Quote of the day

Peter J. Solomon, “To be a good investment banker you have to have a good sense of the absurd.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

Is a bottom for coal stocks at hand?  (chessNwine also All Star Charts)

Markets

Where Apple ($AAPL) could find some support.  (UpsideTrader, AlphaTrends, Minyanville)

The case for a higher US dollar.  (Market Anthropology)

How to avoid the crowded story trades.  (Mark Dow)

Why December’s options expiration week is the most bullish.  (Quantifiable Edges)

Recency bias and the stock market.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Will higher taxes actually help stocks?  (Rick Ferri)

Strategy

Christine Benz talks with Consuelo Mack on the importance of taxes efficiency.  (Wealthtrack also Morningstar)

Not all performance is created alike.  (Investing Caffeine)

Why Marc Andreessen wants you to buy tech stocks.  (Quartz)

Companies

With Apple stock down, doubts about its fundamentals accelerate.  (FT Alphaville contra SAI)

News Corp. ($NWS) looks to take on ESPN with a new national sports network.  (WSJ)

Finance

How banks are adapting to their clients trading switching to electronic trading.  (Deal Journal, WSJ)

There is no correlation between the amount of goodwill and the quality of a deal.  (Musings on Markets)

Private equity firms just can’t give up leverage when markets are so willing.  (WSJ)

Credit ratings agencies are becoming increasingly irrelevant.  (Big Picture)

Funds

How NOT to create your own hedge fund.  (Random Roger)

130/30 funds have represented expensive beta.  (Condor Options)

Some big misses in the fund world in 2012.  (Marketwatch)

Global

The LDP is back in power in Japan: stocks up, the Yen down.  (WSJ, FT, Bloomberg)

David Tepper says the ECB has given investors another ‘free put.’  (Clusterstock also Writings on Wall St.)

China is going to push for growth in 2013.  (Money Game also FT Alphaville)

Why UK growth has lagged the US post-financial crisis.  (The Source)

The odds of a Euro breakup are falling.  (Sober Look)

India as global growth engine.  (Bloomberg)

The shale gas revolution is now shaking up the world.  (Quartz)

Economy

Three big changes to monetary policy happened last week.  (Gavyn Davies)

Positive signs going into 2013.  (Bonddad Blog)

How Q4 GDP estimates are evolving.  (Capital Spectator)

Tracking the housing recovery.  (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Simpler taxes will likely be fairer and more efficient.  (Quartz)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Is the stock market a ‘rigged game‘?  (Abnormal Returns)

Apps

The Wirecutter: a more sustainable gadget blog model.  (NYTimes)

Can a new app, Nextdoor, make us more sociable with our neighbors?  (Slate)

Why SnapChat is a bigger deal than commonly thought.  (Pando Daily also AllThingsD)

Mixed media

An interview with Aaron Task, Editor of Yahoo! Finance.  (Wall St. Cheat Sheet)

The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable by James Owen Weatherall is “among the most arrogant books of all time.”  (Aaron Brown)

Favorite charts of the year.  (Quartz)

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