Index funds win by watching costs — reading around Feb. 23

NY Times: The Index Funds Win Again — A new study provides evidence to invest in simple, plain-vanilla index funds, whose low fees often lead to better net returns.


WSJ: Consumer-Goods Makers Heed ‘Paycheck Cycle’ — Makers of household goods and food are paying more attention to the “paycheck cycle” as cash-strapped consumers are showing a tendency to make their largest purchases when their salaries first come in.

WSJ: Payments Drag Out on TV Spots — Some of the biggest advertisers are putting the squeeze on companies that produce and broadcast their ads, as part of an effort to rework contracts to cut costs.

Washington Post: Anchors Oblige Public’s Craving for Tweets — But one must ask: Would Walter Cronkite have tweeted?
Washington Business Journal — Free soft drinks return to US Airways. No word if free blankets are returning.

WSJ: Philadelphia Inquirer Publisher Files for Chapter 11. Over the weekend it was Journal Register, see WSJ: More Newspapers File for Chapter 11.
Using information from a federal lawsuit and additional reporting, the Charlotte Business Journal has taken a detailed look at that one bet — called a credit-default swap, which is similar to an insurance policy. The broad sweep of entanglements in that $10 million deal opens a window into the complex world of exotic Wall Street finance, illustrating what has happened in the national and world economies on a much larger scale.
TechCrunch: Hot News: The AP Is Living In The Last Century — Basically, the judge says the AP can try to prove AHN stole it’s “hot news”. But what constitutes “hot news” in an age of instant communications?
Interesting issue. Does AP have a business model, which means paying reporters to cover the news, if they can’t protect “hot news?” But how long can a story stay hot news rather than news, which cannot be protected?
Wired: Rare Comet Close-Up Coming to a Sky Near YouComet Lulin will make get close enough for anyone with binoculars and a clear sky to see on the night of Feb. 23. NASA’s Swift Gamma-ray Explorer satellite got a great photo during its own close-up with the comet last month.

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