‘Tis the season. For the budding investment banker in your midst The Economist recommends A Giant Cow-Tipping by Savages: The Boom, Bust and Boom Culture of M&A by John Weir Close.

Quote of the day

Justin Fox, “In terms of lasting influence and impact, then, it’s hard to think of many other living business leaders..who can compare with Bogle. He certainly seems more important than anyone else in the financial realm.”  (HBR)

Chart of the day

Will China ever breakout of its relative downtrend?  (Humble Student)

Markets

Five investment fad/themes for 2013.  (The Reformed Broker)

Six potential market pitfalls including the risk of “Abegeddon.”  (John Authers)

How have stocks performed during recent periods of rising interest rates?  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Strategy

A deep dive into the accounting-based flaws with the Shiller CAPE.  (Philosophical Economics)

The great thing about being a trader.  (Finance Trends Matter)

Content

2013 was the year of Netflix ($NFLX) and the concept of “binge watching.”  (Quartz, WSJ)

Aereo wants the broadcasters to take it the Supreme Court.  (Time)

Streaming music is popular but can it ever be profitable?  (NYTimes)

Finance

Contrary to popular opinion muni bankruptcies have been trending down.  (WSJ)

There does not seem to be a freshwater/salt water divide when it come to financial economics.  (Noahpinion)

Trading coaches are now de rigueur for hedge funds.  (Financial News via MoneyBeat)

Funds

Are index funds too popular?  (Daily Ticker)

The case for total market funds vs. the S&P 500.  (Rick Ferri)

Just how close are we to non-transparent ETFs?  (Reuters via Focus on Funds)

Global

One of these years the global economy will surprise to the upside.  (Time)

Economy

The Federal budget deficit is melting away before our very eyes.  (Daniel Gross)

Stanley Fischer’s views on monetary policy at the zero bound.  (FT Alphaville)

When will US payrolls reach a new high?  (Calculated Risk)

We won’t know the true state of the economy until QE is withdrawn.  (FT)

Why hasn’t construction employment bounced back?  (NYTimes)

Rail traffic continues to post strong gains.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Beware backtests built to anchor expectations.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Awesome science-related gifts including Mushrooms in a Box.  (Wired)

A mega-book recommendation list including top pick The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White and the Making of a New World Order by Ben Steil.  (Bloomberg)

A review of the new slew of DIY connected hubs including Revolv.  (GigaOM)

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