Quote of the day

Tom Brakke, “The research report as we know it is a relic.”  (the research puzzle)

Chart of the day

Should we be worried about weakness in the industrial sector?  (Short Side of Long also Free exchange)

Markets

Pimco hearts munis.  (Bloomberg)

Gravity at work: closed-end bond fund premiums come in.  (Focus on Funds)

Companies are testing the definition of what it means to be a REIT.  (WSJ)

No matter how you slice it agriculture commodity prices are still high.  (Bonddad Blog, Sober Look)

Strategy

Despite its problems, the US markets are still the best for aspiring traders.  (SMB Training)

Some life lessons from Leon Cooperman.  (Market Folly)

The greatest risk your portfolio faces is staring you in the mirror.  (Above the Market)

Finance

How one hedge fund made a bold play on Realogy Holdings ($RLGY) pre-IPO.  (Term Sheet)

Are we looking at another benchmark scandal, a la Libor?  (Quartz)

Why one investor group wants to ban future dual-class share listings.  (WSJ)

Funds

More ETFs are crowding the very short-end of the yield curve including the new FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income ETF ($RAVI).  (Ari Weinberg)

Risk parity strategies comes to commodities funds.  (Total Return)

Inside the actively managed Peritus High Yield ETF ($HYLD).  (ETFdb)

Global

The University of Cambridge is taking advantage of record low borrowing rates.  (The Atlantic)

The global arbitrage of online work is accelerating.  (Bits)

Economy

Weekly initial jobless claims take a big dip.  (Calculated Risk, Money Game, Capital Spectator, Bespoke)

More signs of the housing recovery.  (Carpe Diem)

When will the Fed raise rates?  (Crossing Wall Street)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Don’t miss out on a chance to win our big, blogiversary finance book giveaway.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

More Americans are adopting “Britishisms” as their own.  (NYTimes)

Talk about forced obsolescence: pleated pants for men are back.  (WSJ)

An in-depth review of the new Kindle Paperwhite. (Daring Fireball)

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