Thursday links: big secular forces

Companies

• Brian Niccol has his hands full with turning around Starbucks ($SBUX). (barrons.com)
• Apple ($AAPL) stock was a much bigger bargain when Buffett first purchased shares. (bloomberg.com)
• Why Airbus has been unable to take full advantage of Boeing’s ($BA) woes. (nytimes.com)

Finance

• It seems the SEC will approve just about any ETF these days. (ft.com)
• What VC returns look like in the real world. (hunterwalk.com)

Home buying

• New home sales commission rules are coming into effect. (cnn.com)
• Home buying is going to get more complicated. (barrons.com)
• What you need to know about home buying (and selling) now. (wsj.com)

Consumer spending

• Retail sales jumped 1.0% in July. (calculatedriskblog.com)
• Walmart ($WMT) doesn’t see a recession. (cnbc.com)
• Consumer spending is breaking down along income lines. (sherwood.news)

Economy

• Weekly initial unemployment claims are not heading higher. (bonddad.blogspot.com)
• National homebuilder confidence fell in August. (calculatedriskblog.com)
• Where five measures of core inflation stand. (econbrowser.com)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

• When it comes to finances, you are on your own. No one is coming to save you. (abnormalreturns.com)
• Longform links: streaming service erasure. (abnormalreturns.com)
• What you missed in our Wednesday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
• Personal finance links: passing through. (abnormalreturns.com)
• Are you a financial adviser looking for some out-of-the-box thinking? Then check out our weekly e-mail newsletter. (newsletter.abnormalreturns.com)

Mixed media

• Combo washer-dryers are coming to the U.S. market. (wsj.com)
• Do you still need to separate your laundry? (mentalfloss.com)