Quote of the day
Larry Swedroe, “Alternative investments are really not much more than repackaged factor exposures. And factor exposures can be obtained far less expensively, and in a more diversified way, in publicly available securities. In other words, alternative investments in most cases are products meant to be sold and better not bought.” (ETF)
Chart of the day
The case for satisficing. (xkcd)
Strategy
Great investors think in terms of probabilities. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
The incredible bond bull market has put the hurt on the equity risk premium. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Seven solid lessons learned about trading. (SMB Training)
Some insights from Charles Brandes’ Brandes on Value: The Independent Investor. (Reading the Markets)
Twenty books on psychology to help traders including Thinking Fast and Slow ($2.99) by Daniel Kahneman. (Crosshairs Trader)
Technology
How Qualcomm ($QCOM) became such a beast. (The Verge)
The price of cloud storage is falling (quickly) towards $0. (Business Insider)
How Slack has become a must-have business app. (Quartz)
Finance
Merger arbitrage is not risk-free. (Bloomberg)
High fees often attract ethically challenged brokers. (SL Advisors)
Stock exchanges are adapting to take on the dark pool operators. (FT)
Funds
Hedge fund of funds are going head-to-head with consultants for business. (PIonline)
Dark times for active managers as only 20% are outperforming YTD. (FT)
ETFs shine when tax time rolls around. (ETF)
Global
China is putting itself at the center of the 21st century trade economy. (WSJ)
Why European sovereign bond yields have plunged. (Sober Look)
Chasing GDP growth can lead investors astray. (Alliance Bernstein)
How falling wage share has led to the big bull market. (Gavyn Davies)
Economy
The employment situation hasn’t been this good since 1999. (Calculated Risk)
Wage growth is just on the horizon. (Conor Sen)
Gasoline prices are in free fall. (Bespoke)
Jumbo home loan rates are once again on par with conforming loans. (WashingtonPost)
Savings
Don’t let average numbers cloud your own saving situation. (Bucks Blog)
Millennials are having a hard time saving money these days. (WSJ)
On the relationship between education and savings. (Real Time Economics)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you might have missed in our Sunday linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
News flash: America still hate the airlines. (Wonkblog)
Beware hotel Internet. (Digits)
Traditional PCs are taking a back seat to tablets and chromebooks. (WSJ)
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