Quote of the day

Fred Wilson, “I believe the only way to be a top performing investor in any asset class is to have a disciplined investment strategy and approach and apply it consistently and actively in all markets all the time.”  (A VC)

Chart of the day

ADP payroll numbers point towards more jobs growth.  (Calculated Risk, Money Game, Capital Spectator, MarketBeat chart via @scottybarber)

Bonds

Why stock investors should always keep an eye on bonds.  (Tyler’s Trading)

A boom in “esoteric asset-backed securities” rarely ends well.  (Bloomberg)

The end of the decades long bull market in bonds will make life difficult for bond fund managers.  (The Source)

Markets

Investor sentiment has turned particularly positive.  (Stock Sage)

The highlights of sector rotation in 2011.  (Afraid to Trade)

Signs that expectations about profit margins are coming down.  (Dr. Ed’s Blog)

Dividends are the one part of personal income that is growing smartly.  (Real Time Economics)

Agriculture

Agricultural stocks have underperformed.  What next?  (Investing With Options)

There is a corn seed shortage.  (WSJ)

Strategy

How should retail investors invest?  (Howard Lindzon)

Noise, sentiment and StockTwits.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Why you should be wary of anyone’s “conviction buy list.”  (research puzzle pix)

Seven problems with portfolio optimization.  (Portfolio Probe)

Demystifying equity-based risk strategies.  (SSRN via Capital Spectator)

Financial planning

Another sign that financial planning is inevitably moving online.  (Digits)

Good financial advice is simple, but not easy.  (I Heart Wall Street)

Companies

Amazon ($AMZN) is squeezing retail chains.  (SplatF)

Barnes & Noble ($BKS) has to do something with the “sinkhole” that is the Nook.  (Deal Journal)

The Macbook Air is going to transform the PC industry.  (GigaOM)

Finance

Pension fund managers need some lessons in basic math.  (Big Picture, Buttonwood)

Proxy fights are so last decade.  (Institutional Investor)

Bank lending is pathetic.  (Falkenblog)

Global

Switzerland has its own “insider trading” scandal.  (Economist, The Source, Dealbreaker)

Not all that long ago the Euro hit $1.10.  (MarketBeat)

The ugly picture that is the Spanish economy.  (The Atlantic)

There is only one way to target the burgeoning middle class in the emerging markets.  (FT)

Housing

How speculators made the housing bubble worse.  (Slate)

No wonder multi-family home building is on the rise.  (Calculated Risk, Modeled Behavior)

Wha the Fed thinks about the housing economy.  (Real Time Economics)

Edward Glaeser, “You should buy a house only if you have found a home that gives you the space and neighbors you need to live a good life.” (Bloomberg)

Economy

Initial jobless claims continue to trend well below 400,000.  (WSJ, Money Game)

The ISM non-manufacturing number shows continued growth.  (Calculated Risk)

The manufacturing economy is keeping growth from tailing off.  (NYTimes)

When more communication means less clarity:  the case of the Fed.  (Finance Addict, Planet Money)

Technology is changing the jobs market faster than we can adapt.  (Technology Review via Big Picture)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Resilient portfolios in the face of structural breaks, or sometimes things really are different this time.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

On the benefits of learning how to code (even a little).  (Slate)

Smartphones have ruined everything.  (Dinosaur Trader)

Pepper is overrated.  (Slate)

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