Quote of the day

Matthew Yglesias, “..Amazon’s sky-high price-earnings ratio compared with rival retailers or rival tech companies illustrates the point that investing is hard and the stock market is weird.”  (Slate)

Chart of the day

US 30 Year Mortgage Rate data by YCharts

Have 3o-year mortgage rates bottomed?  (Bloomberg)

Markets

Why are oil prices on the rise?  (Sober Look, Bonddad Blog)

Energy stocks are leading the market higher.  (Bespoke, IndexUniverse)

Natural gas has a tendency to outperform oil in early February.  (Seasonal Odds)

Strategy

Investing lessons from the world of kitesurfing.  (Turnkey Analyst)

Professional investors have forgotten what a bull market looks like.  (ZenPenny)

Financial planning

It’s a good time to be a financial adviser on the move.  (InvestmentNews)

How technology is changing the financial planning industry.  (Nerd’s Eye View)

Companies

Facebook ($FB) stock is constrained by valuation concerns.  (SAI, Quartz)

How much is Microsoft ($MSFT) worth?  (Crossing Wall Street)

Finance

CLOs and CDOs are back.  (CNBC)

Renaissance Technologies seems to be off its game.  (II Alpha)

Goldman Sachs ($GS) is preparing for higher interest rates.  (Term Sheet)

Why your ETF doesn’t own enough Amazon ($AMZN).  (Michael Santoli)

Global

A lower yen is a tailwind for corporate Japan.  (WSJ)

How would the City of London be affected by a UK withdrawal from the EU?  (Fortune)

Are local currency emerging market sovereign bonds a new ‘safe haven’?  (QFinance)

Economy

Did all the talk about the fiscal cliff affect Q4 activity?  (Money Game, Guardian)

A pop in weekly initial unemployment claims (and personal income).  (Calculated Risk, ibid)

Why the Fed is likely to stand pat for awhile.  (Tim Duy)

How the FOMC’s statement changed.  (RTE, Aleph Blog)

We are still figuring out how automation is going to affect the workforce.  (HBR)

Education

A bear market in law school applications.  (NYTimes)

Should colleges ban double-majors?  (Time)

How willing are you to bet on some “upstarts“?  (peHUB)

Mixed media

A retina display-enabled iPad mini is the perfect tablet.  (Quartz)

Are you looking forward to “House of Cards” from Netflix ($NFLX)?  (WSJ reviews THR, Variety, Slate)

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