Tuesday links: competitive benefits

February 8, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

Eric Falkenstein, “ We are nicer, better, less short-sighted, when we have to compete.” (Falkenblog)

Chart of the day

The impressive rally in German (and European) stocks year-to-date. (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Markets

The great big global stock-bond disconnect. (Money Game)

The great equity market valuation debate. (Dr. Ed’s Blog, Fortune)

The least volatile stocks over the past decade. (Bespoke)

The new gold rush: farmers are set to plan record acreage this Spring. (Bloomberg)

The Brent-WTI spread is blowing out again. (Sober Look)

Strategy

Dividend investors should focus on companies with that can increase their dividends. (Marketblog, Big Picture)

Equities don’t do that great in periods of HIGH inflation. (The Source)

What happens when everyone starts using risk parity strategies? (Aleph Blog)

Why your trading strategy needs to fit your lifestyle: the case of geography. (VIX and More)

Conserving financial willpower: the power of automation. (Bucks Blog)

Companies

Does an Amazon ($ AMZN) retail store presence make sense? (SplatF, Big Picture)

Just in case you needed a reminder, apparel retailing is a fickle business. (research puzzle pix)

Hollywood by the numbers. (Asymco)

You don’t see CEOs “giving up” $ 100 million these days. (WSJ, footnoted)

Facebook

At least Facebook is going a good job with their financial disclosures. (Grumpy Old Accountants)

Just who counts as an “active user” on Facebook? (Dealbook)

The rise of the fresh, young CEO: enthusiasm vs. experience. (WSJ)

Finance

Can the money market mutual fund industry withstand proposed, new SEC rules? (WSJ, MarketBeat, Felix Salmon)

Are credit ratings massively overvalued? (Economics Intelligence)

Keep an eye on the repo markets. (Finance Addict)

The picture at MF Global is slowly emerging. (FT Alphaville)

Banks are accelerating the process of getting bum mortgages off their books. (Bloomberg, Felix Salmon)

ETFs

A cheat sheet for all the alternative-weighting schemes. (ETFdb)

ETF stats for January 2012. (Invest With An Edge)

Global

Looking forward to the second tranche of the LTRO. (Sober Look)

Some Euro banks have passed on using the ECB’s LTRO program. (WSJ)

Jerome Booth, “Not investing significantly in emerging markets is a form of gambling.” (FT)

Economy

Now is the time for jobs growth to accelerate. (Bonddad Blog)

The optimistic economic case from a notable pessimist. (Planet Money)

Why the Fed is saying no Fed funds rate hikes until 2014. (Free exchange)

On the relationship between policy uncertainty and growth. (voxEU)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Download the Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2012 and thank me later. (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Tuesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Letters to a young analyst. (Tom Brakke)

Earning estimate resource Estimize profiled. (IBD)

A podcast with Betterment CEO Jon Stein on the importance of making investing less complicated. (Tradestreaming)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Tuesday links: competitive benefits

Abnormal Returns

Sunday links: surprising scale

February 6, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

MG Siegler, “Apple’s iPhone business alone is larger than all of Microsoft’s businesses combined.” (parislemon via SplatF)

Chart of the day

Remember that whole S&P downgrade of the USA? (Money Game)

Markets

Hard to see much wrong with the market advance, besides the jump in “junk stocks.” (Dynamic Hedge)

On the lookout for a correction. (Derek Hernquist)

How the rise of ETFs have affected small cap stocks. (MarketBeat)

Strategy

Confusing politics and economics is a money loser. (The Reformed Broker)

Technical analysis is done in two very different ways. (Condor Options)

Why you should still be holding some cash to take advantage of temporary dislocations. (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Charles Kirk, “The challenge, as all of us will learn soon or later learn, is that Mr. Market doesn’t listen or care about anyone’s else opinion but his very own.” (Kirk Report)

Chess, “Mr. Market has a great knack for turning even the most polished of veteran chartists into incorrect fools.” (chessNwine)

Facebook

Facebook ($ FB) and the St. Petersburg Paradox: valuation matters. (Jason Zweig also Big Picture)

IPO reason #1: Zuck is going to have to write the Feds a BIG fat check. (FT, NYTimes)

The Facebook-Zuck options situation is going to raise some eyebrows, tax-wise. (Musings on Markets)

The investment proposition that is handing your money over to Zuck. (Slate)

The Facebook IPO is going to get new investors interested in equities. (MarketPsych)

The ‘Eggs in One Basket’ Index: how dependent are the big tech firms on various revenue sources. (SplatF)

Thanks to Facebook Silicon Valley engineers are finally getting their due. (Pando Daily)

Finance

“The IT revolution cannot be unwound; finance is now an IT industry. But it MUST be seen as a special case…” (MacroBusiness)

The global financial system can’t really go back the good old days. (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

The suspect economics of publicly traded, private equity managers. (Clusterstock)

Where are we in the IPO cycle? (NYTimes)

Private, secondary markets can only take you so far. (Dealbreaker)

Will weather derivatives ever be anything more than a nice product for farmers? (Economist)

Funds

Is the crackdown on insider trading to blame for recent poor hedge fund performance? (Forbes)

Don’t believe the correlation excuse from money managers. (WSJ)

Expect more me-too ETFs in 2012. (ETFolution)

Economy

More good jobs news. (Money Game, Carpe Diem)

Who are the long-term unemployed? (The Atlantic)

What is the Fed going to do if the economy turns out to be better than expected? (Tim Duy)

The secular trend for economic growth is down, down, down for the developed world. (Floyd Norris)

Does manufacturing need special treatment? (NYTimes)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Top clicks this week on Abnormal Returns. (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Saturday long form linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Super Bowl

How Indianapolis used sports to transform itself. (New Geography)

The one sure winner from the Super Bowl: Lucas Oil. (LiveScience)

The Super Bowl is over (usually) when this happens. (WSJ)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Sunday links: surprising scale

Abnormal Returns

Friday links: gold theology

February 4, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

Floyd Norris, “More than almost any other dispute in economics, gold often seems to be a matter of theology. “ (NYTimes)

Chart of the day

With the stock market in rally mode a look at the weekly chart. (Afraid to Trade)

Markets

Daily stock market volatility is coming down. (Bespoke)

Financial conditions continue to improve. (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Why hedge funds have performed so poorly of late. (Macro Rants)

Gold bugs are bullish once again. (Mark Hulbert)

Strategy

Steven Place, “Remember, when you get long $ UNG, you are not bullish natural gas.” (Investing With Options also VIX and More)

A graphical reminder that inflation (and taxes) matter. (World Beta)

You can only succeed at trading if you “check your ego at the door.” (bclund)

Can you benefit from a trading philosophy even if you misunderstand it? (Finance Trends Matter)

Facebook

John Gapper wonders why Facebook is going public in the first place. (FT)

The biggest risk to Facebook is….fickle users. (Slate)

What are private exchanges going to do without Facebook to trade? (Dealbook)

The fallout from the Facebook IPO may be more interesting than the company itself. (Howard Lindzon)

Just because it is a tech IPO does not mean it is going up. (YCharts Blog)

Finance

Asset managers are fighting back against the HFT machines. (Institutional Investor)

The Carlyle IPO is an “affront to shareholder rights.” (Fortune)

Bank of America ($ BAC) keeps shrinking. (HuffPo)

401(k) rules are changing. (WSJ)

Global

What Europe might look like without the Euro. (voxEU)

Tim Duy, “At this point, I am starting to wonder what was the bigger mistake – to allow Greece into the Euro in the first place, or to force them to stay?” (Economist’s View)

Economy

It is hard to argue with the strength of the January employment report. (Calculated Risk, Bespoke, Big Picture, Capital Spectator, Felix Salmon)

Hold on, the US still has a long term unemployment problem. (Term Sheet, Money Game, Calculated Risk, EconomPic Data)

Now the ISM services index is perking up. (Market Montage, Money Game, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Public sector construction spending never did take up the slack. (Slate)

Economists are failing to take into account technological changes over the long, long run. (FT Alphaville)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

A short guide to the best financial industry blogs, including Abnormal Returns. (AdvisorOne via TRB)

What you missed in our Friday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Netflix’s ($ NFLX) DVD rental business is “only going to get weirder.” (ReadWriteWeb)

Check out a trailer for Confidence Game a documentary about the last days of Bear Stearns. (Market Folly)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Friday links: gold theology

Abnormal Returns

Wednesday links: hedging on hedge funds

February 1, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

John Authers, “There are too many hedge funds. “ (FT)

Chart of the day

Why we should look at dollar-weighted returns. (Verisi Data Studio via Practical Quant)

Markets

Major asset class performance for January 2012. (Capital Spectator)

Performance-wise 2012 is the complete opposite of 2011. (Bespoke, Stock Sage)

2011 was a tough year for commodities hedge funds. (FT)

Yields just keep on compressing. (Economic Musings)

Is the VIX tail wagging the implied volatility dog? (FT Alphaville)

Stop worrying about the Baltic Dry Index, instead pay attention to iron ore prices. (Sober Look)

ZIRP

Suck it, savers. Things are tough all over. (Money Game)

Is “financial repression” good for stocks? (MarketBeat)

The many ways in which an extended period of low rates can distort the economy. (FT)

Strategy

Where one TAA model sits going into February. (MarketSci Blog)

On the importance of humility in investing. (Vanguard Blog)

What is risk and why it matters. (Tradestreaming)

Almost all trading blowups are preventable. (SMB Training)

The market seems to react differently to share repurchases from small and large firms. (SSRN via CXOAG)

Companies

The market loves companies that initiate a dividend. (Dynamic Dividend)

Procter & Gamble ($ PG) is a quality company that looks to be fully priced. (Turnkey Analyst)

Wintel is a cash cow. (YCharts Blog)

With its huge cash hoard should Apple ($ AAPL) reinvent the way gadgets are manufactured? (Slate)

Finance

Investigators are getting closer to figuring out where MF Global’s cash went. (Dealbook)

Is Andreesen Horowitz too smart for its own good? (peHUB, Time)

Janus Capital ($ JNS) is a “cautionary tale.” (research puzzle pix)

Why do investors hire financial advisers? (Registered Rep)

Hedge funds

The carried interest debate and high-frequency trading hedge funds. (TNR)

The principal-agent problem and alternative asset managers. (Qfinance)

Does the average hedge fund investor make money? (Minyanville)

ETFs

Select Sector SPDRs will not be undersold. (IndexUniverse)

ETN holders should keep an eye on CDS rates. (IndexUniverse)

Global

China’s PMI ticked up in January. Soft landing anyone? (FT contra Money Game)

The global manufacturing PMI is at a seven-month high. (Global Macro Monitor)

Another problem for Euro banks: shipping loans. (Zero Hedge)

Economy

The ISM manufacturing report shows continued expansion in January. (Calculated Risk, MarketBeat)

The ADP report shows continued private payroll growth. (Calafia Beach Pundit, MarketBeat)

By another measure the unemployment rate hasn’t budged. (FT Alphaville)

A look at long term money growth. (A Dash of Insight)

All eyes turn to the budget deficit in….2013. (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Things are looking up for restaurants. (Calculated Risk)

What leading economic bloggers are thinking. (Kauffman Foundation)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

A pre-filing Facebook IPO linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Wednesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Who should learn to program? (Chris Dixon)

The world needs a Netflix ($ NFLX) for books. (The Atlantic)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Wednesday links: hedging on hedge funds

Abnormal Returns

Monday links: muddle through economics

January 30, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

Interloper, “The finance industry has its own interests, not yours, first.” (Interloper)

Chart of the day

Pay no attention to the S&P 500′s “golden cross.” (All Star Charts)

Markets

Corporate margins are “as good as it gets.” (FT)

Stop making such a big deal about the Baltic Dry Index. (Money Game)

How much more does gold have to run? (research puzzle pix)

Strategy

Stock buybacks don’t help future stock performance. (Horan Capital)

At some point you need to trade for “meaningful stakes.” (Rogue Traderette)

Research

Evidence that public companies overspend on corporate jets versus private companies. (Journal of Finance)

Markets prefer analyst consistency versus accuracy. (Journal of Finance)

An interesting review of Emanuel Derman’s Models.Behaving.Badly. (Portfolio Probe)

Companies

Lululemon ($ LULU) is expensive, but tough to short. (Bronte Capital)

If you haven’t heard of the Nike ($ NKE) Fuelband, you will. (The Reformed Broker)

Playing the housing recovery without the homebuilders. (YCharts Blog)

You can’t buy innovation. (Asymco)

Facebook IPO

A real world example of how Facebook is hurting Google ($ GOOG). (Jeff Matthews)

Not that everything is all roses for Facebook. (Term Sheet, Forbes)

Putting Facebook into perspective. (SAI)

The hype machine is revving up for the Facebook IPO. (Investing Caffeine)

Finance

There is now little hope of recovering the lost MF Global funds. (WSJ, Points and Figures)

Just a reminder. The US Treasury still holds 1.455 billion AIG ($ AIG) shares. (Finance Addict)

There is nothing wrong with Northern Trust ($ NTRS) that higher interest rates wouldn’t solve. (Crain’s Chicago)

Will this investigation of the financial crisis provide any more insight into wrongdoing? (WashingtonPost)

How Wall Street is cutting back. (New York)

Funds

The ETF wars are now heating up on the exchange side. (ETFolution)

Very meta. A hedge fund that sets out to be troubled hedge fund stakes. (FT)

Global

Chinese demand for imported capital goods has slowed. (FT)

Germany vs. Greece. (Felix Salmon, Finance Addict)

Portugal is getting ugly. (MarketBeat, Bespoke)

Why Europe just can’t muddle through. (Time)

Big stuff

The big shift going on in the global oil economy. (Gregor Macdonald also Dr. Ed’s Blog)

The three technologies set to change the economy. (WSJ)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What you missed in our Monday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

The secret history of the immortal (and ridiculous) Super Bowl Indicator. (MarketBeat)

Women are smarter more thorough car buyers…not unlike investing. (Moneyland)

Why you should self-publish your own book. (Altucher Confidential)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Monday links: muddle through economics

Abnormal Returns

Saturday links: finance and physics

January 28, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week. We hope you enjoy this set of long-form links.

Finance

A review of the burgeoning low volatility investing theme. (IndexUniverse)

“Physics deals with theories, finance with models and failing to understand the difference has led to a lot of money being lost, along with a great deal of human misery.” (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Francis Fukuyama selects five books on the financial crisis including The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. (The Browser)

The private equity industry is awash in mediocre managers and and overeager investors. (Economist also Baseline Scenario)

Economics

Rick Bookstaber, “Industrialization is leading to a continuing convergence between the products that are consumed by the wealthy and the common man.” (Rick Bookstaber)

A harrowing look inside the factories in China where Apple ($ AAPL) products. (NYTimes)

Alex Tabarrok, “Could we build the Hoover Dam today? We have the technology. We seem to lack the will. “ (The Atlantic)

Psychology

How do we identify good ideas? (The Frontal Cortex)

There is no such thing as information overload. (Pando Daily)

The mechanics of choice: a behavioral finance primer. (APS via The Browser)

No one is exempt from a raft of behavioral biases. (Globe and Mail)

What happens when teenagers reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? A lot of weirdness. (WSJ)

Science

The power of introverts. A Q&A with Susan Cain author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. (Scientific American)

The self-driving car is coming sooner than you think. (Wired)

An excerpt from Mark Lynas’ The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans. (Scientific American)

Why we are still at risk to a solar superstorm. (Popular Mechanics)

Education

An MBA looks back at their 10-year reunion. (The Atlantic)

The term paper is falling out of favor. Hello blogging. (NYTimes)

Society

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are having a hard time re-entering civilian society. (FT)

What caused a huge change in sexual mores in the 18th century? (Guardian via The Browser)

Profiles

A profile of the “renegade IT guy.” (Gawker via @longreads)

The man behind Amazon’s push into book publishing. (Businessweek)

Sports

An excerpt from Jonathan Mahler’s Death Comes to Happy Valley: Penn State and the Tragic Legacy of Joe Paterno. (Grantland)

How big time sports has taken over college campuses. (NYTimes)

Thanks for checking in with Abnormal Returns. You can follow us on StockTwits and Twitter.

www.FeedBurner.com) Saturday links: finance and physics

Abnormal Returns

Thursday links: publicly announced policies

January 26, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

Richard Thaler, “So here is some advice for companies. First, before taking some action, consider whether you would be willing to publicly announce the policy to your customers. If not, don’t do it.” (Bloomberg)

Chart of the day

Caterpillar ($ CAT) is the new market bellwether. (Reformed Broker also FT, MarketBeat)

Markets

J.C. Parets, “Are we overbought? Sure. So what.” (All Star Charts)

Five risk-on indicators are all pointing up at the moment. (Ivanhoff Capital)

The bears have stepped aside for now. (Bespoke, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Gold hearts the Fed. (Total Return, Bespoke)

Strategy

“(S)hort-term option hedges are a lot cheaper than longer term option hedges.” (SurlyTrader)

The two realistic choices for asset allocation. (Systematic Relative Strength)

Lessons learned from the rise and fall and rise again of the Harvard endowment fund. (Financial Advisor)

Companies

What does Netflix ($ NFLX) want to be when it grows up? (AllThingsD)

John Carney, “It’s tempting to think of Apple’s cash hoard as a shield it can hide behind in tough times. But that’s not quite right. It’s more like a sword — a weapon to strike against weaker rivals.” (NetNet)

The one area where Apple’s management is failing miserably. (Slate)

Finance

High frequency trading is moving beyond the equity markets. (Institutional Investor)

Regulators really don’t understand how trading works. (Points and Figures)

Who is David Einhorn kidding? (Kid Dynamite)

Ah, the irony. Even as private equity comes under fire, public pension funds pour more money in. (WSJ)

Mark Andreessen has big plans these days. (Dealbook)

Personal finance

The “megatrend” that is likely to break the Wall Street brokerage model. (Financial Adviser)

401(k) investors can be pushed to save more without too much complaint. (Total Return)

The ongoing saga of Suze Orman’s investing guru. (Total Return)

Funds

How do fundamental indices for sovereign bonds change the developed/emerging mix? (IndexUniverse)

US money market funds are dipping their toes back into European banks. (FT Alphaville)

Global

How a persistently strong Aussie dollar may affect the domestic economy. (FT)

European banks are necessarily tied to the fates of their sovereign nations. (Clusterstock)

Portugal is defying the trend toward tighter PIIGS spreads. (Calafia Beach Pundit)

2012 is looking like the year of BRIC (and Egypt). (beyondbrics, ibid)

A look at big, global demographic trends. (Crackerjack Finance)

Economy

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index is showing growth. (Money Game, MarketBeat)

Average weekly initial unemployment claims continue to decline. (Calculated Risk)

Low natural gas prices don’t help the economy that much if no one takes advantage. (WSJ)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What you missed in our Thursday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

A podcast with Jonah Lehrer talking about why brainstorming doesn’t work. (New Yorker)

The 10 keys to selling anything. (James Altucher)

In praise of wearing pajamas in public. (Slate)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Thursday links: publicly announced policies

Abnormal Returns

Tuesday links: a growing disconnect

January 24, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

Gavyn Davies, “(L)iquidity trap conditions have left bonds looking extremely expensive relative to equities in the developed economies. Nominal equity returns may be held back by low inflation but in real terms they should outperform government bonds..” (FT)

Chart of the day

How the hedge fund industry kept 98% of profits as fees. (In Pursuit of Value also Forbes)

Markets

Q4 earnings and revenue beat rates are no great shakes. (Bespoke)

What happens when previously bearish analysts turn bullish on the economy? (Marketblog)

The growing disconnect between bonds and stocks is puzzling. (SurlyTrader)

Euro who? The S&P 500 has disengaged from the value of the Euro. (Crossing Wall Street)

The market is cheap, except for one fly in the ointment: high profit margins. (Marketwatch)

What happens after the market goes through a series of gaps. (Market Anthropology)

Strategy

If you don’t have a plan, ignore Apple’s earnings. (Phil Pearlman)

The “triple F” system for identifying swing trades. (bclund)

Sometimes even the big boys get things wrong. (YCharts Blog)

High short interest as a signal to issue equity. (SSRN)

Warranted multiples are a more robust valuation measure. (Institutional Investor)

Portfolio management

Man cannot live on relative strength alone. The value of adding low volatility to your portfolio. (AllETF also Systematic Relative Strength)

Does it matter when or how often you rebalance your portfolio? (CXO Advisory Group)

Why portfolio dynamics are difficult to understand. (CSS Analytics)

Companies

The one thing that could make Facebook worth a lot more. (SAI)

How to save Research in Motion ($ RIMM). (Marketwatch)

Apple ($ AAPL) is the world’s largest purchaser of semiconductors. (AppleInsider)

The retail landscape is changing faster than you think. (Megan McArdle)

McDonald’s ($ MCD) keeps rocking. (Bloomberg)

Finance

First hedge funds, now private equity: it’s better to run a fund than invest in it. (FT also naked capitalism)

Credit Suisse is by far and away the most creative bank when it comes to banker compensation. (Dealbreaker)

2011 was not a good year for pension fund returns. (Pension Pulse)

If you can’t do the time…sentences for convicted insider traders are likely to get tougher. (Dealbook)

Funds

The mutual fund industry is dying the death of “a thousand cuts.” (Josh Brown)

2011 was a “whole lot of nothing” for managed futures funds. (HedgeWorld)

Why are investors so willing to pay a premium for Pimco-managed closed end funds? (Focus on Funds)

What makes FPA Crescent tick? (Morningstar)

New ETFs are struggling. (CNNMoney)

Global

Remember Portugal? (MarketBeat, Sober Look)

Just in case you needed another reason not to invest in Chinese companies. (Dealbook)

Economy

A look at December economic reports. (Capital Spectator)

A big jump in trucking volume in December. (Calculated Risk)

What is the Fed trying to accomplish with its new interest rate forecasts? (FT Alphaville)

Two positive signs for the housing market. (Sober Look)

Do we really want to make iPhones in America? (Ultimi Barbarorum also The Atlantic)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Margin Call writer/director J.C. Chandor earns an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. (Speakeasy earlier Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Tuesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

How Twitter bots change “social connections.” (Technology Review)

To get Inside Apple read Adam Lashinsky’s new book. (GigaOM)

Are premium batteries worth the extra cost? (Wired)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Tuesday links: a growing disconnect

Abnormal Returns

Sunday links: a skill shortage

January 22, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

Quote of the day

“We shouldn’t be criticized for using Chinese workers,” a current Apple executive said. “The U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need.” (NYTimes)

Chart of the day

Should we trust the rally in the Shanghai Composite? (Global Macro Monitor)

Markets

Why aren’t companies paying out more in dividends? (Barron’s via Big Picture)

Parsing the data on stock buybacks. (WSJ)

The not-so-lost decade for the equal-weighted S&P 500. (WSJ)

Will the next pullback be bought? (Dynamic Hedge)

How might the bond-stock disconnect play out. (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Treasury bond ETFs look like they are rolling over. (Afraid to Trade also Sober Look)

Are equity investors overstating the extent of market volatility? (Barron’s)

Everybody and their brother is still short the Euro. (All Star Charts)

A round-up of the picks from the Barron’s Investment Roundtable. (Money Game)

Strategy

Investing is all about balance. (Musing on Markets)

On using non-traditional indicators to time the market. (bclund)

Will investors ever learn? (Aleph Blog)

Companies

There is still some life in good old Wintel. (Wall Street Bean, Barron’s)

The opportunity in Carnival ($ CCL) shares. (Stone Street Advisors, FT Alphaville)

Sears Holdings ($ SHLD): when the shorts run out of shares to borrow. (MarketBeat)

Nokia ($ NOK) as a value trap. (Marketwatch)

Finance

Meet Suze Orman’s investing guru. (WSJ)

Cramer is right! The carried interest tax rules need to be changed. (Business Insider)

MF Global: a post-mortem. (Turnkey Analyst)

Guess how much it is going to cost to unwind Lehman Brothers? (naked capitalism)

Just when you were thinking old Wall Street could not get more tone deaf. (The Reformed Broker, Dealbook)

Hedge funds

Ken Griffin’s hedge funds are once again in the money. (Dealbreaker, Dealbook)

John Paulson is having a decent January. (Deal Journal)

Howard Marks makes it clear he is not “prescient.” (Deal Journal)

ETFs

The big mutual fund companies can no longer ignore ETFs. (Financial Advisor)

The muni ETF rally is still on for now. (Barron’s)

Are the biggest ETFs also the cheapest? (Felix Salmon)

Economy

Ten year inflation expectations are sitting at 30 year lows. (Carpe Diem)

The Fed is about to become more open. Is that a good thing? (Dealbreaker)

A look at the poor track record of forecasting China’s GDP. (Sober Look)

Four ways to engineer a better tax system. (NYTimes)

Education

Why college students leave an engineering track. (Economix)

Measuring the present value of a degree. (EconLog)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What everyone else was clicking on Abnormal Returns this week. (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Saturday long form linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

A rave review for the movie Margin Call. (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

Why you might want to run Windows on your iPad. (PandoDaily)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

www.FeedBurner.com) Sunday links: a skill shortage

Abnormal Returns

Highly influenceable traders

January 20, 2012 by admin in Business | Leave a comment

We humans are highly influenceable creatures. A recent study shows that where you vote, church vs. school, affects how you vote. You would think that given what is involved that we would have our minds made up before we enter the voting booth, but alas that is not the case. This seems to be another example of how voters are at best “systematically biased.”

Now extend this idea to trading where instead of voting once every couple of years you are voting every day with your trades, or lack thereof. A year ago or so we had a post up noting how your trading space affects how you approach the markets. The same can be said for what you are doing during the day as well. Are you watching financial television or are you conducting research? How you spend your time will greatly affect how you go about trading.

The point isn’t that there is only one way trade. In fact the great message of the markets is that you need to match your personality with your preferred trading method. The point in all this is that you should not let unconscious cues from your environment affect your trading in ways you don’t fully understand. So design your workspace and workday in a way that enhances and reflects your preferred methodology as opposed to letting the blinking numbers on the screen drive your trading.

Items mentioned above:

Where you vote may affect how you vote. (Scientific American)

Dumb voters. (Buttonwood notebook)

Trading spaces. (Abnormal Returns)

A few simple rules for money managers. (Contrarian Edge)

Michael Martin on finding your own trading voice. (Abnormal Returns)

www.FeedBurner.com) Highly influenceable traders