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Quote of the Day
"The business prospects for well-run firms that operate in mundane industries are better than is generally believed because those companies aren’t hounded by new rivals. Nobody enters their field; the competition exists solely among those firms that already exist."
(John Rekenthaler)
Chart of the Day

In M&A land, a falling number of transactions was offset by larger deals in 2019.
Markets
- This was the most disruptive trend of the decade, and investors don't have anything to show for it. (thereformedbroker.com)
- This New Zealand milk company was the best performing global stock the past decade. (finance.yahoo.com)
- The changing list of what portfolio managers worried about over the past decade. (finance.yahoo.com)
- 2019 is ending with exceedingly high individual investor and advisor sentiment. (sentimentrader.com)
Strategy
- Five behavioral resolutions for 2020 including "Be comfortable doing nothing." (behaviouralinvestment.com)
- Five lessons learned from Hetty Green, “The Witch of Wall Street.” (morningstar.com)
- Market forecasts are made out of self-interest and can therefore be safely ignored. (blog.validea.com)
- You can't trade effectively if your financial house isn't already in order. (allstarcharts.com)
Companies
- Just because a market is big, doesn't mean it represents a good investment opportunity. (aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com)
- Lessons learned about business from treating everyone well by Julian Richer, author of "‘From Rags to Richer - A Business Success Story Built on Treating People Well." (mastersinvest.com)
Finance
- Joe Nocera, "What has also become clear this decade is the high-minded rationale the private equity industry once used to justify its deals has largely evaporated." (bnnbloomberg.ca)
- Small businesses can now easily borrow money online, but it comes at a high price. (wsj.com)
- 2019 was another big year for biotech IPOs. (institutionalinvestor.com)
Books
- The 20 best non-fiction books of 2019 including "Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries" by Safi Bahcall. (heleo.com)
- Books that members of the Andreessen Horowitz team are reading this Winter including "Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination" by Susan Douglas. (a16z.com)
- All the books Donald Trump recommended in 2019 including: "The Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free" by Rich Lowry. (slate.com)
Movies
- The best movies of 2019 through the lens of behavioral economics including "Luce." (finance.yahoo.com)
- Some movies that Barack Obama recommends from 2019. (variety.com)
- The 50 best movies of 2019 including "Knives Out." (pastemagazine.com)
- 9 most underrated movies of 2019. (variety.com)
- Where aliens have landed in the US, in the movies, that is. (bigthink.com)
Global
Economy
- The Chicago Business Barometer is still below 50. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- The Case-Shilller index showed a 3.3% annual gain in October. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- Menzie Chinn, "It is hard to argue for a decided slowdown as long as nonfarm payroll (NFP) employment continues to rise consistently." (econbrowser.com)
- We are in the midst of the longest expansion in US history. (twitter.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Research links: running the machine. (abnormalreturns.com)
- In today's Market Moment I look at two big lessons we can take away from the breakup of AT&T. (shows.pippa.io)
- What you missed in our Monday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Adviser links: the gold standard. (abnormalreturns.com)