Quote of the day

Hunter, “I’d rather buy 24 different bonds at 4, than one bond at 96, especially if you’ve done the hard work to put yourself in the right position for real upside.”  (Distressed Debt Investing)

Chart of the day

Lumber futures have been rallying along with the homebuilders.  (StockCharts Blog)

Markets

For the last time, faster GDP growth does not necessarily equal higher equity returns.  (FT Alphaville, Money Game)

The markets now seem to be acknowledging fundamentals.  (Value Plays)

Markets have already priced in tough economic conditions.  (Behavioral Macro)

Muni defaults are more common than reported.  (Liberty Street Economics)

Strategy

How to avoid the high frequency traders.  (Points and Figures)

Stocks are not going to make you rich, but they can help.  (Random Roger)

Ten answers to the market’s big questions.  (Mortality Sucks)

Technology

If you own(ed) Groupon ($GRPN) what lessons should you take away from the experience.  (The Reformed Broker)

How companies like Square represents the future of Silicon Valley.  (Dealbook)

The iPod is still a real business for Apple ($AAPL).  (YCharts Blog)

Fund moves

Even the best step in a ‘value trap’ every once in a while.  (The Reformed Broker)

Some prominent hedge funds are loading up on Facebook ($FB) shares.  (Clusterstock)

John Paulson has a big bet on gold.  (Bloomberg, Clusterstock)

Warren Buffett’s managers continue to put money to work.  (Morningstar, Deal Journal)

Finance

Should we be surprised that any private equity firm, including Bain Capital, doesn’t earn much alpha?  (Big Picture)

One settlement down, a few more to go for Standard Chartered.  (FT, Bloomberg)

Now the BATS Exchange is going semi-dark.  (Businessweek, MarketBeat)

For the toddler trading set: you can now trade apple juice futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.  (FT)

ETFs

Why is the SEC so late to the issue of leveraged ETFs?  (IndexUniverse)

Five favorite ‘unloved’ ETFs that have launched in the past year.  (Morningstar)

On the nature of low volatility investing.  (iShares Blog)

Global

Your broad market emerging market fund is overweight the big, boring markets.  (IndexUniverse)

Brazil may be getting a stimulus plan of their own.  (FT)

Economy

Home builders continue to get more optimistic.  (Bespoke, Calculated Risk)

Industrial production jumped in July. (Carpe Diem, Global Economic Intersection)

Was June the trough for the economy?  (Money Game)

Still no inflation out there.  (Wonkblog, CR)

Van sales point to small business optimism.  (Businessweek)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Industries

The rise and fall of wind power.  (Wonkblog)

The outlook for restaurant traffic is flat.  (Money & Co.)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.