You can keep up with all of our posts by signing up for our daily e-mail. Thousands of other readers already have. Don’t miss out!

Quote of the day

Martin Wolf, “In a democracy, people overturn laws by winning elections, not by threatening the closure of government or even an outright default. It is impossible to run the government of a serious country under blackmail threats of this kind.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

AAPL Cash and ST Investments data by YCharts

Apple ($AAPL) is holding 10% of corporate America’s cash.  (Quartz)

Markets

2013 dividends will be double that of 2010.  (Crossing Wall Street)

Why have markets shrugged off (for now) the risk of a big Washington fail?  (Gavyn Davies)

Strategy

Simply put: why does value investing work?  (Turnkey Analyst)

Why most traders fail: they don’t treat it as a business.  (The Reformed Broker)

The most recent edition of the Mutual Fund Observer is out and worth a read.  (Mutual Fund Observer)

Companies

Carl Icahn’s plan for Apple is lame. (Slate)

Bill Gates is slated to be out of Microsoft ($MSFT) shares by 2018.  (Reuters)

Store brands are taking share from brand names.  (NYTimes)

Finance

Private equity fundraising is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition.  (Quartz)

Advance refunding of municipal bonds destroys value.  (SSRN)

ETFs

The cheapest ETFs to build simple portfolios.  (Morningstar)

So you want to build your own ETF?  (Marketwatch)

Rich guys love ETFs.  (ETF Trends)

T. Rowe Price ($TROW) wants to get into the “non-transparent active ETF” business.  (FT)

Global

The valuation case against high quality European stocks.  (FT)

Economy

The ADP Report for September shows continued slow but steady jobs growth.  (Calculated Risk, Capital Spectator)

Why it’s okay if the housing economy slows.  (Quartz)

Where your economic data release stands.  (Capital Spectator, Calculated Risk)

Policy uncertainty is on the rise.  (Econbrowser)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What books Abnormal Returns readers purchased in September 2013.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

In praise of grinding: the case of Jim Cramer.  (The Fly)

Quantopian raises a big wad of cash to democratize algorithmic trading.  (Pando Daily)

11 reasons why a CFA is better than an MBA.  (Business Insider)

Thanks for checking in with Abnormal Returns. You can follow us on StockTwits and Twitter.