Quote of the day

Barry Ritholtz, “The bottom line is that if you came to finance for the vast riches, you are here for the wrong reason. You might as well join the NBA and hope to be the next Michael Jordan.”  (Big Picture)

Chart of the day

US 30 Year Mortgage Rate data by YCharts

30 year mortgage rates hit another record low.  (WashingtonPost)

Markets

More day-of-the-month seasonality statistics.  (MarketSci Blog)

The investment world’s “soundtrack” is changing and not always for the better.  (research puzzle pix)

A growing number of companies are cutting dividends.  (Political Calculations)

Metals

Low real interest rates and the surge in gold speculation.  (Sober Look)

A look at the platinum/gold ratio.  (Covestor Blog)

Strategy

Diversification didn’t fail.  (The Reformed Broker)

Why investors are at-risk of being too cautious.  (Systematic Relative Strength)

Companies

Is Einhorn right? Comparing Chipotle Mexican Grill ($CMG) to the competition.  (YCharts Blog also Felix Salmon)

How to avoid value traps like Hewlett-Packard ($HPQ).  (The Reformed Broker)

Don’t count Tesla Motors ($TSLA) as an industrial policy failure.  (Quartz)

Funds

Are inferior indices the price of low cost ETFs?  (Reuters)

Expense ratios are the number one factor when choosing ETFs.  (InvestmentNews)

Are some ETFs going to avoid the fee war?  (Focus on Funds)

Emerging market bond fund inflows dominate equity inflows.  (beyondbrics)

Economy

The Fed has not fully bought into the Woodford model.  (Gavyn Davies)

Weekly initial jobless claims continue in a range.  (Capital Spectator, Calculated Risk, CBP)

Can you have a recession if services are still expanding?  (Bonddad Blog)

Still no slowdown in N. American rail traffic.  (ValuePlays)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

Facebook ($FB) passed the 1 billion monthly active user milestone.  (GigaOM)

You can’t value the Financial Times based solely on economics.  (Breakingviews)

Winners and losers in the new television landscape.  (Time)

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