Quote of the day

David Merkel, “When yields are so low, it is time to avoid yield and preserve capital.  The time to seek yield is when yields are high, and no one wants to part with money to lend to them.”  (Aleph Blog)

Chart of the day

The US dollar is still in a bear market.  (Pragmatic Capitalism, Dragonfly Capital)

Markets

Market timers are bullish, just not all the confident these days.  (MarketBeat)

The week after Memorial Day has some marked seasonal tendencies.  (Quantifiable Edges)

Corporate America is awash in cash, yet dividend payout ratios are at historical lows.  (WSJ)

Where’s the ‘great bond selloff‘?  (WSJ, NYTimes)

A risk reversal in sector performance this past week.  (Dynamic Hedge)

A look at S&P 500 sector weights.  (Bespoke)

Strategy

How “magic” is the magic formula for investing?  (Empirical Finance Blog)

Research shows that options volume spikes before companies announce expected AND unexpected news.  (Barron’s)

Where are the winners hiding?  (Derek Hernquist)

Doug Kass’ favorite short is the retail sector.  (Focus on Funds)

Davidson, “Those who look for mathematical precision in markets miss its fundamental nature.”  (ValuePlays)

Funds

In defense of tracking hedge fund stock picks.  (World Beta)

What hedge fund isn’t involved with Delphi Automotive.  (market folly)

All of a sudden there is a rush of BDC ETFs.  (IndexUniverse)

Companies

What’s LinkedIn (LNKD) going to do with all their cash?  (peHUB)

What happens to the publishers if Amazon (AMZN) becomes a serious competitor?  (The Reformed Broker)

Groupon is for the moment “making words pay.”  (NYTimes)

Fracking comes to the oil patch.  What are the implications for domestic oil production?  (NYTimes)

Global

This China ETF is holding up much better than the Shanghai Composite.  (Bespoke)

Capital is flowing out of Russia.  (Breakingviews)

Economy

The state of the housing economy depends in part on which index you use.  (NYTimes)

Americans are doing a good job of curbing their demand for gasoline.  (WSJ)

Secret Fed loans were not all that secret.  (macroblog)

How government regulation of innovation is like ‘pebbles in a stream.’  (NYTimes)

How good are our estimates of health care inflation?  (Economist’s View)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Top clicks this week on Abnormal Returns.  (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Saturday longreads linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Is the technology-driven ‘education revolution‘ finally here?  (WashingtonPost)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.