… ‘unprecedented geophysical destruction’ has somehow become less painful…

 

…while the likelihood of a global governance failure has sharply increased…?

 

(source: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalRisks_Report_2013.pdf)

 

 

Chinese export numbers came out way stronger than anybody had hoped for, offering hope for a real rebound…

 

 

·       http://www.businessinsider.com/december-chinese-trade-data-chart-2013-1 

 

·        http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cc199022-5ad3-11e2-b60e-00144feab49a.html 

 

 

…but US small business sentiment on the other hand….

 

 

·      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-09/small-business-optimism-stagnates-even-higher-taxes  

 

 

 

“Economists Use Shoddy Data” Nice article from Slate on the weakness of economic data…

·         http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/01/atus_and_productivity_why_so_much_economics_data_is_garbage_and_how_that.html

 

…and on that same topic, but more specifically on African statistics, this podcast is worth a listen (Jerven, author of Poor Numbers)

·         http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/01/jerven_on_measu.html

 

What is going on with the VIX: it hit the lowest level in over 5 years…

·        http://www.bespokeinvest.com/thinkbig/2013/1/9/vix-hits-lowest-level-since-june-2007.html 

 

Nice bunch of visualizations. Worth checking out (see movie)

 

·         http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/01/word-as-image/

 

 

Time for the great rotation…? Buttonwoods on the switch between bonds and stocks

·        http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2013/01/financial-markets 

 

Cool overview of the performance of the various asset classes

 

·         http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/01/asset-class-returns-2003-2012/

 

 

A complete overview of all previous editions of Best of the Web can be found here http://tinyurl.com/yb9e5dg. All links provided are collected from public websites, unless otherwise specified. I have not checked the data or information for accuracy used, and therefore do not guarantee that all data provided will be 100% correct. The links provided do not necessarily reflect my personal opinion and should be seen as general interest: oftentimes I do not agree with arguments presented, but nevertheless think it is worthwhile to read them. It is up to the reader to make up their own mind. Suggestions or discussions are more than welcome. Do not quote unless specifically cleared beforehand!