Quote of the day

John Gruber, “When people argue that Apple has somehow already grown as big as it can get, they’re not seeing the size of the opportunity that remains ahead. ”  (Daring Fireball)

Chart of the day


Japan’s stock market is pretty much flat on the year.  (@bespokeinvest also Fortune)

Markets

Earnings guidance is not all that great.  (Bespoke)

Then again the banks that are uniformly beating expectations.  (Deal Journal)

Why has tech fallen so far out of favor?  (Felix Salmon)

Financials a a contrarian hedge.  (Market Anthropology)

Total return is apparently a difficult concept for many.  (ETFReplay)

Strategy

David Merkel, “You will earn more with companies that think like owners.”  (Aleph Blog)

A simple relative strength system at work.  (Big Picture)

What it means to “mine your portfolio” for secondary effects.  (Distressed Debt Investing)

There is little relationship between forecast accuracy and attention paid.  (CXO Advisory Group)

Companies

Wintel stocks ($MSFT+$INTC) appear “mighty cheap.”  (YCharts)

Business customers are giving Microsoft ($MSFT) a big boost.  (SAI)

New York Times ($NYT) holders have had a rough 25 years.  (Crossing Wall Street)

What Caterpillar ($CAT) says about global growth.  (Money Game, Bloomberg)

Apple

Where would the Dow be with $AAPL instead of $CSCO?  (Bespoke)

The Greek “default” may kill the sovereign CDS market.  (Felix Salmon)

There is no tablet market, just an iPad market.  (Daring Fireball)

Apple ($AAPL) wants to get inside the enterprise.  (Fast Company)

Apple is reportedly interested in Hulu.  Then again, don’t count on it. (Bloomberg, GigaOM)

Funds

ETFs are still a growth business.  (IndexUniverse)

Are ETFs the best way to invest in emerging markets?  (Institutional Investor)

TCW vs. Jeff Gundlach moves onto its next stage.  (Term Sheet)

Finance

It seems like everybody is getting into the hedge fund seeding business.  (Bloomberg)

Commercial lending has stalled out this summer.  (Capital Spectator)

Movies a a really alternative asset class.  (FINalternatives)

Global

A necessary step forward for Europe, but much work has yet to be done.  (FT, Credit Writedowns, Free exchange, MacroMan)

The Swiss may be stuck with a strong Franc.  (Economist)

Energy

Water is energy, not an asset class. (FT Alphaville)

Did the release of oil reserves actually work?  (FT)

Somali pirates are a serious problem for the oil transport industry.  (The Source)

Even a continental heat wave can’t get natural gas prices moving.  (Globe and Mail)

Economy

Debt ceiling talks are hurting the economy.  (Slate)

The debt ceiling and money market funds.  (FT Alphaville)

Howard Marks on the debt ceiling.  (market folly, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

Three investment blogs you need to start following now.  (The Reformed Broker)

You can soon make non-sports related bets in Vegas.  (WSJ)

The value of breaking news is greatly overrated.  (Seth Godin)

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