Hot Links: This Year’s Big Bad Wolf

What I'm reading this morning:

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning…

Japanese company takes over Jim Beam for $13.6 billion!  (DealBook)

Dividend payout ratios have even more room for explosive growth in 2014 based on historical standards and record cash balances.  (SDDT)

“A more robust U.S. economy could lift 2014 profits and boost corporate spending, giving some comfort to investors worried about bloated stock prices.”  (Reuters)

GOLDMAN: By Almost Any Way You Look At It, This Market Is Getting Expensive (BusinessInsider)

Speaking of Goldie, watch them buck the trend and take their Twitter price target UP on “accelerated innovation”.  (StreetInsider)

More reinforcement that China is this year’s Big Bad Wolf.  (BusinessInsider) see also Soros (TRB)

Looking at 2014’s early equity market leadership regime.  (DynamicHedge)

The technical case for going long gold here.  (ArmoTrader)

What if the future is better than we think?  (AWealthOfCommonSense)

Whitney Tilson: DDD is still a bubble and TSLA is too.  (ValueWalk)

Who’s the boss in the $2.4 trillion global exchange traded product space these days?  (MoneyBeat)

ICYMI: I killed myself on this piece about CAPE valuation this weekend, I hope you get something helpful out of reading it as I did while writing it.  (TRB)

Epic Trollsmanship from Citi: How Bitcoin is like North Korea.  (BusinessInsider)

And how about this: “A lot of business reporters are assholes. I’m not sure there are more assholes per capita in business journalism, but, by virtue of the job, they can be pretty high profile.”  Shots Fired!  (TalkingBizNews)

What’s the deal with China and its tacit acceptance of the whole North Korea shitshow?  (NYT)

What happens to your brain when you’re in love?  (MentalFloss)

 My book, Backstage Wall Street, available at Amazon