On the bookshelf: The Safe Investor: How to Make Your Money Grow in a Volatile Global Economy by Tim McCarthy.

Quote of the day

John Authers, “Ultimately, value’s superiority is simple. It requires looking at things as they are. Growth requires predicting the future.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

Why your steak may soon be more expensive.  (Bonddad Blog)

Markets

The past year has seen a big spread in asset class returns.  (Capital Spectator)

Cultural signs we are in a raging bull market.  (The Reformed Broker)

Strategy

Asness vs. Buffett on the value of bonds in a portfolio.  (Turnkey Analyst)

Have stocks really been overvalued since 1996?  (Barry Ritholtz)

What does it mean to “reduce risk“?  (The Felder Report)

Market predictability isn’t always all that predictable.  (TraderFeed)

How men and women make financial decisions differently.  (Blackrock Blog)

Companies

Tesla ($TSLA) is on the right side of the renewable energy boom.  (Business Insider)

Why is corporate activism limited to hedge funds?  (FT)

How WhatsApp changed the value equation for startups.  (Vitaliy Katsenelson)

Finance

On the high costs of bad 401(k) plans.  (Baseline Scenario)

Why more private equity firms are likely to come public.  (Dealbook)

Can Bitcoin capitalize on the demise of MtGox?  (Felix Salmon also Pando Daily)

ETFs

Meet Reginald Brown of Cantor Fitzgerald who helps make the ETF market go.  (Bloomberg)

What happens to bond ETFs in a world where banks are pulling back on bond trading.  (Focus on Funds)

Vanguard is once again cutting fund expenses.  (ETF)

Global

Eurozone economic sentiment is perking up.  (MoneyBeat)

Global earning revisions are mostly negative.  (Dr. Ed’s Blog)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims have stopped going down.  (Calculated Risk)

How much of the economic slowdown is due to extreme weather?  (Business Insider)

Corporate economists are once again a hot commodity.  (WSJ)

Why some markets became more bubbly in the housing bubble.  (MoneyBeat)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

13 books Wall Streeters are reading including The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters by Gregory Zuckerman.  (Business Insider)

12 cognitive biases that affect investors.  (Todd Harrison)

James Altucher, “We choose our excuses. They don’t choose us.”  (Altucher Confidential)

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