Quote of the day

David Merkel, “Value investing I do not think is tapped-out, though beating value indexes is difficult.”  (Aleph Blog)

Chart of the day

Are international stocks set for a multi-year period of outperformance?  (dshort)

Markets

Sector rotation is all over the map.  (All Star Charts)

Investor sentiment is getting elevated.  (Bespoke)

The snap back potential for the Chinese stock market.  (Market Anthropology)

Using cluster analysis to identify market trends.  (CSS Analytics)

Strategy

How well did Ben Graham’s rules play out overt time?  (Greenbackd)

Why portfolio context is important when reading about asset classes.  (Capital Spectator)

When simple models beat the experts.  (Turnkey Analyst)

On the importance of process.  (Above the Crowd)

It’s official, gurus can’t accurately predict markets.  (Rick Ferri)

On the importance of living frugally for traders.  (SMB Capital)

A Q&A with Helaine Olen author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.  (Time)

Finance

The old Morgan Stanley ($MS) is gone forever.  (Dealbook)

Warren Buffett gives his seal of approval to America’s banks.  (Bloomberg)

The Akman-Loeb battle over Herbalife ($HLF) is playing out in real-time.  (Dealbook, Deal Journal, Howard Lindzon, Pragmatic Capitalism, Dealbreaker)

Daily money market mutual fund NAVs are becoming a thing.  (FT Alphaville)

Online money manager Betterment has surpassed $100 million in assets under management.  (TechCrunch)

Report shows woman-run hedge funds outperformed in 2012.  (Dealbook)

Funds

ETP K-1s are going digital.  (IndexUniverse.com)

Is active stockpicking the future for target-date funds?  (Reuters)

Global

Central bankers are driving the global policy bus.  (Gavyn Davies)

Chinese exports point toward stronger growth.  (FT)

Coal is still king around the world.  (Economist also Quartz)

TIPS are risk-free so long as the government doesn’t change the inflation benchmark.  (Free exchange)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims continue on trend.  (Calculated Risk, Capital Spectator)

Who owns the US stock market?  (Global Macro Monitor)

The capital intensity of the US economy continues to trend lower.  (FT Alphaville)

How might a nasty flu season affect economic growth?  (Real Time Economics)

Old trucks and a rebound in the housing market will drive pickup sales.  (Bloomberg)

What the McNugget tells us about patent law.  (The Atlantic)

Higher education

Don’t get an MBA unless it is at a top school.  (The Daily Beast)

The myth of the four-year college degree.  (Time)

Tuition revenue is surprisingly falling at public universities.  (Reuters)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Revisiting portfolio simplicity as a New Year’s resolution.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Checking with the new journalism: Business Insider and Buzzfeed.  (Pando Daily, ibid)

Amazon ($AMZN) introduces Auto-Rip. How about one for books?  (TechCrunch, SplatF)

Why we need dumber TVs and smarter set top boxes.  (Quartz)

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