Excerpt: How big ideas (still) change the world from Rutger Bergman’s Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World. (Wired)
Quote of the Day
"The business model for many industries — mutual funds, venture capital, book publishing, movies, TV — are predicated on throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall in hopes that a few big winners emerge to offset the losers."
(Ben Carlson)
Markets
- US stocks had a good week especially in contrast with commodities. (capitalspectator.com)
- Hedge funds are easing up on their short Treasury positions. (twitter.com)
Strategy
Companies
- Retail is increasingly becoming a data-driven business. (wsj.com)
- At what level of Netflix ($NFLX) investment in original content do start to see a diminishing return in quality? (arstechnica.com)
- Apple ($AAPL) Pay just went live for bill pay. (businessinsider.com)
Offers
- "Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness" by Chade-Meng Tan is just $1.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
- Gary Vaynerchuk's "The Thank You Economy" is just $1.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
- "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is just $1.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
Silicon Valley
- Expect more high profile startups to fail as VCs pull back funding. (wsj.com)
- Why has Silicon Valley, to-date, avoided a popular backlash? (ft.com)
- Just say no to angel investing. (financialsamurai.com)
- Apple ($AAPL) threatened to drop Uber from the App Store. (engadget.com)
Institutional
- It's hard to remove investment consultants from the process. (institutionalinvestor.com)
- Apollo Global Management ($APO) is upping the amount it can invest in public stocks from its new buyout fund... (bloomberg.com)
Site Stuff
- Support Abnormal Returns with an annual membership. Members get access to exclusive perks. (abnormalreturns.com)
- The daily Abnormal Returns e-mail newsletter has a new look and includes our full linkfests. (abnormalreturns.com)
Global
- Activist investors are finding it easier to operate in Japan. (bloomberg.com)
- It's still too early to talk about a 'reflation off' theme. (ft.com)
Economy
- The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) moved down in March. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- Why a shrinking Feed balance sheet may lead to easing monetary conditions not tightening conditions. (ftalphaville.ft.com)
- How increasing longevity is making Social Security a better deal for the wealthy. (bloomberg.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- ETF links: unintended consequences. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Win a copy of Michael Covel's Fifth Edition of "Trend Following: How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear, and Black Swan Markets." (abnormalreturns.com)
- Q&A with Michael Covel author of the Fifth Edition of "Trend Following: How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear, and Black Swan Markets." (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Sunday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Top clicks last week on the site. (abnormalreturns.com)