Quote of the day

Michael Mauboussin, “Most people have a difficult time accepting that super-successful products are not special.”  (Huffington Post)

Chart of the day

BRK_0213

Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKA) as a market tell.  (chessNwine)

Markets

How major asset classes performed in January.  (Capital Spectator)

A fund flow-indicator says “sell” or at least “correct.”  (Money Game, ibid)

Dow 14,000: then and now.  (The Reformed Broker)

Dan Fuss says the bond market is wicked overbought.  (Bloomberg)

Strategy

Just because there is “cash on the sidelines” does not mean it will go into equities.  (Michael Santoli)

Cash plays a myriad of roles in a portfolio.  (Market Folly)

Nassim Taleb loves What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan.  (Alea)

Personal finance

Can video games help improve financial literacy?  (Economist)

Americans are being forced to rethink retirement.  (WSJ)

Check out an excerpt from Helaine Olen’s Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.  (Slate)

Apple

China is Apple’s ($AAPL) second largest market.  (SplatF)

Apple’s next move is into the living room.  (Pando Daily, Bloomberg, AllThingsD)

Why an Apple ‘phablet‘ should happen.  (Marco Ament)

Apple needs to get in synch with its investors.  (Musings on Markets)

Finance

Michael Dell is still trying to work a deal for majority control of Dell ($DELL).  (Bloomberg, YCharts Blog)

Private equity needs some rebranding.  (Dealbook)

Twitter is the new home of fake company news.  (Reuters)

The challenge for pension funds to attract top talent.  (Institutional Investor)

Last year was not a good one for college endowment funds.  (WSJ)

Funds

WisdomTree Investments ($WETF) has been on the right side of some trends.  (Focus on Funds)

Can Pimco build a successful equity business?  (Businessweek)

Investors are pouring money into bank loan funds.  (Sober Look)

Global

The global weighted PMI indicator has turned higher.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

The Chinese economy is muddling along.  (FT, Money Game, FT Alphaville)

European value stocks are trading at a big discount to growth stocks.  (Buttonwood)

The Yen is weakening against the Euro.  (Money Game)

Europe’s economy is still a bit of a mess.  (Bonddad Blog)

Economy

The December employment report showed continued jobs growth.  (Calculated Risk, Wonkblog, Felix Salmon, FT Alphaville, Capital Spectator, Quartz, Free exchange, Bonddad Blog)

The US manufacturing economy continues to show growth.  (Money Game, CWS)

Mixed media

Despite a drop in enrollments new law schools are opening up.  (WSJ also The Atlantic)

The old “10 and 2” steering wheel grip is no longer recommended.  (Boing Boing via Digg)

How the Nest thermometer is going to change home automation.  (ReadWrite)

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