Quote of the day

David Kotok, “The entire hubbub over Detroit, San Bernardino, and other specific tax-free municipal bond credit issues has provided an entry opportunity in the tax-free municipal bond market that is unparalleled except for one other time.”  (Big Picture)

Chart of the day

Where did all the bears go?  (The Short Side of Long)

Markets

Keeping an eye on a market divergence.  (Dynamic Hedge)

So much for that pullback in risk-seeking behavior in the credit markets.  (Bloomberg)

Are retail investors really that overweight bonds?  (FT Alphaville)

Investors should enjoy things until September…because a fiscal food fight looms in Congress.  (Politico)

Where are the earnings to support markets?  (FT)

Passive portfolios

Passive portfolios win but that doesn’t mean you should denigrate those who try.  (The Reformed Broker)

Tom Brakke, “Should investors always and everywhere be satisficers, using simple allocations and indexation strategies?”  (the research puzzle)

Get yourself an investment philosophy you can write down and follow.  (Morningstar)

Research

Does a value tilt help improve low vol performance?  (Falkenblog)

How the big hedge funds have won over the past two decades.  (Turnkey Analyst)

You got to go (really) small to capture the size and value effects.  (IndexUniverse)

Strategy

Sell when you can, not when you have to.  (Aimlessly Chasing Amy via The Reformed Broker)

On the differences between poker and trading.  (Adam Warner)

Not all day traders lose money.  (Brian Lund)

Companies

Noodles & Co. ($NDLS) has some expansion still to do.  (Fortune)

Big oil is having hard time finding oil.  (FT)

Weight loss companies are finding it difficult to compete against free.  (Businessweek)

How will the new iPhones be priced?  (Asymco)

Finance

A little known service that gets high speed traders data releases faster.  (WSJ)

Shocking to hear that the walls between research and banking are still “porous.”  (Dealbook)

Detroit has driven a revival in the muni bond insurance business.  (FT)

Funds

Floating NAVs for institutional money market funds look like a sure thing now.  (WSJ)

Are ETFs the best vehicle for target date retirement funds?  (Marketwatch)

The question to ask before selling your fund.  (Chuck Jaffe)

Global

Emerging markets have lost their growth lead to the developing markets.  (WSJ)

A new central banker will not make for a quick turnaround for the Indian economy.  (Gavyn Davies)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Victory laps often end badly in the financial markets.  (Abnormal Returns)

What you may have missed in our Sunday linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Happy 5th anniversary StockTwits!  (Howard Lindzon)

The fight over the founding of SnapChat.  (Business Insider)

“Social trading” is becoming a thing in the forex markets.  (FT)

Books

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading—and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy by Charlie Gasparino is a summer financial book favorite.  (The Reformed Broker)

An interview with Maria Konnikova author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.  (Farnam Street)

A positive review of On the Floor a fictional tale of time spent on a trading floor by Aifric Campbell.  (Slate)

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