Quote of the day
Phil Birnbaum, “You gain more by not being stupid than you do by being smart. Smart gets neutralized by other smart people. Stupid does not.” (Slate)
Chart of the day
When a cartel goes bust. (MoneyBeat)
Markets
Equity market sentiment is reaching extremes. (The Short Side of Long)
News flash: bond fund returns can go negative year-over-year. (research puzzle pix)
The stocks with the highest short interest ratios have been a house of pain for short sellers. (Avondale Asset)
Forward S&P 500 earnings are at a record high. (Dr. Ed’s Blog)
Where did all the T-bills go? (Sober Look)
Strategy
A discussion with Ben Inker on asset class returns. (Morningstar)
Beware ‘narrative risk.’ This time the emerging markets. (Capital Spectator)
You can’t mine return factors without some risk of underperformance. (Systematic Relative Strength)
The opportunity in Central Securities ($CET). (Morningstar)
Companies
The potash cartel is no more. (Bloomberg, Globe and Mail)
A look at the performance of Apple ($AAPL) retail stores. (Asymco)
Investors cannot get enough biotech. (FT)
Finance
Banks, and the broader finance sector, are poised to once again be the S&P 500 sector heavyweight. (Bloomberg via TRB)
A new trading platform hopes to sidestep the entire issue of high frequency trading. (WSJ)
Hedge funds
What is the right size for the hedge fund industry? (The Fiscal Times)
Big hedge funds are looking to hire managers who are finding it tough to start their own funds. (MoneyBeat)
Why Wall Street wants SAC Capital to live on. (MoneyBeat)
Funds
Does your fund company have a coherent narrative? (The Reformed Broker)
Self-indexing just got easier. (IndexUniverse)
Global
China should beware the skyscraper curse. (Bloomberg)
Why the PowerShares Golden Dragon China ETF ($PGJ) is leading the pack. (IndexUniverse)
Investors are still none-too-sure about emerging market bonds. (MoneyBeat)
Europe has a dearth of babies. (Sizemore Insights)
Municipalities
State and local governments are hiring again. (WSJ)
Daniel Gross, “The U.S. is not Greece. California is not Greece. Detroit may be Greece. But it’s not America.” (The Daily Beast)
Economy
Nine charts that show the economy is on the right track. (ValuePlays)
And four charts that show the opposite. (Business Insider)
Manufacturing data continues to point towards slow growth. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
How the BEA is changing the way GDP is calculated. (Bloomberg)
Housing
Case-Shiller shows accelerating home price gains. (Big Picture, Business Insider)
Homeownership levels are at 18-year lows. (Quartz, Bloomberg)
Signs of froth in the real estate market are out there. (Guardian)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
How will you spend your time: trading or investing? (Abnormal Returns)
What you may have missed in our Monday linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Who knew vetting fraudulent charges could be so fun? (Pando Daily)
Predictive search aims to put a personal assistant in your pocket. (NYTimes)
The market for used smartphones is booming. (WSJ)
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