Quote of the day

Bill Ackman, “But confidence and conviction without humility can be dangerous in the investment business. When one shares an investment thesis publicly, it can be more difficult to change one’s mind because the human mind has a tendency to ignore data that are inconsistent with a firmly held view, and particularly so, when that view is aired publicly.”  (Pershing Square via NYPost)

Chart of the day

The US dollar has been a casualty of the budget crisis.  (Charts etc.)

Markets

European equity ETFs are ignoring political dysfunction as they go higher.  (Andrew Thrasher)

Negative earnings announcements are far outpacing positive ones.  (Quartz)

We are in the weakest part of the Presidential election market cycle.  (Big Picture)

CTAs are having a rough year.  (Quartz, Attain Capital)

Strategy

Choose carefully who you pay attention to.  (Morgan Housel)

Why momentum beats value.  (Optimal Momentum)

Why you should create “structure and and process flow” around your trading.  (StockBee via @derekhernquist)

On the psychic value of collectibles.  (Rick Ferri)

Finance

Leverage kills: the case of leveraged Puerto Rican bond funds.  (Dealbook also TRB)

Can a more relaxed dress code make investment banks cool again?  (NetNet)

Are Bitcoins just a fad?  (Felix Salmon)

Hedge funds

Mutual funds are crushing hedge funds this year.  (Business Insider)

Hedge funds are getting into the repo business.  (FT)

Why the performance of the hedge fund industry was better when it was much smaller.  (FT Alphaville)

ETFs

The three biggest lies about bond ETFs.  (IndexUniverse)

Some lessons learned from some dead ETFs.  (Bloomberg)

At look at the performance of the various flavors of the S&P 500.  (IndexUniverse)

Global

Global population growth will soon come to a stop.  (FT Alphaville)

The big companies of the future are going to come from the emerging markets.  (Real Time Economics)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims are at pre-crisis levels.  (Calculated Risk)

Can government do anything about growing income inequality?  (Marginal Revolution)

Should the Fed take emerging markets into account when making policy?  (FT Alphaville)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What you may have missed in our Wednesday linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

The new Kindle Fire HDX is “terrific.”  (NYTimes)

Netflix ($NFLX) has won the government shutdown.  (Wonkblog)

Employees are increasingly bringing their favorite apps to work.  (WSJ)

How to improve your home wi-fi network.  (NYTimes)

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