Quote of the day

Rick Ferri, “Volatility is not only common, it’s necessary. A good dose of higher VIX creates the pause that refreshes. It shakes out the weak investors and sets up a return premium for those of us who can withstand the annoyance.”  (Rick Ferri)

Chart of the day

Is the fall in utilities already over?  (The Fat Pitch)

Markets

The 2000s really were a bad time to be an investor.  (Irrelevant Investor)

Three market positives and three market negatives.  (Joe Fahmy)

Individual investor sentiment has backed off.   (Bespoke also Horan Capital)

Strategy

“Betting against beta” not only works across but within industries as well.  (Financial Analysts Journal)

Josh Brown, “The bottom line is that everyone is “long-term oriented” and comfortable with the tradeoffs of investing up to a point. And then we break.”  (The Reformed Broker)

How a focus on yield leads investors astray.  (Aleph Blog)

When averages mislead.  (TraderFeed)

Finance

Ten charts that help explain the current IPO boom.  (MoneyBeat)

Tobacco backed bonds are another example of Wall Street “innovations” gone wrong.  (ProPublica)

Tax inversions are a symptom of a broken corporate tax regime.  (The Upshot)

ETFs

Does it matter if the S&P 500 is “actively managed”?  (Larry Swedroe)

A Q&A with Herbert Moore of online investment manager WiseBanyan.  (ETF)

Hedge funds

Macro hedge funds are having a tough time of it.  (WSJ)

A profile of Paul Singer and his ongoing fight against Argentina.  (Businessweek)

Busted deals are making for a hard time for merger arb funds.  (WSJ)

Global

Two year Bund yields went negative.  (Business Insider)

The trend for emerging markets is finally looking up.  (Dana Lyons)

Are frontier markets overheated?  (WSJ)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims continue to trend lower.  (Calculated Risk, Bespoke)

Five charts on the state of the housing market.  (MoneyBeat also Conor Sen)

Fed hawks really don’t the data on their side.  (Tim Duy)

The US is gushing oil.  (Dr. Ed’s Blog)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

“The way we signal status has also changed. Especially in business, success isn’t just about looking wealthy, but about looking different.”  (Economist)

The Apple Macbook Air is still the best laptop.  (WSJ)

Twitter fights are unwinnable.  (Bits)

How you should spend the first ten minutes of your day.  (HBR)

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