Review: Timothy Egan’s The Immortal Irishman is “so dense with action, adventure and amazing history that you’ll wish you didn’t get to the finish.” (The Reformed Broker)
Quote of the Day
"Elimination of kickbacks would elevate the integrity and quality of America’s securities markets, improving executions for real investors and restoring a sense of fairness. Since kickbacks result in worse trade execution, brokers that route client orders for kickbacks violate their duty of best execution."
(Jonathan Macey and David Swensen)
Chart of the Day

“With the exception of Russia, every country ETF in the world is positive in 2017 with an average return of 19%.” – @charliebilello
Markets
- Emerging market cycles can run more than just a year or so. (markdow.tumblr.com)
- "Low volatility is different than cheap volatility." (barrons.com)
Strategy
- Index funds are not a panacea in a bear market. (pragcap.com)
- Trend-following strategies have underperformed since the financial crisis. (priceactionlab.com)
Offers
- Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie's "Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter" is just $2.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
- "Game of Thrones" is back! Sign up for a free trial to HBO through Amazon Channels. (amazon.com)
- Summer read alert: the thriller "Afterlife" by Marcus Sakey is just $4.99 for the Kindle. (amazon.com)
Companies
- Google ($GOOGL) is the most vulnerable FANG stock. (fortune.com)
- Why Amazon's ($AMZN) Alexa IS a big deal. (medium.com)
- The challenge Apple ($AAPL) faces whenever they launch a new iPhone: cool technology vs. capacity. (macworld.com)
- Why Best Buy ($BBY) has not succumbed to Amazon. (latimes.com)
Finance
- Subprime auto loans are increasingly going into default. (bloomberg.com)
- Millennials are being held back from home ownership by student loans. (bloomberg.com)
- Finance professionals default at a lower rate on their mortgages. (papers.ssrn.com)
Funds
- Fund managers are learning the downside of using machine learning to invest. (wsj.com)
- A fund takeover that actually results in lower fees. (investmentnews.com)
Instutional
- The breakeven level of AUM is rising for hedge funds. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com)
- Who should sit on your investment committee? (vanguardinstitutionalblog.com)
- Can infrastructure investing deliver? (blogs.cfainstitute.org)
Economy
- NAHB homebuilder confidence fell in July. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- Tight labor markets make hiring for government more difficult. (bloomberg.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Research links: trend-follower counterparties. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Don't second guess your decision to enter finance says Mihir Desai author of "The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return." (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Monday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- ETF links: smart beta bond funds. (abnormalreturns.com)