Quote of the day
Ben Protess, “The trading floors [at colleges] serve a dual purpose: to give students real-world experience and the universities something to brag about to potential donors and prospective faculty.” (Dealbook)
Chart(s) of the day
Are earnings stretched? (EconomPic Data)
Markets
The best and worst investments of 2010. (SmartMoney)
January may not be much more of a barometer than other months. (CXO Advisory Group)
The S&P 500 vs. the silver/gold ratio. (EconomPic Data)
Taking a look at the performance of the CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index. (Options for Rookies)
Silver is at nominal 30 year highs. (WSJ, 24/7 Wall St.)
Strategy and Tactics
Joe Fahmy, “Bottom line: Everyone loves to whine…but real winners do something about it and the losers just keep complaining.” (Joe Fahmy)
The market is frothy. Wait for a pullback. (Barron’s)
Burton Malkiel, “Nobody can market-time, but once a year I suggest that one rebalance.” (Businessweek)
Is it worth talking to a company’s CEO? (Street Capitalist)
The best charts clarify. Indeed the financial blogosphere is built on little else. (AR Screencast)
Technology
Is 2011 the year of the big tech IPO? (Dealbook)
The mobile web is trending toward web economics. (A VC)
Bloomberg’s hot 50 companies in technology. (The Tech Insider)
With new cash (and investors) Groupon eyes a 2011 IPO. (Dealbook, Term Sheet, SAI)
Why Apple (AAPL) can get a lot bigger. (NetNet)
How Apple could build a web video business on the cheap. (Ben Weiss)
Juniper (JNPR) vs. Cisco (CSCO). One of them is cheap. (YCharts Blog)
Video calling via Skype comes to the iPhone. (Bits, Apple 2.0, TechCrunch)
Can Demand Media make it, let alone conduct an IPO? (Fortune Tech)
Finance
How the banks captured all the upside, while the public paid the downside. (Modeled Behavior)
Banks are lending again. (WSJ, Atlantic Business)
Are the tax benefits of debt the cause of our financial woes? (Points and Figures)
Economy
The Chicago PMI came in stronger than expected. (Bloomberg, Bespoke also Calculated Risk)
Weekly unemployment claims continue to contract. (Calculated Risk, Crossing Wall Street)
More signs of economic strength. (Calafia Beach Pundit also Pragmatic Capitalism)
Is the slide in state tax revenue over? (Carpe Diem)
Gavyn Davies, “The abnormal size of the private sector’s financial surplus is the main reason why 2010 has generally been a year of pleasant economic surprises. That could continue to be the case next year.” (FT)
Absent a major policy mistake, it is hard to see a further crash in housing prices. (Free exchange)
Mortgage rates in 2010 were the lowest since 1955. (Money & Co.)
How cities can help drive economic growth. (Economist’s View)
Global
The yuan is appreciating on a real basis, just not in the way that politicians understand. (Global Macro Monitor)
China’s PMI expands in December. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Europe cannot avoid another crisis. (Baseline Scenario also Economist)
On the challenge facing countries trying to jump from middle income to advanced status. (Real Time Economics)
The Blogosphere
The best economics blogs. (The Source)
Why blogging matters to traders. (Bigger Capital)
As more debates take place on Twitter, does the blogosphere lose out? (Felix Salmon)
Some web video to check out over the long weekend. (Abnormal Returns)
Just because
It’s here. The ultimate list of 2010 lists. (Fimoculous)
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