Quote of the day

Felix Salmon, “(T)he bots have poisoned the stock-trading waters so much that even the bots themselves fear to go in”  (Reuters)

Chart of the day

FB Chart

FB data by YCharts

Remember those share lockups at Facebook ($FB)?  (Huffington Post)

Markets

Is it time for a stock-replacement strategy?  (Barron’s)

Things to watch during earnings season.  (Crossing Wall Street, Big Picture)

On the dangers of holding closed-end funds trading at a premium to NAV.  (research puzzle pix)

Trading

Trading teaches you a great deal about yourself.  (Trader Habits)

The argument for paper trading.  (SMB Training)

Face facts: you are an average trader.  (The Zikomo Letter)

Strategy

How the volatility of volatility helps explain the cross-section of returns.  (Falkenblog)

Why it makes sense to look at dividends and share buybacks to identify opportunities.  (YCharts Blog)

How much value-added can tax-loss harvesting provide investors over the long run?  (Ari Weinberg)

Research

Is the 3Com-Palm puzzle now solved?  (SSRN)

Want to attract US investors? Cross-list on the US market.  (SSRN)

What asset classes truly represent a hedge against inflation?  (SSRN via @quantivity)

A look at the empirical characteristics of mega hedge funds.  (SSRN via @quantivity)

Finance

Managers, like Oaktree Capital ($OAK), see plenty of opportunity in special situations.  (Institutional Investor)

Now high frequency traders have made a mess of the natural gas futures market.  (WSJ)

When more disclosure leads to less information.  (Musings on Markets)

CFOs serving on their own corporate board are a vanishing breed.  (WSJ)

Banks

Vikram Pandit is out as CEO of Citigroup ($C).  (Quartz, WSJ, footnoted)

Goldman Sachs’ ($GS) best defense against a disgruntled former employee’s book is a good earnings report.  (Dealbook, ibid)

If another Bear Stearns happens, don’t expect another bank to rush in with a buyout.  (Dealbook)

Global

Just how much the Euro crisis has faded from the front pages.  (Sober Look)

Air cargo growth points to additional economic weakness.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Housing

Home builders are getting ever more optimistic.  (Calculated Risk, Bespoke)

How much longer can a surge in mortgage refinancings continue?  (FT Alphaville)

The big banks are the big mortgage issuers which means big profits.  (FT)

Economy

September industrial production surprises to the upside. (Capital SpectatorCalculated Risk)

Why the rise in retail sales is for real.  (Daniel Gross)

Was the economic recovery from a financial crisis any different this time around?  (BloombergMoney Game)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

Blackberry users are now ashamed to show their phones in public.  (NYTimes)

A guide to your 4G service.  (The Reformed Broker)

Microsoft ($MSFT) is not pricing the Surface tablet very aggressively.  (The Verge, Wired, AllThingsD, GigaOM)

In the music business: streaming won.  (Big Picture)

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