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Quote of the day

Cam Hui, “The moral of this story is, if you were to engage in factor investing, whether indirectly through “smart beta” concepts or directly in an active or semi-active fashion, you are making a deliberate bet against the market portfolio.”  (Humble Student of the Markets)

Chart of the day

After a rough period coffee is having a strong 2014.  (ETF)

Markets

Where’d all the cheap stocks go?  (Millenial Invest)

David Einhorn has a basket of “cool kid stocks” he is shorting.  (The Reformed Broker, SL Advisors)

Why Americans are biased towards real estate: they can’t calculate returns.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Strategy

A look at the worst 10 year returns for a 50/50 stock/bond portfolio.  (A Wealth of Common Sense)

Three reasons not to trade while on vacation.  (See It Market)

Are corporate bonds worth the bother?  (Larry Swedroe)

Being a contrarian is tough.  (Mark Hulbert)

Apple

Why Apple ($AAPL) has stopped growing.  (Quartz)

Tim Cook needs to answer some tough questions about Apple.  (Business Insider, Daily Ticker)

Activists

Why do activist investors get 10 days to accumulate a stake in a target?  (Bloomberg View)

Activist investors need to expand their field of vision.  (WSJ, Dealbook)

Bill Ackman is a big fan of The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William Thorndike.  (Quartz)

Finance

Why do buyouts follow a boom-bust pattern?  (Fortune)

There is an epidemic of dividend recaps.  (Bloomberg)

Bank profitability is ebbing.  (MoneyBeat)

HFT

Does the IEX matter? David Einhorn does.   (ETF, CNBC)

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis is a missed opportunity.  (Naked Capitalism)

Global

Purchasing managers see a further rise in the Euro economy.  (FT)

More signs the Russian economy is faltering.  (FT Alphaville)

A look at the bubble in London real estate.  (Brett Arends)

The Dubai stock market is on a tear.  (MoneyBeat)

Economy

Temp staffing is on the rise.  (ValuePlays)

The housing economy seems to be cooling off.  (Calculated Risk)

Check out the surge in traffic at the LA port.  (Quartz)

Subsidies aside, solar is winning.  (Noahpinion)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

Ten questions for Marc Andresssen.  (Howard Lindzon)

Vintage HBO content will now be available on Amazon Prime.  (Recode, Quartz)

Why now is the time for podcasting to thrive.  (Haywire)

How much “explanatory journalism” do we actually need?  (GigaOm)

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