Quote of the day
Tom Brakke, “Creating a stable and capable research department is no easy task.” (the research puzzle)
Chart of the day
How long can oil and transports go in the same direction? (MarketBeat)
Markets
With the market at new highs, where did all the bulls go? (Bespoke, Pragmatic Capitalism, Globe Investor)
The US dollar is on track to revisit 2008 lows. (Dragonfly Capital)
BDCs are hot enough to attract an ETN. Does that imply a return to normalcy? (IndexUniverse)
Strategy
On the use of put spreads as a hedge. (SurlyTrader)
Another example of how overbought markets can go even higher. (Investing With Options)
ETFs that let investors play timberland. (ETFdb)
Companies
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and ExxonMobil (XOM) are printing money. (The Source, MarketBeat)
Why buy natural gas when you can buy companies that benefit from low prices? (chessNwine)
Why the US hospital industry is likely to further consolidate. (Economist)
CME Group (CME) beats. Market yawns. (Focus on Funds, @pointsnfigures)
Berkshire Hathaway
A Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) annual meeting preview. (24/7 Wall St.)
The Sokol report has opened up a broader discussion about Berkshire’s corporate culture. (Alice Schroeder)
Some (legal) advice for David Sokol. (Dealbook, Aleph Blog)
Why David Sokol’s ouster was a shock to many. (Businessweek)
Finance
Getting rid of credit ratings for regulatory purposes is proving difficult. (WashingtonPost)
The banks are the continued beneficiary of the Fed’s low-interest rate policies. (Big Picture)
Should Pimco clients be worried about the company’s proposed actively managed Total Return ETF? (Morningstar)
A look at the Carlyle Group in anticipation of an IPO. (Economist)
Global
How is the UK’s experiment in fiscal austerity working out? (Marginal Revolution)
Even the Swiss Franc is down in gold terms. (Economist)
BRYuKI are the new, new BRICS. (Schott’s Vocab)
Economy
Why Q1 GDP growth slowed to below 2.0%. (FT Alphaville, EconomPic Data, Calculated Risk, Economist’s View)
Jobless claims have stopped going down and are picking back up again. (Bloomberg, Capital Spectator, Calculated Risk)
Henry Blodget on why the economy sucks. (Business Insider also Curious Capitalist)
More reflections on the Bernanke press conference. (Gavyn Davies)
Who’s pocket is the Fed picking? (Buttonwood)
Still waiting for housing and business investment to kick in. (Econbrowser, Calculated Risk)
How technology affects prices paid. (Big Picture)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
US GDP growth may be disappointing of late, but the rail sector continues to chug along just fine. (AR Screencast)
Check out what you missed in our Thursday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Aswath Damodaran’s The Little Book of Valuation “is a gem.” (Reading the Markets)
Another way big investors play the grain markets: buying silos. (Climateer Investing)
We will not be talking about the issue of iPhone location issue a couple weeks from now. (TechCrunch, CNNMoney)
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