Quote of the day

Austin Kleon, “A good life is not about living within your means, it’s about living below your means.”  (Austin Kleon via @behaviorgap)

Chart of the day

Apple vs. Microsoft ($MSFT) over time.  (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Markets

The stars are lining up for a market surge.  (The Reformed Broker, ibid)

Just how unusual has been 2013 return-wise?  (Mebane Faber)

Sell-side optimism detailed.  (FT Alphaville)

The average 401(k) account has doubled in value since 2008.  (InvestmentNews)

Strategy

An investment strategy that doubles down on recent currency losers.  (Sober Look)

Investors have poor memories. Keep a journal (and good records).  (Morgan Housel)

Create interesting stuff and make it easy to share.  (Carl Richards)

Companies

Is it time to break up Darden Restaurants ($DRI)?  (Dealbook)

How much is Yahoo! ($YHOO) worth without Alibaba?  (Businessweek)

Sales growth has stalled out at IBM ($IBM).  (Herb Greenberg)

The similarities between Burberry and Apple ($AAPL) are more numerous than you think.  (FT)

The trajectory of the iPhone and Apple stock.  (Asymco)

Finance

How some early Twitter investors have cleaned up.  (Term Sheet)

Mark Cuban bests the SEC in court over insider trading case.  (Dealbook)

College endowments on average don’t generate alpha.  (Rick Ferri)

Higher compliance costs are making things tough on smaller hedge funds.  (MoneyBeat)

ETFs

Does the world need an ETF tracking recent IPOs?  (ETFdb)

Charles Schwab ($SCHW) expands the available number of commission-free ETFs.  (IndexUniverse)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

America loves yogurt.  (beyondbrics)

Are robots going to put baristas out of business?  (Quartz)

Is Blue Moon really America’s favorite beer?  (The Atlantic)

Putting Tavern on the Green back together.  (NYTimes)

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