From the bookshelf: A new book from William Bernstein, Rational Expectations: Asset Allocation for Investing Adults, is always worthy of note.

Quote of the day

Tom Brakke, “An investment committee or board member needs to understand the underpinnings of the investment approach, including its bedrock assumptions that are so pervasive that they often don’t get discussed.”   (the research puzzle)

Chart of the day

Fear has quickly to turned to greed.  (CNN)

Markets

The world’s stock markets are overbought.  (Bespoke)

REITs are on fire.  (Bespoke)

About that coffee shortage.  (MoneyBeat)

On the continued underperformance of trendfollowing managed futures funds.  (CNBC)

Strategy

How to avoid value traps.  (Aleph Blog)

Why you need to understand what you know and more importantly what you don’t know.  (Andrew Thrasher)

Meb Faber, “The biggest failing of market-cap-weighted buy-and-hold investing is that it ignores valuations.”  (Advisor Perspectives)

Is the “Sell in May” phenomenon already diminished? (SSRN)

Apple

Apple ($AAPL) needed to forget, in part, its past.  (stratechery)

The “Apple doesn’t get the cloud era” is over.  (Quartz)

Finance

Michael Santoli, “Technology, not finance, is now the source of riches, prestige and material for cable-TV shows.”   (Daily Ticker)

The SEC is going to increase the oversight of high-speed trading.  (Dealbook, WSJ)

What is the future of the exchange business model?  (Points and Figures)

Shareholders are voting against golden parachutes.  (WSJ)

Why corporate treasurers are so reluctant to put money to work.  (FT also Quartz)

Funds

Are mutual funds sitting ducks?  (Alpha Architect)

Are merger arbitrage funds worth it?  (research puzzle pix)

Global

Why investors are once again hot on emerging market bonds.  (Institutional Investor)

Economy

The May non-farm payrolls report shows US employment is back at its highs.  (Calculated Risk, Vox, Quartz, The Upshot, FiveThirtyEight, Capital Spectator, Bonddad Blog)

Lawrence Summers positively review by House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession, and How We Can Prevent It from Happening Again by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi. (FT)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

The robots are coming, the robots are coming!  (FT)

The online security problem is only going to get worse.  (TechCrunch)

Maybe what Detroit needs more goat herders.  (Dealbook)

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