Quote of the day

Bond Girl, “By and large, it is not difficult to identify where credit risk exists in the municipal bond market. If bonds are being sold unrated, and it is not because the issuer is a small and inactive borrower, and if there is a large private participation element, you might want to do some more digging. ”  (Bond Girl)

Chart of the day

Gold holdings in exchange traded funds are at a record.  (The Source)

Markets

Signs of fear are few and far between at the moment.  (Long Short)

In hope of some really boring markets.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

The Brent-WTI spread is blowing out again.  (Bespoke, Sober Look)

Why is the $VIX so low?  (FT Alphaville)

Muni bonds

Muni bond fund investors don’t have the best timing skills.  (Morningstar)

Of course unrated muni bonds default at a higher rate.  (Learn Bonds)

Strategy

On the power of relative price strength.  (Ivanhoff Capital)

Five ETFs to avoid.  (IndexUniverse)

The main way in which an investment adviser can help “irrational” investors.  (Systematic Relative Strength)

Long-term, patient investors need to stop playing the momentum game.  (FT)

An overview of the low volatility effect.  (SSRN via @quantivity)

Companies

Apple ($AAPL) is looking to pull the cable companies into their TV product offering.  (WSJ, AllThingsD)

Cisco ($CSCO) is turning into a high yielder.  (MarketBeat)

The case for some hidden value in DreamWorks Animation ($DWA).  (SumZero)

A good reason to avoid Progressive Insurance ($PGR).  (Crossing Wall Street)

Finance

The MF Global crew looks to escape criminal charges.  (Dealbook, Points and Figures)

Who would put money into a Jon Corzine-led hedge fund?  (Clusterstock, ibid)

An SEC rule that could make life a lot more difficult for activist investors.  (Dealbreaker, Dealbook)

A look at the track record of nontraded REITs.  (InvestmentNews)

Pension funds can’t get enough alternative investments.  (Reuters)

Special purpose entities are at the heart of many financial crises.  (Time)

Global

Global economic growth is stuck in the “twilight zone.”  (FT Alphaville)

Why currency traders are flocking to second-tier currencies at present.  (WSJ)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims have flatlined.  (Calculated Risk, Bespoke)

Coincident economic indicators continue to push higher.  (Bonddad Blog)

Higher grain prices shouldn’t affect consumer inflation all that much.  (FT Alphaville)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Psychology

An enjoyable talk with Justin Fox and Frank Partnoy author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay.  (HBR)

Why we need to deliberately expose ourselves to conflicting opinions.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Consumers

Consumers are resisting when companies try to wean them off of “deals.”  (WSJ)

“The lessons of hoardonomics are clear: don’t store your stuff, sell it. Then invest in a storage business.”  (Economist)

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