Quote of the day

John Dizard, “Tail risk hedges are, basically, expensive. You have to minimise the cost of the time for them to work.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

PCL Chart

PCL data by YCharts

Lumbers prices are playing catch up to the homebuilders.  (Globe and Mail)

Markets

Another good month for global capital markets in September.  (Capital Spectator)

Where the relative strength has been sector-wise.  (Systematic Relative Strength)

TAA models are long and strong going into October.  (Turnkey Analyst)

Investment grade bonds are priced for perfection.  (Sober Look)

Rebalancing trades this quarter are a tough call.  (The Reformed Broker)

Volatility

Where are we in the volatility cycle?  (Condor Options)

Russell 2000 volatility has been relatively low.  (Timely Portfolio)

Research

Why the day of the market month matters.  (MarketSci Blog)

Does low-beta investing work with mutual funds?  (SSRN via CXOAG)

Strategy

Can you name the many ways in which the “stocks for the long run” argument is wrong?  (Big Picture)

Rick Ferri, “Market predictions are not investment advice. It’s marketing material.”  (Rick Ferri)

Investors don’t hit their strides overnight.  (Howard Lindzon)

Wine investment funds demonstrate the challenge of valuing illiquid investments.  (FT)

Financial planning

How can financial planners helps the true middle class?  (InvestmentNews)

The many ways in which low interest rates have affected financial planning.  (Nerd’s Eye View)

Technology

Research in Motion ($RIMM) didn’t just slow it fell off the cliff.  (Asymco)

Google ($GOOG) is now has a bigger market cap than Microsoft ($MSFT).  (Mashable)

Building a great map app takes a lot of work.  (Technology Review)

If you want your business to succeed emphasize sustainability vs. profit maximization.  (A VC)

Finance

Libor rates may converge with CD rates.  (Sober Look)

Why did Wall Street leaders escape legal woes for the financial crisis?  (The Daily Beast)

Funds

ETFs are set for another year of record inflows.  (FT)

Why socially responsible investing means lower returns.  (Oblivious Investor)

A profile of Vanguard’s incoming CIO.  (Reuters)

Another company is getting into the “local” ETF game.  (IndexUniverse)

The first day of the month means a new edition of the Mutual Fund Observer.  (Mutual Fund Observer)

Global

Global PMIs show global trade contracting.  (FT Alphaville, Bloomberg)

On the correlation between Caterpillar ($CAT) and the Aussie dollar.  (MacroBusiness also Money Game)

China’s broken growth model.  (Also Sprach Analyst)

How Vietnam’s economy got off-track.  (The Daily Beast also Breakingviews)

Economy

How estimates of Q3 GDP are shaping up.  (Capital Spectator)

The ISM manufacturing report bucks the trend and shows expansion in September.  (Capital Spectator, Bespoke, FT Alphaville)

US businesses are pulling back in anticipation of the fiscal cliff.  (Gavyn Davies)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What books Abnormal Returns readers bought at Amazon last month.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Where are there so many articles about Apple ($AAPL)?  (Forbes via TBN)

Is Quartz a must-read?  (Talking Biz News)

Reviewers love Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite.  (The Verge, Technologizer, GigaOM)

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