Quote of the day

Jessica Peletier, “Real life happens outside, away from our screens. ”  (Rogue Traderette via @chicagosean)

Chart of the day

When looking at ETFs make sure price charts adjust for distributions.  (WSJ)

Markets

The S&P 500 nears its 200 day moving average.  (Crossing Wall Street)

The ongoing decline in “safe” assets is accelerating.  (FT Alphaville)

The prospect for implied volatility.  (Investing With Options)

The USDA has had a tough time forecasting the corn crop this year.  (WSJ)

Equal-weighted indices

The lost decade for equities wasn’t that far gone.  (Bloomberg)

The challenge of equal-weighted indices.  (Buttonwood)

Strategy

Retirees heart dividend stocks.  (InvestmentNews)

The volatility mystery continues.  (Portfolio Probe)

Managing is hard, criticism is easy.  (Interloper)

Apple

The truth about Apple ($AAPL) stock price.  (SAI)

How well does growth explain valuations?  (Asymco)

Apple wants to put an iPad in every doctor’s hands.  (Wired)

Can an iPad replace a PC?  (Technologizer)

Finance

There is no shortage of Chinese companies itching to go public.  (Deal Journal)

New York is still THE place for the wealth management industry.  (The Reformed Broker)

We still don’t know the state of the big banks’ balance sheets.  (Information Arbitrage)

Funds

A wish list for the mutual fund industry.  (Marketwatch)

Don’t pay too much for beta.  (Capital Spectator)

Hedge funds are having a rough 2011.  (Economist)

Are ETFs going to kill off tax-managed mutual funds?  (WSJ)

Asset manager stocks are no longer the sure bets they used to be.  (Morningstar)

Global

Can austerity fix Europe?  Germany and France think so.  (MarketBeat, Free exchange)

Five myths about the emerging markets.  (WSJ)

Economy

The Fed wants to be crystal clear in its public pronouncements.  (WSJ, FT Alphaville)

The economy is looking better, but not by much.  (Econbrowser)

The ISM non-manufacturing index for November was no great shakes.  (Calculated Risk)

Inflation expectations keep falling.  (Carpe Diem)

How much did the “flip this house” phenomenon affect the housing bubble?  (Liberty Street Economics)

No wonder consumers are so bummed out.  (research puzzle pix)

What now for the employment-population ratio? (Calculated Risk)

The economics of Christmas shopping.  (Tim Harford)

The end of growth.  (Gregor Macdonald)

There never is a “new normal” for the economy.  (Total Return)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Is investing dead?  (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Monday morning linkfest.   (Abnormal Returns)

Books

The best economics books of 2011.  (My Investing Notebook)

Another interesting e-book: Alex Tabarrok’s Launching the Innovation Renaissance.  (Marginal Revolution)

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