Quote of the day
Jason Zweig, “Remember now, as always, that the individual investor is at the bottom of Wall Street’s food chain—a speck of plankton adrift in a sea of predators.” (WSJ)
Chart of the day
The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index spikes on the employment report. (Sober Look)
Markets
It’s still fashionable to be negative on the economy and stock market. (Dynamic Hedge)
Worst case the US dividend tax rate could be the highest in the world post-fiscal cliff. (Sober Look, Horan Capital)
Look out: a big swath of closed-end funds are trading at hefty premiums to NAV. (Barron’s)
Does the stock market really exist to serve the long-term investor? (SMB Training)
Companies
The problem with Hewlett-Packard ($HPQ) is that it is “unpivotable.” (Pando Daily)
A profile of Dick Costolo firmly in charge of Twitter. (NYTImes)
Why Zynga ($ZNGA) failed. (TechCrunch, Lex)
Elon Musk
Watching the cash situation at Tesla Motors ($TSLA). (Dealbook)
Solar City files to go public. (Forbes)
How SpaceX will keep the International Space Station in business. (Wired)
Finance
Felix Salmon, “If the economics of high-frequency trading means that fiber-optic cables get laid under the Arctic ocean, that’s good for everybody. But if it all just devolves into meaningless noise, then something has gone very, very wrong.” (Reuters)
More automated 401(k) plans are coming to market. (Institutional Investor)
Where are all the private equity-backed mega IPOs? (Term Sheet)
On the origins of the term: “too big to fail.” (Liberty Street Economics)
Global
Big companies in Europe are hoarding cash. (Economist)
Investors are looking beyond the BRIC nations for emerging market success stories. (Forbes, NYTimes)
Chinese solar panels may soon become more expensive. (Wonkblog)
Employment report
Trying to make sense of Friday’s employment report. (Sober Look, Tim Duy, Money Game, Modeled Behavior)
Why did everyone go bonkers over the employment report? (Jack Shafer)
What would the unemployment rate be if the labor force hadn’t shrunk? (Money Game)
Economy
Why did expectations about the housing market change so radically? (NYTimes)
Rail traffic was “mixed” in September. (Calculated Risk)
Consumer credit continues to expand. (Money Game, Real Time Economics contra Sober Look)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Investor trauma and the recency effect. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our long form Saturday linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Top clicks this week on the site. (Abnormal Returns)
Sports
Have the price of sports teams finally stopped going up? (Time)
Why single game elimination is the future of professional sports. (Slate)
Ben Bernanke on the Washington Nationals. (WSJ)
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