Quote of the day

Floyd Norris, “More than almost any other dispute in economics, gold often seems to be a matter of theology. ”  (NYTimes)

Chart of the day

With the stock market in rally mode a look at the weekly chart.  (Afraid to Trade)

Markets

Daily stock market volatility is coming down.  (Bespoke)

Financial conditions continue to improve.  (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Why hedge funds have performed so poorly of late.  (Macro Rants)

Gold bugs are bullish once again.  (Mark Hulbert)

Strategy

Steven Place, “Remember, when you get long $UNG, you are not bullish natural gas.”  (Investing With Options also VIX and More)

A graphical reminder that inflation (and taxes) matter.  (World Beta)

You can only succeed at trading if you “check your ego at the door.”  (bclund)

Can you benefit from a trading philosophy even if you misunderstand it?  (Finance Trends Matter)

Facebook

John Gapper wonders why Facebook is going public in the first place.  (FT)

The biggest risk to Facebook is….fickle users.  (Slate)

What are private exchanges going to do without Facebook to trade?  (Dealbook)

The fallout from the Facebook IPO may be more interesting than the company itself.  (Howard Lindzon)

Just because it is a tech IPO does not mean it is going up.  (YCharts Blog)

Finance

Asset managers are fighting back against the HFT machines.  (Institutional Investor)

The Carlyle IPO is an “affront to shareholder rights.”  (Fortune)

Bank of America ($BAC) keeps shrinking.  (HuffPo)

401(k) rules are changing.  (WSJ)

Global

What Europe might look like without the Euro.  (voxEU)

Tim Duy, “At this point, I am starting to wonder what was the bigger mistake – to allow Greece into the Euro in the first place, or to force them to stay?”  (Economist’s View)

Economy

It is hard to argue with the strength of the January employment report.  (Calculated Risk, Bespoke, Big Picture, Capital Spectator, Felix Salmon)

Hold on, the US still has a long term unemployment problem.  (Term Sheet, Money Game, Calculated Risk, EconomPic Data)

Now the ISM services index is perking up.  (Market Montage, Money Game, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Public sector construction spending never did take up the slack.  (Slate)

Economists are failing to take into account technological changes over the long, long run.  (FT Alphaville)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

A short guide to the best financial industry blogs, including Abnormal Returns.  (AdvisorOne via TRB)

What you missed in our Friday morning linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Netflix’s ($NFLX) DVD rental business is “only going to get weirder.”  (ReadWriteWeb)

Check out a trailer for Confidence Game a documentary about the last days of Bear Stearns.  (Market Folly)

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