Quote of the day

Charles Kirk, “In my opinion, it is very important for those who engage in passive strategies to understand how to incorporate simple easy to follow methods to reduce downside risk when market conditions are poor.”  (A Dash of Insight)

Chart(s) of the day

A look at the Halloween Indicator on the eve of its kickoff.  (World Beta, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Markets

Equity sentiment at week-end.  (Trader’s Narrative)

Financials continue to look bad no matter the time frame used.  (Dragonfly Capital)

‘Must have’ hedge funds are dominating fund raising this year.  (Bloomberg)

Event data is the new tick data for hedge funds.  (Institutional Investor)

A pop in natural gas. (Bespoke)

Hard to see how the junk bond market gets much better.  (Mish also Bespoke)

How much more can earnings grow if revenue growth is slowing?  (NYTimes)

Beware the rise in Chinese IPOs.  (CNBC)

One hedge fund manager thinks Russia is particularly cheap.  (Market Folly)

What happens if pension funds stop steering clear of gold?  (WSJ)

Why again do we convert corn into ethanol?  (The Reformed Broker)

Microsoft (MSFT) stock is “too cheap to sell.”  (Barron’s)

Strategy and Tactics

Where do TAA models stand at the moment?  (MarketSci Blog, TAA for the Masses)

Financial advisers don’t always point you in the right direction.  (WSJ)

On the limitations of Monte Carlo simulations in financial markets.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Social networks, bubbles and the propagation of market memes.  (Abnormal Returns)

Economy

How principal reductions could be used to mitigate the effects of the foreclosure mess.  (naked capitalism also SurlyTrader)

Is it time to raise the Fed funds rate?  (Crossing Wall Street)

A monetarist look at the potential for Q4 GDP growth.  (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Tyler Cowen, “In other words, immigrants may be competing more with offshored workers than with other laborers in America.”  (NYTimes)

Off Wall Street

The state of the polls on the eve of the election.  (FiveThirtyEight also WSJ)

Why Evan Williams of Twitter demoted himself.  (NYTimes)

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