that there were ‘absolutely no exemptions’ to the tariffs now. He quickly went into a long spiel about chips, aluminum, copper, etc- trying to get her off her- he say ‘potato/potahto as an answer. But- he has the old mantra down pat, over & over: -“They ( the entire galaxy) have been taking advantage of the US for years- worth trillions…etc”
And he wouldn’t comment on being sidelined now. As a purported ‘moron’, he even had good things to say about Musk.
What a mess.
Everyone enjoy your weekend.
I need to get out and graft some fruit trees if its not too late already.
I have some low ball GTC bids out there and a few sell orders on some that turned out to be mistakes on my part. Buys that are more volatile then I expected and this past week proved they have more downside to go. If we have a rally next week I hope to let them go and maybe re-enter at a lower point.
The administration has decided to exempt smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives, computer processors, and memory chips from reciprocal tariffs. I may have lost track but I believe the only country still getting these tariffs is China. Good news for Apple. Does the 10% baseline tariff apply? I would think so but you have to decide for yourself.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-12/trump-exempts-phones-computers-chips-from-reciprocal-tariffs?srnd=homepage-americas
Also being floated is the idea of exempting some items from the 10% baseline tariffs.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-12/trump-floats-possible-exceptions-to-10-baseline-tariff
Good news for inflation. Investor confidence in buying our T-BIlls. Time will tell.
What I wrote a friend yesterday:
“Mkt looks like it’s expecting good news over the weekend or very soon. If not, the bear flag kicks in.”
And here it is. Someone knew…big surprise. Unfortunately, the auto tariffs are still on. What’s next?
Unless we have deflation , I don’t see how one can go wrong buying 30 yr tips at 2.70 + over inflation. They were briefly in the 2.90’s today. I’ll keep buying if they keep falling. I don’t have much yet. I think the 10 year tips got to 2.50 ish.
Perhaps I don’t understand tips as well as I think.
> Perhaps I don’t understand tips as well as I think.
Ha, I’ve been tempted to buy them too until I realize I don’t understand them well enough.
Do you have to do OID’s on Tips???
Jack,
As far as I know you are taxed currently on the increase in principal and that’s OID. I’ve only held these a few days and I hold them in my mark-to-market trading account , where the increase in market value occasioned by increasing principal balance from the inflation adjustment would get taxed as ordinary income anyway.
I really don’t get why the government want to make this so difficult
MOVE index of treasury market volatility from 2002 weekly. Like VIX
https://www.tradingview.com/x/pXmQGfrB/
I’m looking at the page for bank preferreds. Aren’t several of the Morgan Stanley preferreds incorrectly listed as floating? I was looking at MS-K. But there were several where MS determined that when LIBOR was eliminated, they would not switch to SOFR. Instead, they would remain fixed.
MS-K was among them. Also series E, F, I and M. Is there a way to report this?
Here is a link to the press release:
https://www.morganstanley.com/press-releases/replacement-rate-for-u-s–law-governed-u-s–dollar-libor-linked-
FWIW- It might be good to start thinking of RMDs and any conversions of losers that could recover after all this turmoil is over ( if conversions are something worth doing). Of course, first you have to do the RMD (taxable), then you can do conversions and pay tax on those too.
Gary, I am no tax expert but my wife wanted to do a large withdrawal for a major purchase. Just in case someone was thinking of moving a larger amount. I was at the tax accountant yesterday and mentioned it to her. She said this might show as income and raise your cost of Medicare insurance as that is based on your income.
Someone here might know and can maybe clarify that.
The monthly medicare payment can get really steep with higher incomes. They charge an IRMAA fee at higher levels. This is what I found,
The 2025 Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) will affect high-income Medicare beneficiaries. Those with income over $106,000 (for single tax filers) or $212,000 (for joint filers) will pay a monthly surcharge on top of regular Part D premiums. The IRMAA uses a sliding scale with five income brackets, capping at $500,000 for single filers and $750,000 for joint filers.
By the way, capital gains and gains on house sales also can trigger this.
Don,
Nasty nasty surprise in IRMAA is that it is a “cliff” tax. They talk about it as a sliding scale, but if you go one penny over the income limit of a bracket, you pay the whole “penalty” for that bracket. Here are the brackets:
Single____________________________ Married Filing Jointly________Part B Premium
Income $106,000 or less______________ $212,000 or less __________ $185
Above $106,000 up to $133,000 Above $212,000 up to $266,000 $259
Above $133,000 up to $167,000 Above $266,000 up to $334,000 $370
Above $167,000 up to $200,000 Above $334,000 up to $400,000 $480.90
(inserted underscores to try to get table to format better. If anyone has a better way, let us know)
Reading HHS data they put out awhile ago: In the top two Medicare brackets the taxpayer is paying for 80 and 85% of the cost of delivering Medicare.
If the taxpayer also owes NII tax , the TP is likely paying for over 100%.
So much for being on the government dole.
Charles M…… A little surprised you weren’t familiar with IRMAA. I’ve been converting my IRA to a Roth for years and have to carefully estimate how much to convert each each year to avoid paying extra for Medicare. My goal was to convert all of the IRA to a Roth by the time RMDs start, but I’m not going to make it by maybe three years. The RMD calculation is small for the first few years and I will most likely just take the small hit. If SS becomes not taxed that will increase my Roth conversion amount considerably amd I might make it sooner. Just for giggles this year I changed the SS income to one dollar in TurboTax and got quite the reduction in tax owed. Have a hard time believing they would change SS taxation by completely eliminating it. My guess is it Will be tied to income if implemented.
Coming port tariffs on Chinese made ships are not getting enough attention in the financial media. US Trade Representative got huge negative feedback about how crippling these fees(500K to $1.5 mil) would be and said it was revising them. The Jones act proved over a century the U.S. is not competitive enough in shipbuilding but this administration wants to bring shipbuilding back. I don’t know why any Chinese made ships would come to port to pick up U.S. grain with those fees. There are yet more ways the U.S. can shoot its self in the foot. Be careful with your shipping holdings or anything relies on ships delivering goods.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/exclusive-us-considers-adjusting-port-fee-plan-for-chinese-vessels-after-pushback-sources-say/ar-AA1CAaFN?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Docking fees, not tariffs.
WSJ article
https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/trump-administration-revises-port-fee-plan-to-soften-blow-to-u-s-exports-603aa923?mod=livecoverage_web
Not discussed in the news is the real possibility that because of the fees, Chinese ships might not visit the smaller ports like Portland or Tacoma which will drive up the transport cost for those regions. Not clear if the hub ports can handle the traffic. Long Beach during COVID had horrendous backups. This is just to say there will be a lot of knock on effects even if USTR reduces the fees.
h-ster, I had been looking at SEAL-PA but no more. Had held FLNG in the past but bailed on it too. Never got into CLCO for the same reason, too much NG being produced. It’s a buyers market and the can buy elsewhere not just the US. Don’t know if you noticed, but WDS sold 40% ownership in the liquidfication plant they are building in LA to same company that owns the shipping..
Things are just too unsettled to know where to invest on anything related to imports and shipping, including extending that to ship by rail and warehousing. Then secondary shipping like UPS, FEDEX, Old Dominion. Even Amazon will have a slowdown and need less drivers.
Beginning to wonder about the holiday season and all sales related to it 6 months from now. All that product has to be ordered now from overseas manufacturing. How do businesses even plan and figure sales and pricing?
WMT, TGT, COST, AMZN the strong will survive but …?
Charles- LNG in a hurricane swampland is crazy dangerous. So dangerous.
The giants will survive. AMZN survives on it’s cloud business profits. There are too many businesses(esp. small/medium) that cannot absorb these tariffs. The mental pain that small business owners must be going through right now dwarfs what I am feeling right now agonizing over treasuries. I’m sure there’s more knock on effects that are yet unknown that will hemorrhage our economy.
De minimis gets nixed May 1 so there is still time to make some last chance Christmas gifts. (I bought this intricate trout shaped stainless steel flask for my husband who is a fisherman. He said it looked laser welded. This is the most intricate stainless steel item I own. The cost- $5.50. Even with 145% tariff, it will still be a pretty good price.)
I’m posting this link for the chart of federal spending in recent years, not for McClellan’s comments. The chart speaks for itself. You can add your own interpretation and your guess as to what comes next.
https://www.mcoscillator.com/learning_center/weekly_chart/first_effects_of_doge_spending_cuts/
Rocks I read his article. Goes on to say spending cuts are not good for the economy and the market.
On another note. Heard on CBS radio yesterday with the cut in USAID 3,300 medical workers are not getting paid fighting the current outbreak of Ebola in Africa The US air doctor in charge was fired. The last outbreak in the US was 2014. 2 out of 11 people died. Almost a 20% death rate. A larger outbreak would overwhelm medical services.
Where is the EU and where is China in fighting Ebola? Per Chat GPT “As of April 2025, specific figures on the number of medical workers actively combating the current Ebola outbreak in Africa are not publicly available.” Per Gemini, “Over 2000 health workers were trained during the previous Sudan virus outbreak in Uganda (ended in January 2023)” . It is a world problem. How many medical workers are fighting Ebola in Africa, and how many of these are paid by us?
The outbreak is minor right now and we were just throwing money at it. All I am saying is AI isn’t perfect. We need to double check our facts.
Hopefully we are prepared if the problem grows bigger.
McLellan is a master of finding correlation and then making up causation. This chart is an example of that. The causation he cites has multiple errors.
To begin with, Congress does not print money and increasing federal spending does not increase the amount of money. What increasing federal spending does is take money that would have otherwise gone toward private investment and consumption and instead use it in the government. It doesn’t take an economics PhD to realize that under most circumstances, this does not lead to higher growth.
Landlord, I was thinking about increased government borrowing that leads to spending the money borrowed. Right now the federal government has increased spending on military. A lot of private sector jobs created and a lot of private sector companies are benefiting from that government spending. This in turn leads to the trickle down affect of the private sector spending their dollars benefiting other companies and jobs.
But not everyone wants to be in manufacturing even if there is the opportunity as Scott Bessent suggested we fire the paper pushers and they will fill these jobs.
This is a complicated puzzle that I don’t have any answers for. But I enjoy a civil conversation with you and others on here.
Ten-year treasury yield to 5%? Printing 4.5% today.
https://www.tradingview.com/x/7hfFatVd/
Stock indexes acting as if there’s a bull case. I don’t see it without human intervention, as just happened.
Rocks, Just sitting back and watching today. No popcorn, I am saving room for a fish fry the St Michael’s order of the Italian Catholic federation is putting on this afternoon at a local church.
My bet is people are selling, not wanting to hold through the weekend. It’s amazing watching the index’s change from red to green and back so quickly.
The buyers are thinking they are getting a deal but the sellers come right back. My two cents is we end the day down.
Wouldn’t be surprised we see 3,300 on gold today or Monday.
The 1970s. A time where the OPEC monopoly forced prices higher and higher, driving inflation up. The economy went into a recession, and the earnings per share for companies fell, driving the stock market lower. A simultaneous recession with inflation.
The 2020’s. A time where tariff mandates forced prices and inflation higher. The economy headed into a recession, and the earnings per share likely to fall, driving the stock market lower. We are on an express train headed for simultaneous inflation with a recession. Perhaps, the savings grace is no price spiral if we stop here and other countries stop as China just did.
This is not the best of times.
The verbiage for Washington in the 1970s was something to the effect that Americans need to adjust to a new world and we will be better off in the future. The verbiage in 2025 is that there will be a transition cost, but things will be better in the future.
We will all believe what we want to believe. I will argue with nobody’s beliefs. or views.
Steve, In 2021 I waited 6 months to get my F150 due to the parts shortage. Maybe they will go back to making a pickup truck without all the bells and whistles to cut costs and move them out the door. I don’t even use half of what is on the dashboard or steering wheel.
Charles,
I just traded in my 2009 Chevy Silverado 1500 4×4. I loved that truck only had 75,000 miles on it, but I knew what every knob or button on the dash did.
Now with my new truck driving is a distraction due to so many buttons and knobs and options. The turn signals no longer make any clicking sound, so I sometimes drive for miles with them on after a y turn. There might be a volume option for the turn signals, but I can’t find it.
Jaberstein, You need to have your wife riding co-pilot so she can remind you to turn them off. The joke of why do you always see 3 old ladies in a car. One to look ahead and one to look left and right.
Seriously, bit of advice. My truck has less than 13,000 miles on it because I like driving my 2004 Ranger. With all the electronics you have to drive at least 60 or 80 miles every 3 or 4 days or you run the battery down letting it sit.
A lot of the electronics are still on even with the truck turned off and just sitting there and they drain the battery. The electronics can start acting up with low battery power.
I was told to drive it more or put it on a trickle charger or upgrade and get a marine battery.
Charles,
Not sure I would use a marine battery, but at least make sure you have an absorbed glass-mat (AGM) battery. They cost a bit more, but are well worth it. definitely help with electronic “vampire” drain.
I still drive my almost 20 year old F-150. Still doing fine. Ford replaced the engine in it (long block) about 5 years ago. It has been in a couple minor accidents (other people’s fault) in the last 5 years so it has lots of new(-ish) panels/doors and looks pretty good.
I have a solar panel charger/controller one of my friends made me years ago. I put it on my truck when I will be gone for a few weeks to keep the battery up. saves running cords out to the truck.
When I am going to be gone for more than a few weeks, I also have one of my buddies come drive my truck around for a day just to keep the fluids/lubricants moving. I do the same with my 1993 pickup I keep in AZ/NM, and my 1973 I keep in Northern Utah (I still own every pickup I ever bought). Nice to have a truck in place when I fly in and have to go into rough country.
I am not looking forward to buying a new pickup. Too much now runs on touch screens/multi-function controls. I like being able to adjust/engage things by touch without having to take my eyes off the road to at a screen for many seconds to navigate screens.
No joke.
I had a 2006 Colorado that had a CD player. 121K miles.
Made it 18 years in VT weather before the frame had holes that would not pass inspection.
Upgraded to a used 2021 Tacoma. I’ll have to admit, replacing the CD player with the back up camera is nice.
PN, I try to force myself to keep using the mirrors and not rely on all those electronics. They are nice but expensive to repair and don’t work that well in fog or rain. It is nice having this tech in parking lots though when a careless driver zips around behind you.
Oh, that is another reason I like my 2004 is the CD player. Don’t believe the reviews on Amazon on CD players that say they work with the Bluetooth in your vehicle. They don’t.