Quote of the day
Howard Schilit, “Don’t let your guard down. If you are buying individual securities, you have to do some work. If you don’t have the time or the interest or the expertise, buy an index.” (Barron’s)
Chart of the day
IPOs as alpha strategy. (IFR via @moorehn)
Markets
First quarter asset class performance. (Bespoke)
Dow loves April. (Money Game)
Investor sentiment: still elevated. (The Technical Take)
A tale of two gases: natural and unleaded. (NYTimes also TRB)
Investors are trying to avoid duration risk by focusing on short-term high yield bonds. (MarketBeat)
Strategy
John Maynard Keynes was a heck of an investor. (Jason Zweig)
What to look for in an active investment manager. (NYTimes)
Maybe we should be more targeted in our hedges. (VIX and More)
Sometimes a stock stops going down, like Bank of America ($BAC), because it has run out of reasons to go down. (The Reformed Broker)
Why investors should tolerate some style drift. (SSRN via @jasonzweigwsj)
Groupon
Groupon ($GRPN) restates earnings, no one particularly surprised. (SAI, FT Alphaville, Deal Journal)
Not least of which some old school accountants. (Grumpy Old Accountants via @mickwe)
How one trader handled a “bad beat” in Groupon. (Phil Pearlman)
Does Google ($GOOG) have a BIG patent problem? (James Altucher)
Expect an increase in Google volatility. (Turnkey Analyst)
Finance
Rich guys continue to drift away from the big brokerage houses. (Clusterstock)
Comparing Wall Street scandals: the brackets. (Dealbook)
The Facebook IPO to pressure secondary market operations. (MarketBeat)
Where are we in the crowdfunding cycle? (Howard Lindzon)
Pension funds are once again leaning on bonds. (Reuters)
America needs a modern payments architecture. (Felix Salmon)
ETFs
Schwab ($SCHW) is contemplating adding warnings to certain ETPs. (Reuters)
Funds like $TVIX are simply too complex for retail investors. (Barron’s, ibid)
The logical conclusion of the $VIX ETN saga. (Kid Dynamite)
Speaking of junk, there is now an ETF for international high yield. (IndexUniverse)
Always look behind an ETP’s name. (ETF Trends)
Global
Shorting China by being short Aussie dollar. (IndexUniverse)
Is China slowing or not? (Global Macro Monitor, The Reformed Broker)
Economy
The case for economic optimism. (Wonkblog)
The ECRI WLI keeps on rising. (Bonddad Blog)
Positive economic surprises are waning. (Money Game)
Gas prices are out of the control of any president. (NYTimes)
Teasing out labor participation by gender. (Liberty Street Economics)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Top clicks this week on the site. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our Saturday long form linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Great discussion with Jonah Lehrer about his new book How Creativity Works. (Slate)
Failure as the start of something great. (Economist)
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