Quote of the day

Jack Hough, “Recent earnings gains have come largely from revenue growth with only a smidgen of margin improvement. That suggests that after five years of aggressive cost-cutting, companies are finding it more difficult to squeeze extra earnings out of each sales dollar.”  (Barron’s)

Chart of the day

Has corn finally bottomed?  (ETF Trends)

Markets

The stock market is not cheap based on P/E ratios.  (Mark Hulbert)

Bona fide correction or buyer’s strike: you make the call.  (UpsideTrader)

Hedge funds are hating on coffee.  (The Short Side of Long)

Treasury yields have resumed their uptrend.  (StockCharts Blog, Sober Look)

Year-to-date fixed income sector performance.  (Sober Look)

A look at the value in the muni bond market.  (Barron’s)

Strategy

Why investing apps are hazardous to your wealth.  (Chuck Jaffe)

When investors treat their 401(k)s as piggy banks.  (NYTimes)

Rising interest rates will not affect all stocks equally.  (A Dash of Insight)

Drawdowns and the Permanent Portfolio.  (Crawling Road via Monevator)

Companies

US auto factories are running around the clock.  (WSJ)

On the hope for some competition in the ticketing industry.  (Wonkblog)

Funds

Can leveraged ETFs really cause a market sell-off?  (NetNet)

Bill Ackman’s very bad summer. (Economist)

Bruce Berkowitz is reopening the Fairholme Fund to new investments.  (InvestmentNews)

Economy

America has experienced more austerity than commonly thought.  (Business Insider)

Why the housing market may be slowing.  (Real Time Economics, Wonkblog)

A look back at the economic week that was.  (Bonddad Blog)

The economic schedule for the coming week.  (Calculated Risk)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Top clicks this week on the site.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Is economics more like history than physics?  (Scientific American)

Three tips on starting a business.  (Distressed Debt Investing)

Google Chromecast three weeks in.  (GigaOM)

Whatever happened to August?  (WSJ)

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