Notes: Insights from Tom Verducci’s The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse on how the Cubs built a World Series winner and why building a dynasty is nearly impossible. (Slate)
Quote of the Day
"The marketplace for ideas is faltering...What seems to have gone missing is the sharing ethic that existed when the blogosphere and Twittersphere and social bookmarking were young."
(Druce Vertes)
Markets
- Why investors just can't get enough long (30 years+) bonds. (wsj.com)
- Stock markets are pricing in secular stagnation ad infinitum. (gmo.com)
- A bull market doesn't really start until the last market high has been exceeded. (allstarcharts.com)
- Energy stocks are notable laggard. (seeitmarket.com)
Strategy
- Later-than-ever IPOs are removing potential returns from the public markets. (thereformedbroker.com)
- Don't confuse an investment product with an investment solution. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
- Cash-secured put writing as a substitute for hedge funds. (institutionalinvestor.com)
- Four simple investment strategies that work. (alephblog.com)
Offers
- These are the biggest discounts ($30-$50) Amazon has offered on its Kindle e-readers to-date. (amazon.com)
- The business classic "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco" by Bryan Burroughs and John Helyar is still $1.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
- Michael Lewis' most recent book "The Undoing Project" is just $9.18 for the e-book. (amazon.com)
- You can get $30 off cleaning and handyman services at Amazon Home Services. (amazon.com)
Companies
- A rare miss for Amazon ($AMZN) as it shuts down Quidsi. (businessinsider.com)
- Why Hollywood's view of Netflix ($NFLX) has flipped. (500ish.com)
- Twitter ($TWTR) changed how replies worked and people are freaking out. (slate.com)
Fintech
- An insider look at Cheddar, the CNBC for the 21st century. (wired.com)
- Digit has saved customers $500 million. (fastcompany.com)
- You don't need to advertise all over the web. (mobile.nytimes.com)
- Stocktoberfest East was a blast. (howardlindzon.com)
Finance
- Sears Holdings ($SHLD) has been Eddie Lampert's Waterloo. (nytimes.com)
- Private equity firms are cherry-picking debt buyers. (ft.com)
- What happens when traders start using encrypted apps on their phones to exchange info? (bloomberg.com)
- The equity research business is in secular decline. (economist.com)
Funds
- Some lessons learned from Blackrock's push into quantitative equity management. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
- Vanguard's CEO on the future of investment management. (knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu)
Global
Economy
- Weekly initial unemployment claims are rising bu are still at historically low levels. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- Hotel occupancy is still strong. (calculatedriskblog.com)
Society
- Why nobody is building smaller apartment buildings. (bloomberg.com)
- Denver is experiencing wage inflation from the booming pot business. (bloomberg.com)
- Why the US should distribute the federal government around the country. (marginalrevolution.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Podcast links: ninja myths. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Thursday links: video fun. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Startup links: ripping out the projections. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Wednesday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Analog machines and depreciating code: insights from David Sax's "The Revenge of Analog." (abnormalreturns.com)
Mixed media
- What fantasy baseball tells us about the coming season. (wsj.com)
- Eight burning questions about baseball with some cool graphs. (fivethirtyeight.com)
- Can the Cubs do it again? (newyorker.com)
- Every MLB team is looking for its own Andrew Miller-type multi-inning reliever. (theringer.com)
- Stop hitting ground balls! (hosted.ap.org)
- The heartwarming story of a career minor leaguer who made an Opening Day 25-man roster. (businessinsider.com)
