Quote of the day
bclund, “..as a retail trader, you will NEVER have the ability to purchase a viable trading system. The costs to make one are too high, the need to modify it too intense…” (bclund)
Chart of the day
Many momentum names have faltered. Is Chipotle Mexican Grill ($CMG) next? (Dragonfly Capital)
Markets
2011: the year of all or nothing days. (Bespoke)
Is the failure of MF Global to blame for low trading volume? (MarketBeat)
Why we might have an unpleasant Christmas for the markets. (Market Anthropology)
Check out the performance of the Barclays ETN+ S&P VEQTOR ETN ($VQT) YTD. (ETFdb)
Strategy
Four asset classes Rob Arnott thinks are worth a second look. (The Reformed Broker also Term Sheet)
Trading the news is a risky business. (Kid Dynamite)
Testing a simple covered call strategy. (CXO Advisory Group)
Should new traders start fast or slow? (SMB Training)
Commodities
Central bank buying isn’t holding gold up today. (Market Blog, MarketBeat)
Cheap, abundant natural gas is great but it doesn’t solve our long term energy conundrum. (Gregor Macdonald)
A pipeline reverses in part because of diesel demand. (WSJ, ibid)
Regulation
The problem with a multiplicity of clearinghouses. (Dealbook)
How to save the futures industry. (All About Alpha)
The SEC is looking to modernize its rules on the use of derivatives in mutual funds and ETFs. (Total Return)
How the SEC is “shutting down its competition” in exposing corporate fraud. (Dealbreaker, Law Blog)
Finance
Steve Miller, chairman of AIG ($AIG) thinks you are an idiot. (Finance Addict)
Why not break-up Citigroup ($C)? (Baseline Scenario)
Distressed debt investors have some dry powder for situations like MF Global bonds. (Distressed Debt Investing)
Actual corporate tax payments are still opaque. (Felix Salmon, Term Sheet)
Funds
The ETF industry is not crazy about further scrutiny. (Institutional Investor)
Where the Fairholme Fund went wrong betting on the big banks. (Morningstar, Economic Musings)
Just in case you need an international preferred stock ETF. (IndexUniverse)
A look at Bill Miller’s track record. (EconomPic Data)
Global
Can France maintain its AAA-rating? (Term Sheet also WashingtonPost)
UK Gilts as safe haven asset. (FT Alphaville)
The Bank of England is likely to restart its quantitative easing program. (FT)
The Eurocrisis is in the banking system. (FT Alphaville, ibid)
No one should be surprised by issues in Spain. (Crackerjack Finance)
Tough times for beer sales in a tough global economy. (The Source)
Economy
Weekly unemployment claims continue to decline. (Calculated Risk)
Mortgage delinquencies are in decline. (Bespoke)
Rail traffic continues to grow. (Dr. Ed’s Blog, ValuePlays)
Adult children living at home are a drag on the economy. (NYTimes, Calculated Risk)
Why is unemployment so high these days? (EconomPic Data)
The financial system wasn’t built with near-zero interest rates in mind. (Liberty Street Economics)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Tiger Woods, Bill Miller and the broken promise of outperformance. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our Thursday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
The best economics books of the year. (Marginal Revolution)
There is a lot in the Fabozzi and Markowitz edited Equity Valuation and Portfolio Management. (Reading the Markets)
Google Music is finally here. (Bloomberg)
Canadian ticker symbols are now live on StockTwits. (StockTwits Blog, Globe and Mail)
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