Quote of the day

Karl Smith, “The process of market selection makes it appear as if there was intelligent design but no intelligence and no design is necessary.”  (Modeled Behavior also Free exchange)

Chart of the day

Amazon has lost nearly $12 billion in market capitalization today.  (Finviz)

Markets

The Mo-Mo Massacre in pictures.  (Kid Dynamite)

What is going on with the crude oil future curve?  (FT Alphaville)

Sector breadth charts.  (Bespoke)

A look at “sell in May” in Australia.  (MacroBusiness)

Is the worst of the bear market over?  (Big Picture)

Why gold is rallying – sentiment.  (Marketwatch also Global Macro Monitor)

Copper seems to have found a trading range.  (Afraid to Trade)

Using junk bonds as a risk on/risk off indicator.  (Dragonfly Capital)

Strategy

On the danger of stock picks.  (research puzzle pix)

All strategies go through ups and downs.  What you do during the downs determines success.  (Tyler’s Trading)

Stress, being right and how value investors make money.  (Old School Value)

Certain fund categories choose to invest more in active management.  (SSRN)

401(k) investors need advice, but why make it so complicated?  (CBS Moneywatch)

Listicles

A list of ten sure money losers.  (The Reformed Broker)

Some good rules on trade management.  (Adam Grimes)

Famous quotes adapted to trading.  (TraderHabits)

Six lessons from the financial crisis and Great Recession.  (Rational Irrationality)

Companies

A look at Ford ($F) earnings.  (Crossing Wall Street)

Lyondell Bassell ($BYF) is paying a big special dividend.  (Crackerjack Finance)

On the challenges of pricing future growth.  (Musings on Markets)

Technology

Why the big discrepancy between Amazon ($AMZN) and Apple ($AAPL)?  (Apple 2.0, Herb Greenberg earlier Abnormal Returns)

It’s time to say thank you to Amazon.  (Business Insider)

Apple’s just-buy-our-devices model.  (Daring Fireball)

The Apple-ification of everything.  (SplatF)

Netflix

Barry Ritholtz, “Amazon says its building for the future, and to some degree, that has been true. The problem is its been true for 15 years, and the future has pretty much arrived.”  (Big Picture)

Ten year of Netflix ($NFLX)  in three charts.  (SplatF)

Why is Netflix stock so volatile?  (Felix Salmon, The Atlantic)

Whitney Tilson’s case for Netflix.  (Zero Hedge contra Term Sheet)

Netflix as an example of mistakes investors make.  (CBS Moneywatch)

Finance

Hedge funds have not benefits from the October bounce.  (Money Game)

Hedge fund of funds, after fees, do a horrible job of adding value.  (Marketwatch)

The SEC is aggressive, but only when it comes to insider trading cases.  (naked capitalism)

The SEC is going to start getting data on hedge fund holdings.  (Bloomberg, NYTimes)

MF Global ($MF) is exploring “strategic options.”  (WSJ, Focus on Funds, Deal Journal)

Economy

Two ways to save the US economy:  innovation or inflation.  (The Atlantic)

New home sales on the rise.  (Calculated Risk, MarketBeat)

Confidence, especially amongst high earners, and the stock market.  (Dr. Ed’s Blog, Real Time Economics)

Operation Twist does nothing for the real economy.  (Minyanville)

Trucks were rolling in September.  (Calculated Risk)

Why do gasoline prices seem to be sticky on the downside?  (Real Time Economics)

Econobloggers are still pretty down on the US economy.  (Kauffman Foundation via Free exchange)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Faith, reality and financial models.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Complaining is easy.  Change is hard.  (Aleph Blog)

Understanding our biases is simply not enough.  (Jonah Lehrer, Slate also Brain Pickings)

Reviews are rolling in for Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs.*  (Bloomberg, Slate)

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

*Amazon affiliate. You know the drill.