Quote of the day
Eric Falkenstein, “When you look at all the ways to invest, people are adversely selected by hucksters as they always have and always will.” (Falkenblog)
Chart of the day
Should the US fear a credit downgrade? The case of Japan. (MarketBeat)
Markets
Where the major asset classes stand relative to their moving averages. (Capital Spectator)
Energy and utilities continue to lead the market higher. (Dragonfly Capital)
Food stocks are looking up. (chessNwine)
Market breadth is no great shakes. (Data Diary)
Strategy
Looking for value in the big technology stocks. (Term Sheet)
Why technology stocks deserve to trade at a discount to industrials. (Felix Salmon)
Performance without some understanding on how it was achieved is worthless. (InvestmentNews)
Sometimes you just can’t compete with unrealistic expectations. (I Heart Wall Street)
Startup Motif Investing looks to make theme investing easier. (TechCrunch)
Companies
Microsoft ($MSFT) could have made money buying Yahoo! ($YHOO) back in 2008. (Eric Jackson)
Remember all that hype about NFC and NXP Semiconductors ($NXPI)? (TrendRida)
Amazon’s ($AMZN) cloud business is growing like crazy. (SAI, Reuters)
Apple ($AAPL) wants to be huge in China. (NYTimes)
Dan Loeb likes Sara Lee ($SLE). (Dealbook)
Growing calls for a breakup of BP ($BP). (Bloomberg, WSJ)
Finance
Will anybody buy E-Trade ($ETFC)? (InvestmentNews)
Just how profitable are ETFs for Blackrock ($BLK)? (FT)
The changing nature of ownership has changed the calculus for equity investors. (Aswath Damodaran, Leigh Drogen)
Distressed debt opportunities are few and far between. (Distressed Debt Investing)
Internet ETNs don’t get in on IPOs. (Invest With an Edge)
Hedge funds are once again hot with institutional investors. (All About Alpha)
The ratings agencies are not very good at rating government debt. (Rortybomb)
Global
Global profit margins are still strong. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Check out the Swiss franc/Euro cross. (FT Alphaville)
Money market funds continue to cut their exposure to European banks. (FT)
Who gains and loses from the Greek debt deal. (Rajiv Sethi)
Is Sino-Forest uninvestable? One value investor does not think so. (Santangel’s Review)
Economy
The debt ceiling is an anachronism that favors “recklessness.” (New Yorker also Calafia Beach Pundit, TRB)
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index is showing below average growth. (Calculated Risk)
Household deleveraging still has a ways to go. (Term Sheet)
In the face of higher crop prices, subsidies are “eroding away.” (WSJ)
Who wins if Fannie and Freddie begin to rent out homes in foreclosure? (Economic Musings)
Felix Salmon, “The US is in desperate need of patent overhaul.” (Reuters)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you missed in our Monday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
How technology is enabling the “golden age of the introvert.” (The Atlantic)
Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.
