Book notes: The Smartest Places on Earth: How Rustbelts are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation by Antoine van Agtmael and Fred Bakker argues for more public-private partnerships to build innovative cities. (WSJ)
Quote of the Day
"Life is too short to be spent placing seat-of-the-pants bets in a casino where the rules change every week. Don’t get mad, get disciplined."
(Joshua Brown)
Chart of the Day

Everyone has been paying attention to crude oil prices, but natural gas is also bouncing off its bottom.
Markets
- The S&P 500 made a new high despite a raft of macro issues. (fat-pitch.blogspot.com)
- Why have the number of publicly traded companies dropped 50% since 1997. (marginalrevolution.com)
Strategy
- Time frame is a real challenge for financial commentators. (thereformedbroker.com)
- Putting the CAPE ratio into some perspective. (etf.com)
- Warren Buffett does not have your back. (marketchess.com)
Offers
- Have you checked out "Outlander" yet on Starz? If not sign up for a free trial to Starz on Amazon. (amazon.com)
- Show Mom you care this year. Give her the gift of Amazon Prime. (amazon.com)
- The much-talked about Amazon Echo is currently 15% off. (amazon.com)
Companies
- Amazon ($AMZN) keeps a close eye on hot sellers and clones them. (bloomberg.com)
- Old world tech firms, like Intel ($INTC), are cutting payrolls. (ftalphaville.ft.com)
Finance
- The peer-to-peer lending industry is rapidly aging. (fortune.com)
- Big corporations are increasingly joining the VC crowd. (nytimes.com)
Funds
- How much do you pay in investment fees every year? (news.morningstar.com)
- Ever thinner sliced ETFs: good, bad or indifferent? (etf.com)
- The ETF Deathwatch for April 2016. (investwithanedge.com)
- Doubleline is launching two new bond ETFs with State Street ($STT). (blogs.barrons.com)
Global
Economy
- What CEOs have been saying about the state of the economy. (blogs.cfainstitute.org)
- Comparing the various GDP nowcasting models. (blogs.ft.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Personal finance links: financial isolation. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Our book link round-up from April 2016. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Tuesday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Where to find differentiated dividend ideas: an excerpt from "Keeping Your Dividend Edge: Strategies for Growing & Protecting Your Dividends" by Todd Wenning.* (abnormalreturns.com)