Quote of the day

Ben Levisohn, “Ultimately, trying to play “The Hunger Games” isn’t a way to make a killing. It’s a way to get killed.”  (Total Return)

Chart of the day

Check out the pullback in muni bonds.  (Bespoke)

Markets

Four (good) reasons to be less bullish than three months ago.  (Minyanville)

Americans are not exactly pouring money into equity mutual funds.  (Big Picture)

Investors are becoming just a tad less bullish.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Analysts are turning somewhat less negative.  (Dr. Ed’s Blog, Bespoke)

VIX futures open interest hits a new high.  (Tyler’s Trading)

A look at global market cap/GDP.  (Felix Salmon)

Strategy

“Mechanical systems work until they don’t.”  (Mortality Sucks)

How liquidity shocks forecast equity returns.  (Institutional Investor)

More evidence for low volatility stocks seen in hedge fund returns.  (SSRN via @quantivity)

Why for your own benefit you need to “unplug from the grid” every once in a while.  (Stock Sage)

Companies

FedEx ($FDX) earnings are out, but they say not so nice things about the economy.  (WSJ, MarketBeat)

Wheaties sales are in a “tailspin.”  (CNBC)

The case against Google ($GOOG).  (Gizmodo)

Finance

An update on how much stress there is in the financial system.  (Real Time Economics)

Risk on: US money market funds increase their holdings in Euro bank deposits.  (WSJ)

Investment analysis woefully lacks good visual representations of data.  (the research puzzle)

Here come the bank earnings upgrades.  (Deal Journal)

Did the Fed break the law? And does it matter?  (Finance Addict)

Global

How the media is spinning higher Bund yields.  (Money Game)

All of Europe is heading into recession.  (FT Alphaville)

A generational war is slowly building up.  (The Source)

Economy

Weekly initial unemployment claims continue to trend lower. Just 50,000 more to go.  (Calculated Risk, Capital Spectator)

Uniformly positive leading economic indicators.  (EconomPic Data)

Why is anyone surprised employment numbers are looking better?  (ValuePlays also Bonddad Blog)

How long will it take to wind down Fannie and Freddie Mac?  (Wonkblog)

North America is set for a new energy renaissance.  (Money Game, Carpe Diem)

Why your neighbors just like you.  (The Atlantic)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

America officially ran out of good corporate names today.  (Abnormal Returns)

The truth hurts: your financial situation is not all that unique. The case for the new wave of online money managers.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Books

A positive review for Stephen Penman’s Accounting for Value.  (Aleph Blog)

In praise of the Seven Pearls of Financial Wisdom by Camilla Webster and Carol Pepper.  (WSJ)

Mixed media

Where do you fit amongst the twelve species of the “social investing kingdom.”  (Vader Capital)

Twitter is only going to get more annoying.  (Felix Salmon, Slate)

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