Quote of the day

Roger Ehrenberg, “Most [CEOs] lack the conviction to deal with short-term pain in order to do the right thing for building long-term shareholder value.”  (Information Arbitrage)

Chart of the day

Whipsawed markets, illustrated.  (EconomPic Data)

Markets

Investor sentiment is not all that pessimistic.  (Horan Capital, The Technical Take)

Corporations vs. workers:  a tale of the tape.  (NYTimes)

What’s a long term index chart really good for?  (The Reformed Broker)

Strategy

The value of half stocks/half bonds.  (NYTimes)

The coming opportunity in junk bonds and emerging market debt.  (Income Investing)

David Merkel, “Odd opinions must be made to jump high hurdles.”  (Aleph Blog)

“Geographic Momentum” by Quoc C. Nguyen.  (SSRN)

Companies

Can your stock pass the ‘laugh test’?  (The Reformed Broker)

Bill Ackman’s case for Canadian Pacific ($CP).  (Globe and Mail)

What now for wireless carrier consolidation?  (Deal Journal)

Microsoft ($MSFT) is trying to find something, anything, to do with its cash.  (Kid Dynamite)

Finance

Is the CDS market going to survive the Euro crisis?  (Economist’s View)

Why don’t pension funds exert more pressure on PE firms on fees?  (Businessweek)

One of these days someone is going to write a plain English prospectus.  (I Heart Wall Street)

Funds

Tim Harford, “Payment by results is an attractive idea, but in a world where black swans can be deliberately manufactured, results can be treacherous.”  (FT)

Time frame matters now more than ever in manager selection.  (Interloper)

The boom in low-volatility ETFs.  (Barron’s)

Some ETFs that still don’t exist.  (ETFdb)

Global

The next new plan, enhanced fiscal integration, to save Europe is being discussed.  (WSJ, Credit Writedowns)

The real reason why the Germans don’t want the ECB to print money.  (Money Game)

European banks are relying more on the ECB for funding.  (FT Alphaville)

Why Britain will have a hard time reviving its manufacturing economy.  (Economist)

Excess debt in the Eurozone.  (Real Time Economics)

The public choice problem in Europe.  (Marginal Revolution)

Economy

Despite high unemployment there is a slew of skilled-job openings going unfilled.  (WSJ)

On the dangers of long-term unemployment.  (NYTimes)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Top clicks this week on Abnormal Returns.  (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Saturday long form linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Motivation is necessary but not sufficient to develop expertise.   (Freakonomics)

Why the owners likely won the NBA lockout.  (Slate)

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