Quote of the day
Izabella Kaminska, “ETFs are only cheap for one reason. Because providers want to attract your capital so as to use it for themselves in ancillary activities.” (FT Alphaville)
Chart of the day

Bank stocks cannot get out of their own way. (MarketBeat, Deal Journal)
Markets
A preview of the coming earnings season. (Bespoke)
Lumber is climbing on increased export demand. (24/7 Wall St.)
The bond bears will be correct…one day. (MarketBeat)
Strategy
After-tax returns matter. (InvestmentNews)
Want higher trading profits? Lower your commissions. (The Minimalist Trader)
Trading is hard. How to make sure you don’t burn out. (HCPG)
Trading earnings is a minefield. (UpsideTrader)
Research
Beware divergences between earnings and cash flow. (research puzzle pix)
The menu of asset allocation options keeps getting longer. (Capital Spectator)
Another look at the performance of the “magic formula.” (Empirical Finance Blog)
Companies
Optimistic stories about pharmaceutical pipelines are rare these days. This is one of them. (WSJ)
How LivingSocial got the jump on Groupon. (The Reformed Broker)
If this is a tech bubble it still has a ways to go. (Fortune)
Finance
Companies, not unlike most investors, buy high and sell low. (Fortune)
CME Group ($CME) is set to trade Yuan futures. (Crain’s Chicago)
Bank interconnectedness illustrated. (Planet Money, FT Alphaville)
For all you SEC filing geeks, some statistics. (footnoted)
Funds
Bruce Berkowitz isn’t sure he wants to play activist investor again. (InvestmentNews)
What next for volatility ETPs? (IndexUniverse)
Coming to a theater near you. A global convertible bond ETF. (IndexUniverse)
Global
How many last minutes save does Europe have left? (Stock Sage)
Why did it take so long for the world to wake up to the risks of Italy? (The Source)
Swiss companies are taking advantage of the strong franc to conduct M&A. (The Source, Dealbook)
Kicking Greece to the curb is once again an option. (Pragmatic Capitalism, Credit Writedowns)
Economy
Still no sign of US inflation. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Can the economy ever get back to its potential output? (Economist’s View)
The backdrop for the US economy is very different than it was last year. (Gavyn Davies)
How many new jobs will it take to keep the unemployment rate steady? (Calculated Risk)
Looking down the road to a better economy. (Bonddad Blog)
Rail traffic is no great shakes. (Calculated Risk)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Book announcement and giveaway. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our Monday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
The things that matter in life are not easily measured. (Bucks Blog)
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