Quote of the day

@jesse_livermore, “In the end, valuation metrics are only capable of giving us a crude idea of what future returns will be.”  (Philosophical Economics)

Chart of the day

The S&P 500 has spent a record amount of time above the 200 day moving average.  (Price Action Lab)

Markets

Michael Batnick, “Bull market tops are more difficult to call than bear market bottoms because doubt is a far more resilient emotion than hope.”  (The Irrelevant Investor)

This indicator points towards an overbought market.  (AThrasher)

How stocks can be both cheap and expensive at the same time.  (Humble Student)

Where is all this cash investors are presumably holding?  (Horan Capital)

On the seeming paradox of low market volatility.  (Marginal Revolution)

Strategy

The chase for yield can end badly for the uninitiated.  (A Wealth of Common Sense)

There is no such thing as perfection in portfolio management.  (The Reformed Broker)

Can we use a model to identify bull/bear market states?  (Capital Spectator)

Despite its age price-to-book still works in identifying value stocks.  (Greenbackd)

On the danger of casual stockpicking advice.  (Chuck Jaffe)

Why Clash of the Financial Pundits: How the Media Influences Your Investment Decisions for Better or Worse by Joshua M. Brown and Jeff Macke is worth the time.  (Reading the Markets)

Companies

How Amazon ($AMZN) wants to get into the payments business.  (Pando Daily)

Apple ($AAPL) borrowed generously from Android in iOS 8.  (ArsTechnica)

What a merged Sprint ($S) and T-Mobile ($TMUS) would look like.  (Dealbook)

Can companies use enhanced privacy as a competitive advantage?  (A VC)

Finance

Former Goldman Sachs ($GS) proprietary traders are finding life on the outside a tough go.  (FT)

Carlyle Group ($CG) is cashing in.  (WSJ)

Paypal co-founder is now running instant consumer credit startup Affirm.  (Digits via BI)

Bloomberg for the virtual reality crowd.  (Quartz)

Morningstar’s ($MORN) growth lies outside the US.  (Crain’s Chicago)

ETFs

How long might an actively managed bond ETF’s “outperformance window” stay open?  (SSRN)

Wall Street once again loves WisdomTree Investments ($WETF).  (Focus on Funds)

Global

The Spanish 10-year now trades below the 10-year Treasury.  (Business Insider also FT Alphaville)

Why is Mexico’s central bank cutting interest rates?  (Macro Man)

Reassessing potential GDP post-crisis.  (Gavyn Davies)

Low inflation rates make means more accommodative monetary policies.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

What explains the divergence between employment outcomes for the US and Canada post-recession?  (Sober Look)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Jobs

Why “passion for your job” is a dangerous thing.  (FT)

Non-compete clauses are popping up in some strange places.  (NYTimes also Marginal Revolution)

Companies should let their employees “bring their own technology” to the office.  (WSJ)

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