Book notes: Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller is “interesting and entertaining.” (Bloomberg)
Quote of the Day
"In short, traders lose, not because they're bad at the game, but because they are playing the wrong game."
(Brett Steenbarger)
Chart of the Day

Oprah Winfrey can still move the dial. She buys a 10% stake in Weight Watchers ($WTW).
Buybacks
- REITs are cheap. Should they be buying back shares? (institutionalinvestor.com)
- Look for companies that consistently shrink share count not splashy big buybacks. (bloomberg.com)
- Cheap BDCs are leading to fights over assets. (ft.com)
Strategy
- Buying high yield sovereigns works. (mebfaber.com)
- 10 sports terms that help explain Wall Street. (maliceforall.com)
Individual bonds
- Why you don't need bonds funds. (wsj.com)
- Buying individual bonds does not the erase risk. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
Offers
- Salil Mehta's "Topics in Statistics" is for a limited time $0.99 on the Kindle. (amzn.to)
- Modern Trader Magazine—the essential journal for professional traders and active investors. Check out this special subscription offer including a free investment classic! (moderntrader.com)
Companies
- Twitter ($TWTR) has an investor problem. (qz.com)
- Publishers need to straddle the Google ($GOOG)-Apple ($AAPL) divide. (nytimes.com)
- The Justice Department is going to have make some tough mega-antitrust decisions. (wsj.com)
Analysts
- How analysts can get the most out of a meeting with management. (blog.stockviews.com)
- Insights from a financial recruiter. (blogs.cfainstitute.org)
Finance
- What should companies say when the CEO is sick? (wsj.com)
- Big banks don't want your deposits. (wsj.com)
- The IPO window is still open to companies willing to compromise on price. (blogs.wsj.com)
ETFs
- Multi-factor investing isn't easy but the new Goldman Sachs Active Beta U.S. Large Cap Equity ($GSLC) looks good. (dualmomentum.net)
- Chuck Jaffe, "No investor today has a hole in their portfolio that can only be filled by an actively managed fund cloaked as index fund based on what people are saying on Twitter." (marketwatch.com)
Global
Economy
- Homebuilder confidence is at a ten-year high. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- There's no compelling reason for the Fed to raise rates. (bloomberg.com)
- The Fed board is seriously split. (blogs.ft.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Research links: naive analysis. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you may have missed in our Sunday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)