Quote of the day
Barry Ritholtz, “The bottom line is if you are buying something you don’t understand based on a narrative that is half myth pushed by people with an incentive to bring in more buyers, well then, you are setting yourself up for a disaster.” (Big Picture)
Chart of the day
Is the long decline in coffee coming to an end? (Andrew Thrasher)
Markets
Markets have been remarkably calm given all that is going on. (Daniel Gross)
Are super-low global interest rates really good news? (Buttonwood, RiskReversal, MoneyBeat)
Market capitulation of another kind. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Companies are beating earnings expectations, but there is that whole revenue issue… (AlphaNow)
Why natural gas prices are higher. (Sober Look)
Strategy
The perils of investing in what you know. (Bucks Blog)
Inside the mind of Jeffrey Gundlach. (Crossing Wall Street)
Not all traders are content to grind it out. (Dragonfly Capital)
How Monte Carlo simulations are used in retirement planning. (Morningstar)
Building a “best ideas” portfolio: a discussion with Kyle Mowery. (Tradestreaming)
A nice review of Maneet Ahuja’s The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World’s Top Hedge Funds. (Frank Voisin)
Companies
The turnaround at Yahoo! ($YHOO) still has a long way to go. (Pando Daily)
Microsoft ($MSFT) has its very own activist investor. (MoneyBeat)
Netflix ($NFLX) is a huge bandwidth hog. And this won’t help. (Quartz, The Verge, WSJ)
Making money on Google’s ($GOOG) YouTube is getting tougher. (Businessweek)
eBay ($EBAY) is fighting the proposed national Internet sales tax. (Dealbook, WashingtonPost)
Amazon’s ($AMZN) Kindle Singles are becoming are real business. (NYTimes)
Apple
Bigger isn’t always better: the case of Apple ($AAPL). (Marketwatch)
Some random thoughts on Apple. (Big Picture also Michael Santoli)
How Tim Cook is like Steve Ballmer. (Bits)
Finance
Bloomberg Black should engender fear in finance startups. (The Reformed Broker)
Some CEOs are too good at raising money. (Pando Daily)
Why aren’t gold mining bonds declining as well? (Learn Bonds)
The ins and outs of insider trading laws. (HedgeWorld also Dealbook)
ETFs
The SEC may be set to make ETF launches easier. (Reuters)
On the disconnect between physical gold and gold ETFs. (IndexUniverse)
If indices are provided for free, why pay? (IndexUniverse)
Pimco is rolling three new “ETF clones” of already existing mutual funds. (Focus on Funds)
Global
Flash PMIs for China and Europe show continued weakness. (Money Game, FT Alphaville)
The ECB may (finally) be ready to cut rates. (FT)
Does the Mexican Peso have room to run further? (Institutional Investor)
Economy
The Macro-Markets Risk Index still shows little recession risk. (Capital Spectator)
Why younger Americans are driving less. (Wonkblog)
Mixed media
Swapping a ball for a chair doesn’t seem to do too much for your health. (Well)
Running or walking: which exercise does more for you? (Slate)
Why tragedies induce widespread fear: the availability heuristic. (Bloomberg)
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