Quote of the day

Jared Woodard, “There’s actually no evidence at all that activity in volatility ETPs poses any kind of unusual risk – in fact, the data all go in the other direction.”  (Condor Options)

Chart of the day

The fourth best start to the year for the Nasdaq.  (Bespoke)

Markets

Doug Kass now thinks the S&P 500 is overvalued.  (TheStreet)

Awaiting the next market spike in market volatility.  (research puzzle pix)

Despite all the talk crude oil volatility is coming down.  (StockCharts Blog)

The Baltic Dry Index is bouncing.  (Bespoke)

Strategy

On the prospects for a profits recession.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Lotteries doth not a financial plan make.  (Bucks Blog also Felix Salmon)

What are risk reversals and why they make sense now.  (Investing With Options)

What is R?  (Brian Lund)

The economy is not the stock market: the case of Australia.  (RogueTraderette)

Companies

Amazon ($AMZN) buys a robot maker to help automate its distribution processes.  (WSJ, 24/7 Wall St.)

Amazon vs. Apple ($AAPL): a contrast in ecosystem.  (HBR)

Is eBay ($EBAY) the big winner in iPad recycling?  (Bigger Capital)

How Facebook and Apple think about capital.  (Dealbreaker)

The technology industry with companies that at the time seemed unassailable.  (Rational Irrationality)

Finance

Five surprising lessons from a career on Wall Street.  (Big Picture)

Deflation on Wall Street.  (Financial Adviser)

What Ben Graham would likely say about Goldman Sachs ($GS).  (Total Return)

Facebook is going public in a different way.  (Bloomberg, SAI)

So now we need a pre-IPO Facebook fund?  (Felix Salmon)

ETFs

The biggest ETF may not always be best.  (ETFdb)

Money market funds would not exist were not for fee waivers.  (Total Return)

How ETFs are changing the equation for financial advisers.  (The Reformed Broker)

Global

If the BRIC countries are slowing, what does that mean for hte rest of us?  (Bonddad Blog)

Surprise, surprise a Blackrock ($BLK) ‘SWAT team’ is working deep in Greece.  (Dealbook)

How increasing longevity will change demand for safe assets and the financial services industry.  (Money Game)

Economy

Housing starts were flat in February.  (Calculated Risk, Capital Spectator, MarketBeat)

State taxes have been unable to keep up with GDP.  (EconomPic Data)

What is inflation telling us about the output gap?  (Free exchange, ibid)

LSATs are dropping in popularity.  (The Atlantic, NYTimes)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

A round up of more Apple links in light of yesterday’s busy news day.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Jack Schwager has a new Market Wizards book focused on hedge fund managers.  (World Beta)

Zack Miller talks with Bo Lu CEO of FutureAdvisor.  (Tradestreaming)

$5 is the new price for online comedy.  (SplatF, Atlantic Wire)

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