Quote of the day

Fred Wilson, “But the more people you put around a table, the harder it is to make really gutsy investments. And the more you stick to your disciplined investment strategy, the more you say no to people and projects you like personally.”  (A VC)

Chart of the day

10 Year Treasury Rate data by YCharts

The 10 year Treasury note touched 3%.  (Capital Spectator, Quartz, TRB, WSJ)

Markets

Twitter ($TWTR) stock is on an epic tear into year-end.  (WSJ, MoneyBeat, FT)

No divergence here.  (StockCharts Blog)

Where are we in the business cycle?  (Andrew Thasher)

Strategy

What exactly is a ‘safe asset‘ these days?  (Aleph Blog)

The case for closed-end muni bond funds.  (Capital Observer)

How to find a subscription service that works for you.  (Brian Lund)

Why gold won’t save you in the Apocalypse.  (The Atlantic, Professor Bainbridge)

Gatis Roze, “The best investors understand in the very beginning that learning to trade the markets is an endurance event.”  (StockCharts Blog)

Companies

iOS users are big spenders compared to Android users.  (Business Insider)

Check out the new welfare queen of Connecticut: ESPN.  (NYTimes)

Just how quickly will 3-D printing get deployed in the real world?  (Kevin Kelleher)

Why a bunch of packages were stranded at UPS’ ($UPS) Louisville hub before Christmas.  (WSJ, NYTimes, Daniel Gross)

Advisors

The rising challenge of robo-advisors.  (Abnormal Returns)

Seven thoughts on the rising robo-advisor trend.  (The Reformed Broker)

Is your financial advisor worth it?  (Dan Ariely via Focus on Funds)

Finance

A disturbing trend: pre-IPO companies guaranteeing share prices for investors.  (Points and Figures, WSJ)

Nobody really knows where all the world’s metal inventories are hiding.  (WSJ)

ETFs

Five niche ETFs that excelled in 2013.  (IndexUniverse)

Global

Turkey is a mess.  (Sober Look, Business Insider)

Economy

How much “pent up demand” will get unleashed in 2014?  (Cardiff Garcia)

Why the financial crisis ended in the Fall of 2011.  (Joe Weisenthal)

On the decline of the single-family house.  (WSJ)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

2013 was a disappointing year for tech.  (Quartz contra GigaOM)

How to maximize your use of Twitter.  (See It Market)

How to rationalize your media consumption in 2014.  (Farnam Street)

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