Cool stuff for the holidays: Gregory Zuckerman’s The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of New Billionaire Wildcatters.
Quote of the day
Albert Edwards, “I have never seen the sell-side predict a recession. There are a number of reasons for that but key among them is the personal career risk of calling a recession and being wrong.” (Buttonwood’s notebook)
Chart of the day
Is trend following broken? (Economist)
Markets
The Brent-WTI spread is blowing out again. (Sober Look, FT Alphaville)
Copper is doing nothing. (BCA Research)
Owning retailers in December has been a losing trade historically. (Humble Student)
When investment bigshots get too cute by half. (Institutional Imperative contra The Reformed Broker)
Strategy
Why don’t investors take advantage when stocks are on sale? (Brett Arends)
Investors, keep a trading log. (Your Wealth Effect)
How to take the long view. (Aleph Blog)
Companies
Is Apple ($AAPL) ever going to make a play for the living room? (FT)
Is Apple’s new headquarters building a big mistake? (Bloomberg)
How Solar City ($SCTY) and Tesla ($TSLA) will disrupt the utilities. (Quartz)
This Indian company is turning a profit recycling your e-waste. (Quartz)
Finance
Banks are tightening the reins on the use of trader chat rooms. (Bloomberg)
Why aren’t institutional investors more aggressive on corporate governance issues? (IndexUniverse contra Dealbook)
The reinsurance business has become a crowded trade. (Cassandra Does Tokyo)
Funds
Meet a manger who has over 50% of his fund in cash. (Focus on Funds)
Five thoughts on the bond market (and funds). (Rekenthaler Report)
Can DFA crack the 401(k) market? (Forbes)
The two John Bogles approach investing very differently. (WSJ)
Global
Brazil is deep into a monetary tightening cycle. (FT)
How Poland became Europe’s most dynamic economy. (Businessweek, beyondbrics)
Netherlands catches a downgrade from AAA. (MoneyBeat)
Economy
It’s hard to see how retail sales exceed expectations this holiday season. (Sober Look)
Eleven economic lessons from Black Friday shopping. (The Atlantic)
Just how much would a rise in the minimum wage do for workers? (Businessweek)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you may have missed in our Wednesday linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Stuff
Apple Pages beats Microsoft ($MSFT) Word. (NYTimes)
Sony’s PS4 vs. Microsoft’s XBox One: a tale of the tape. (ArsTechnica, GigaOM)
This may be the best keyboard for your iPad Air. (TUAW)
Mixed media
A computer science class, CS50, has become a bit hit with Harvard undergraduates. (Boston Globe via @cdixon)
You can’t generate peak performance without a healthy mind and body. (Tony Schwartz)
Everything is amazing and nobody is happy. (Morgan Housel)
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