Quote of the day

James Surowiecki, “The ban on sports betting does exactly what Prohibition did. It makes criminals rich.”  (New Yorker)

Chart of the day

SMC_0213

Stock market capitalization as a percentage of GDP.  (Bianco/Big Picture)

Equities

The stock market is optimistic, not yet euphoric.  (The Reformed Broker)

Is the secular bear market coming to an end?  (Big Picture)

A lesson for all you knee-jerk contrarians out there.  (The Reformed Broker)

Why all the talk about stocks when home prices are still so low?  (Econbrowser)

Where did all the kurtosis go?  (Humble Student of the Markets)

Investment clubs learn that stock picking just isn’t as fun as it used to be.  (WSJ)

Is the ‘great rotation‘ just an excuse?  (Capital Observer)

Bonds

Bond bubble chatter is getting deafening.   (Businessweek)

The not so surprising factors behind low bond yields.  (Wonkblog)

The Fed wants you to own stocks.  (Rick Ferri)

Bondholders beware the curse of the LBO.  (WSJ)

Markets

Options markets are not pricing in much of a move for gold.  (Condor Options)

Do commodities need to play some catch-up here?  (BCA Research)

The Yen is overbought while Treasury yields are well oversold.  (Global Macro Monitor)

Strategy

Why you need a personal investment policy.  (Bucks Blog)

Quantitative Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors by Wesley R. Gray and Tobias E. Carlisle is a “must read.”  (Reading the Markets)

Companies

Is AIG ($AIG) now just another boring insurer?  (Economist)

American companies are being forced to pour big money into their pension funds.  (WSJ)

Finance

Why wouldn’t Blackstone ($BX) want a banking license?   (Dealbreaker)

Venture capital firms are being forced to “reassess and remake themselves…”  (WSJ)

Funds

Twenty years in there are still misconceptions about ETFs.  (Marketwatch)

Some updated statistics on the “behavior gap.”  (Morningstar)

Just how much of securities lending revenue are ETF managers keeping?  (IndexUniverse)

Bruce Berkowitz may be souring on the mutual fund structure.  (Bloomberg)

Global

Is a currency war still in the cards?  (Gavyn Davies contra Bonddad Blog)

Has Japan lost its edge?  (Money Game)

Can the Bank of Japan really generate 2% inflation?  (FT Alphaville, Quartz)

The US equity market looks expensive relative to the rest of the world.  (Money Game)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Cash is a bad habit most investors need to kick.  (Abnormal Returns)

The inevitable return of mutual fund picking.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

The big business that is Minecraft.  (Digits)

Why Vine could be huge.  (Wired)

The business models of HBO and Netflix ($NFLX) are converging.  (A VC)

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