Emerging markets have underperformed during this most recent rally.  (Bespoke)

Mixed market performance YTD.  (StockCharts Blog)

How should we read the record steepness of the yield curve?  (The Money Game, Mish)

The case for higher interest rates.  (The Pragmatic Capitalist, The Money Game)

Rydex market timers are bearish on equities.  (The Technical Take)

Want volatility?  Look at the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index Fund (ITB).  (WSJ)

Howard Simons, “While individual managers can and do outperform the averages, the simple fact remains currency trading is a zero-sum game.”   (Minyanville)

Hedge fund replicators are turning their sights on traditional active managers.  (Pensions & Investments)

Whitney Tilson, “Buy and hold isn’t what it used to be.” (Kiplinger’s)

How Warren Buffett looks at Berkshire Hathaway’s inclusion in the S&P 500.  (Jeff Matthews)

Is Bloom Energy going to change the way we generate electrical power?  (CBS News, earth2tech, peHUB, engadget, TechCrunch)

Merger Monday is back.  Schlumberger (SLB) agrees to acquire Smith International (SII).  (NYTimes also Deal Journal, DealBook)

James Altucher on why Yahoo! (YHOO) is cheap.  (Financial Adviser)

Roger Ehrenberg, “The issue isn’t derivatives; it’s all financial transactions whose objective is to deceive or to weaken financial transparency.”  (FT Alphaville)

Has Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner been “captured” by the big banks?  (Big Picture)

Former Treasury secretaries back the Volcker rule.  (Reuters, The Reformed Broker, Big Picture)

What financial innovations did more harm than good?  (Economic Principals)

Leverage kills.  The only question at what level?  (Atlantic Business)

Okun’s Law is broken as businesses push even more “pain” onto workers.  (Economix)

Is Japan the next Greece?  (Bloomberg)

What China can (and cannot) do with its massive currency reserves.  (Michael Pettis)

A look at the sad state of the US economic recovery.  (VIX and More)

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index showed a nice jump in January.  (Calculated Risk, Real Time Economics)

Is price targeting a superior strategy to inflation targeting?  (Real Time Economics)

CPI measured three ways show little in the way of inflation.  (Calculated Risk)

Why it took $642 million in fees to wind-up Lehman Bros. (24/7 Wall St.)

A new blog focused on merger arbitrage.  (Merger Arbitrage Investing)

Amazon (AMZN) is the most trusted brand in America.  (GigaOM)

Contrary to popular belief does the US produce too many scientists?  (Scientific American)

Abnormal Returns Now is the real-time component of this site.  Check it out.