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Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

This article was written by

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

From inside a federal prison cell, disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is making a bid for a White House lifeline.

Speaking exclusively to FOX Business correspondent Susan Li, the convicted FTX founder said he “absolutely” wants a presidential pardon, while declining to say whether his family is currently lobbying the administration on his behalf.

“I assume that you would want a pardon from the White House?” Li asked Bankman-Fried over the phone.

“Absolutely,” he responded. “It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.”

JAMIE DIMON CALLS COINBASE C.E.O. ‘FULL OF S–T,’ VOWS TO FIGHT CRYPTO-FRIENDLY BILL IN CONGRESS

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried spoke to FOX Business from prison, saying he’d “absolutely” be interested in a pardon from President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

“But have, say, your parents or anyone that you’ve been in contact with at all?” Li asked. 

“I can’t speak for them,” Bankman-Fried said.

In March 2024, the former crypto king was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud and five counts of conspiracy following the collapse of his crypto empire FTX in November 2022. The court also found that FTX customers lost $8 billion, FTX’s equity investors lost $1.7 billion, and lenders to the Alameda Research hedge fund Bankman-Fried founded lost $1.3 billion.

Despite his conviction, Bankman-Fried continued to argue that his prosecution was unjust, pointing to the fact that bankruptcy payouts have increased due in part to the recovery in cryptocurrency markets.

“I didn’t steal user funds either,” he told Li. “Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits. It’s one of the very few cases where the platform was over-collateralized, where customers were more than made whole. And yet there was, you know, not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution. And, you know, dozens of years of sentence[s].”

“I can only tell you what I think and, you know, ultimately, customers have been repaid again nearly twice what they had on the platform,” Bankman-Fried said, “and it’s a great disservice to them that it has taken three years.”

Bankman-Fried also said he regrets missing out on the artificial intelligence boom and praised Elon Musk’s business acumen.

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When asked about his fear of missing out, Bankman-Fried said: “It’s a concern I have. You know, there’s a lot that I did try and position, you know, obviously as a platform towards the future, but my venture fund as well, and to try and play a role in that. I’d certainly much rather be, you know, able to help that out from the outside than in here where there’s very little I can do.”

“I think SpaceX has extremely large potential,” he said. “There are some parallels here where… frankly, there are very few companies that are well positioned to play a large role in the space industry. It’s one of those very few companies and I foresee it having an extremely large amount of upside, you know, even from where it is today, let alone where it was when we invested. And, you know, very few people have been able to grow companies like Elon has.”

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When I think about TCW Flexible Income ETF (FLXR) I think about an income-oriented fund that can concretely stimulate the expected return function of the bond component of a portfolio without excessively raising the risk function.

And it does so with a portfolio that for almost 50% cannot be covered by classic bond ETFs. This makes it interesting, but from a certain point of view, also difficult to interpret.

Intro and Definition

The fund is domiciled in the TCW ETF Trust and is an active multi-sector fixed income ETF classified as Multisector Bond born in 2018 as a mutual fund, then converted into an ETF and listed on the NYSE on June 24, 2024 with today an AUM exceeding $3.2 billion. It moves with a primary objective of obtaining a high level of current income and as a secondary objective, long-term capital appreciation. To calibrate on results, the declared benchmark is the classic Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index; this is used as a reference for comparative metrics, but the fund systematically invests outside the index universe.

The expense ratio is not negligible for a bond ETF: it is 0.40%, decisively higher than fully passive aggregate solutions, to which a 0.05% average bid-ask spread is added. To put it in perspective, compared to BND there are overall 37 bps of cost spread; that is not nothing.

Not by chance does it have a 30-Day SEC Yield of 5.63% and a yield-to-worst of 6.75% distributed monthly, with a risk profile that, however, structurally leans toward IG/securitized. Of course, the yield will change relative to various interest rate environments in the future.

The fund qualifies as a Regulated Investment Company (RIC) under U.S. regulations, avoiding taxation at the corporate level on the condition of timely distributing income. For this reason, distributions are taxed as ordinary income or long-term capital gains.

How Is FLXR Built?

It has 1,624 securities as of March 31, 2026 with a turnover of 295%. No single position exceeds 1% of the portfolio, with the exception of some positions in MBS and Treasuries that by structural nature can be more concentrated. The granularity of the portfolio is extreme: with 1,624 lines, the idiosyncratic risk on a single issuer is almost zeroed out. The implication is that drawdowns do not derive from credit events on individual issuers but from systemic spread or rate movements across entire segments.

The table reveals the true architecture of the portfolio: FLXR is fundamentally a securitized + credit fund with almost zero government exposure (0.85% vs. 46.81% of the index). Specifically, the underweight on Government bonds of almost 46% is the most radical structural choice of the fund and explains why its behavior is structurally different from any traditional bond ETF. At the rating level, there is a tilt toward AA and BBB (or lower, especially BB and B).

The result? An Effective Duration of 3.03 years, an Average Maturity of 6.19 years, and a negative convexity of 0.38. At least these are the figures that emerged from my reworking of the shared data.

What Does FLXR Do?

Its shorter duration (3.03 years) results in lower sensitivity to rate movements compared to the benchmark. At the same time, it must be said that the negative convexity (-0.38) is not usual for aggregate bond portfolios, which pairs well with a core portfolio of positive convexity on the traditional aggregate bond segment. So it interfaces well in a diversified portfolio while still operating in the American bond market, but with a clear deliberate preference for those segments that large passive indices ignore. Not by chance, FLXR invests over 48% in hard-to-access segments, such as non-government-guaranteed securitized mortgages (Non-Agency MBS), asset-backed securities like residential rentals and data centers (ABS), securitized commercial real estate (CMBS), high-yield corporate bonds, emerging markets.

The management team works on two simultaneous levels: how much rate risk to take on, which bond sectors offer the best risk-adjusted return at any given moment, and how much to hold of riskier bonds versus safer ones.

At the operational level, it selects individual securities, enters positions gradually.

How? The approach is explicitly opportunistic and counter-cyclical: the team tends to increase exposure to riskier segments precisely when the market is selling them.

Who Is FLXR For?

This process produces a quite respectable monthly dividend in the speculative bond landscape. The current annualized yield (30-day SEC Yield) is 5.63%, with a Yield-to-Worst of 6.75%.

For comparison, pure investment-grade bond funds yield today around 4-4.6%, while pure high-yield funds reach 6.5-7% but with almost double the volatility compared to FLXR. And it is therefore clear that it presents itself as a fund targeting the investor looking for a distributed income stream.

But be careful; it is not a pure defensive instrument. Rather, it’s an instrument that would almost seem to adapt as a bond satellite in a diversified portfolio, with the specific function of generating high and stable monthly income with a deliberately contained sensitivity to interest rates (duration 3 years, almost half of the broad bond market). To take stock of the situation, FLXR seems built for an investor who wants a high and steady monthly income, is willing to accept an underlying complexity that cannot be directly controlled, and has an investment horizon of at least 2-3 years that allows them to navigate any phases of volatility without having to liquidate the position at the worst moments.

Peer Comparison

We are therefore in the macro-category of supplementary funds for a core component, and there are some managers that are standing out quite a bit. Personally, I would include the active managers of the iShares Flexible Income Active ETF (BINC), the JPMorgan Income ETF (JPIE), and the Angel Oak Income ETF (CARY).

BINC is exposed to similar segments, both active multi-sector with exposures to MBS, ABS, CMBS, and HY. Then it must be said that BINC has different weights in sectoral allocations, with less emphasis on the Non-Agency MBS segment. JPIE instead is another active manager that tries to cover, albeit partially and more tilted toward quality ratings, the segment of FLXR. And I would put CARY on the same level. It is curious to note how since launch, FLXR has been able to maintain a competitive total return, albeit with spreads not so marked compared to peers.

For a more specific comparison, it can make sense here to take a look at the ETF grades from Seeking Alpha, which, in my opinion, clearly show the differences between the ETFs. In this sense, FLXR has greater momentum, which clearly plays in favor of the active management and “market timing” we have seen. And working on “discounts” leads to lower returns (distributions), especially in a rising rate environment. Even though the spread between yields is not so marked, FLXR has a TTM yield of 5.83% per SA, while the competitor with the highest yield is CARY with 5.94%. We are talking about a few basis points.

Risks

About 37.96% of the portfolio is sub-investment grade (BB 21.96% + B 13.67% + CCC 2.33%). Credit risk is therefore not marginal: in a recession scenario with widening HY spreads, this component will suffer losses that may not be offset by the stability of Agency MBS. It must be said, though, that the Non-Agency MBS component (19.82%), CMBS (11.42%), and non-traditional ABS include assets with limited secondary liquidity. In systemic stress environments, the liquidity of these instruments dries up quickly. And the full recession test has not yet occurred during the ETF’s life as an ETF. So it is not easy to define a concrete risk dimension, even though for SA the risk grade remains A with an annualized volatility of just 2.25%.

Pros and Cons

There are therefore clearly positive elements that cannot be ignored:

1. Yield at the competitive risk/return meeting point of the bond market: From what the data seems to show, it captures a good portion of HY yield without concentrating all the risk on sub-IG bonds
2. Genuine diversification across 8 bond macro-categories: 1,624 holdings, no position >1% (except some MBS/Treasuries), 8 sectors simultaneously represented
3. Structural access to the “invisible 48%” of the U.S. bond market: The Bloomberg Agg covers 52% of the market; FLXR systematically invests in the other 48% (non-traditional ABS, Non-Agency MBS, CMBS SASB, CLO)
4. Short duration protects in high or rising rate environments, little price oscillation, and monthly distributed and competitive yields.

Naturally, there are also negative elements that we cannot brush past lightly:

1. ETF track record too short to validate the strategy in extreme scenarios
2. To this is added a liquidity risk in illiquid securitized assets, an underestimated tail risk
3. Then it is quite expensive: Expense ratio 0.40% + a portfolio turnover of 295% means implicit transaction costs (bid-ask spread on illiquid bonds, market impact) are not captured in the expense ratio and not quantified in any official material

This article answers three questions about FLXR:

1. How does FLXR select its securities?
2. What impacts FLXR’s performance?
3. Where can FLXR fit in a portfolio?

Editor’s note: This article is intended to provide a general overview of the ETF for educational purposes only and, unlike other articles on Seeking Alpha, does not offer an investment opinion about the ETF.

Catch was launched in September last year by a former elite teen swimmer

A swim coaching app developed by a former British elite teen swimmer and her “maths whizz” partner has developed a global following less than a year after launching

Catch was established by aquathlon World Championship gold medallist Rebecca Wetten and her boyfriend, Will, last year to help people improve technique and boost endurance.

Wetten, who started swimming competitively at the age of nine and went on to represent Great Britain, was inspired to launch the business to help people “find the high” in swimming.

The app now has thousands of users from across the UK and further afield, including the USA and Australia, and is already turning a profit, according to its founders.

But the road to success has not been easy for Wetten, who told our sister site Bristol Live that she spent “years being abused and bullied” by one of her swimming coaches while growing up.

The Cambridge graduate, now 33, moved to Bristol three years ago after stints in London and Sweden, where she rediscovered her love of the sport after a decade away from the pool.

“In Sweden people have this really joyful relationship with exercise, particularly in those summer months when you’ve got longer days and you’ve got some decent weather,” she told Bristol Live.

“Eventually, a colleague convinced me to join a triathlon relay team. I did the open water swim leg and wondered why I’d spent all that time indoors ploughing up and down a crowded box when I could’ve been swimming out in nature.”

After moving to Bristol and finding it difficult to find a group of wild swimmers who wanted to enter competitions, she decided to establish one herself.

She managed to form a group of about 25 people and started writing Google Docs with instructions for free, linking to YouTube videos and giving structured sessions.

“People showed quite a surprising amount of progress considering how much I just pulled this thing together and it was very basic,” she said.

As demand increased, Wetten found meeting in person “logistically challenging” and so she asked her partner to create an app to help adults with swim training.

The business, which launched in September, is completely self-funded by the pair and its growth has been organic, too.

“I’m actually way more invested in other people swimming now than my own,” she said. “We’re focusing on adults because again, it’s just the most neglected category within swimming.”

After gaining thousands of users in a matter of months, Catch is now looking towards its first raise.

“Hopefully off the back of that we’ll be able to boost our growth,” she said. “What’s amazing for us is that we can make rapid progress on our product without needing to pull enormous investment.

“We’re basically doubling down on the UK this year and then we’re targeting our top seven countries that we feel suit our product really well, such as Germany and the US.

“We’re really hoping to build this really good sense of community here in the UK. And then next year is all about making it as good as it can possibly be and then, hopefully, going global.”

Wetten says if she could speak to her teenage self she would tell her that her hard work isn’t “all for nothing”.

“One day, you’ll co-found a business that changes people’s relationships with this sport all around the world,” she added. “You’ll find joy in the water again and you’ll help others find it too.”

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Nelly Korda captured her first U.S. Women’s Open title on Sunday, delivering a clutch birdie on the 17th hole and a nervy par save on the final green to edge out challengers and secure a one-stroke victory at Riviera Country Club.

The world No. 1 finished at 8-under 276 after a final-round 69, holding off England’s Charley Hull and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, who both posted 7-under totals of 277. South Korea’s Chun In-Gee finished alone in fourth at 6-under 278.

Korda’s victory marks her fourth major championship and second of 2026, following her win at the Chevron Championship in April. The 27-year-old American has now firmly established herself as the dominant force in women’s golf, adding the prestigious U.S. Open to her growing list of accomplishments.

“This week was definitely a grind,” Korda said afterward. “I don’t even feel like I had my B game. I was just grinding out there. And that’s what I guess major championships are all about, right? It doesn’t matter if you have your B or C game, you have to be there mentally. I think I just did a really good job of staying patient and making those up and downs and then knowing that when I had that little window I was going to be aggressive.”

The final round at Riviera, which will host golf at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, unfolded under windy conditions that tested even the strongest players. Korda started the day tied for the lead but faced repeated pressure as Hull, Lopez and Chun mounted challenges.

Korda appeared to seize control with a nine-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, moving one stroke clear. On the 18th, her par putt from just inside three feet circled the cup before dropping, sealing the victory in dramatic fashion.

“I feel like I’m in a dream. I just can’t even explain how much this means to me,” a tearful Korda said at the trophy presentation.

Hull mounted a strong charge, firing a 4-under 67 that included an eagle on the first hole and several key birdies. She birdied the 17th to stay within one but ultimately finished as runner-up for the fifth time in a major championship.

“It’s just frustrating,” Hull said. “It’s pretty annoying, but I played really well the last day.”

Lopez signed for a 3-under 68 to share second place, while Chun, the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion, posted a 1-under 70 after squandering an earlier lead with late bogeys.

Korda’s path to victory was far from straightforward. She has described her relationship with the U.S. Women’s Open as “complicated,” having missed the cut more often here than at any other major. This year, she opened with a 2-over 73 but steadily improved, positioning herself for contention entering the weekend.

Her mental resilience shone through on Sunday. Despite not having her best ball-striking, Korda scrambled effectively and capitalized on key opportunities. The win further cements her status as the LPGA’s premier player and adds to an already impressive resume that includes multiple LPGA Tour victories and Olympic experience.

The victory also highlights the depth of the women’s game. Hull and Lopez pushed Korda to the limit, demonstrating the competitive balance at the top of the LPGA. Chun’s experience as a former champion kept her in the mix until late mistakes.

Riviera Country Club, traditionally a PGA Tour venue, proved a stern test for the women’s field. Its tight fairways, strategic bunkering and challenging greens rewarded precision and course management over raw power. The Pacific Palisades layout, with its ocean breezes and dramatic elevation changes, created classic major championship drama.

Korda’s season has been one of consistency and excellence. Her Chevron Championship win in April marked a strong start, and this U.S. Open triumph reinforces her as the player to beat in every event she enters. Her ability to win on different courses and under varying conditions underscores her all-around game.

For the LPGA, Korda’s success brings valuable mainstream attention. Her poised demeanor and competitive excellence make her an ideal ambassador for the tour as it continues growing its global footprint.

Looking ahead, Korda will be a heavy favorite at upcoming majors, including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Evian Championship. Her growing major tally puts her on a trajectory that could see her challenge some of the all-time greats in women’s golf.

The final round also showcased the depth of international talent. Players from England, Mexico, South Korea and elsewhere competed at the highest level, reflecting the LPGA’s diverse and global nature.

As Korda celebrated with family and her caddie, the moment represented years of hard work and dedication. Her ability to stay patient through a difficult week and deliver when it mattered most exemplified the mental toughness required at the highest level of the game.

The U.S. Women’s Open, one of golf’s most prestigious championships, once again delivered compelling drama and a worthy champion. Korda’s victory at Riviera will be remembered as a signature moment in her career and a highlight of the 2026 LPGA season.

For Hull, the runner-up finish adds to a growing list of near-misses in majors, yet her strong play suggests she remains a major threat in future events. Lopez’s performance further cements her as a consistent contender on the biggest stages.

As the LPGA moves forward, Korda’s dominance sets a high bar. Her combination of skill, composure and marketability strengthens the tour’s appeal to new audiences and sponsors alike.

The victory also carries personal significance for Korda, who has spoken openly about the challenges of performing at an elite level while managing expectations. This win at one of golf’s toughest tests validates her approach and cements her place among the game’s current greats.

With the golf world now turning its attention to the next major, all eyes will remain on Korda as she seeks to build on this momentum. For now, she can savor a hard-earned victory at Riviera that adds another chapter to her remarkable career.

Legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s latest business venture is hitting the beverage shelves in a market expected to reach $11 billion by 2030. 

Brady, as part of his latest partnership expansion with Gopuff, announced the launch of Good Nut, a premium line of organic coconut water, on Monday. 

With consumers conscious of seeking less processed, lower-sugar beverages today, the market for coconut water continues to rise. Gopuff, the instant commerce leader, identified that customers were buying coconut water, with sales surging at 115% year-over-year on its platform. 

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Tom Brady has launched Good Nut on Monday, a premium coconut water in collaboration with Gopuff, the instant commerce leader.  (Good Nut/Gopuff / Fox News)

As a result, Brady and Gopuff are capitalizing on the shift. 

“Gopuff has a unique ability to understand what consumers want and get great products into their hands in minutes,” Brady said in an exclusive statement to Fox Business. “We had a great experience working together on GOAT Gummies, and that trust made it easy to team up again on Good Nut. From product development to launch, we’ve been aligned on creating something Gopuff customers would actually want to drink.”

TOM BRADY JOINS GOPUFF, INSTANT COMMERCE LEADER, IN MULTIYEAR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP 

Brady has always been one to think about everything that goes into his body, making coconut water something he aligned with quickly. In fact, the idea began because chocolate coconut water is a staple in the Brady household with himself and his kids. 

“It’s something I’ve enjoyed for years, and hydration has always been an important part of my routine, during my playing career and still today,” he said.

“Hydration has always been a big part of my routine, and while coconut water has been a staple for me, I knew we could take it to a completely different level by teaming up with Gopuff. With Good Nut, we focused on keeping the ingredients simple and clean, making sure it’s exactly what I’d want in my own fridge.”

Good Nut comes in three different flavor variations with Tom Brady’s launch — original, chocolate and sparkling. (Good Nut/Gopuff / Fox News)

Good Nut uses organic Vietnamese coconuts, delivering a clean, refreshing hydration experience in its 11.8-ounce can. And it also comes in three variations – original, chocolate and sparkling. 

“We quickly realized there was an opportunity to shake up the category with a product that tastes incredible, uses great ingredients, and has a bold brand that gets people talking,” Tyler Stewart, head of marketing at Gopuff, said in a statement. “Blending premium products with brands that are playful, unexpected, and don’t take themselves too seriously has become a huge part of how we build together with Tom. 

“Whether it’s GOAT Gummies, our lobbying campaign with Super Monday Off, or now Good Nut, we’re always trying to give our customers and fans more of what they want, and of course entertain them a little along the way.”

As Brady said in a statement to Fox Business, “One of the most rewarding parts of this chapter of my life has been building brands from the ground up.” Brady already worked with Gopuff on GOAT Gummies, an organic, vegan snack brand crafted in France that contains no artificial sweeteners, dyes, or flavors, while being made with real fruit. 

Now, Brady continues his brand-building post-playing career with yet another health-conscious consumer product.

Tom Brady and Gopuff collaborated on his latest brand-building with Good Nut, a premium coconut water to deliver elite-level hydration.  (Good Nut/Gopuff / Fox News)

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“With Good Nut, we wanted to create something fun that people would genuinely enjoy. It’s been exciting to bring that vision to life,” he said. 

Good Nut is available exclusively on Gopuff at $3.29 per can, with discounted pricing of $2.96 per can for FAM members on the platform.

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