Quote of the day

David Merkel, “Good asset allocation marries the time horizon of an investor to the forecasts for future returns, conservatively stated, and considers what could go wrong.”  (Aleph Blog)

Chart of the day

Initial claims, the S&P 500 and estimating fair value.  (macrofugue)

Markets

A look at market cap as a % of GDP.  (Big Picture)

Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) is badly in need of a friend these days.  (WSJ, MarketBeat, CBB)

Agricultural commodities are diverging from energy.  (The Reformed Broker, The Source, Street Sweep, @jackdamn)

Another oil ETF rolls out.  (IndexUniverse also ETFdb)

Strategy

Inflation and the S&P 500/Russell 2000 ratio.  (Clusterstock)

Do stocks lead treasury yields or vice versa?  (CXO Advisory Group)

An interesting new stock screener.  (Empirical Finance via Tradestreaming)

Technology

The technology IPO pipeline is filling up.  (Bloomberg)

You knew this was coming.  The Feds are investigating private share (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) sales.  (WSJ)

Is Amazon’s move the excuse for a Netflix (NFLX) correction?  (The Tech Trade, Money Game)

Just how fast can Apple (AAPL) grow over the next few years?  (Apple 2.0, The Tech Trade, MarketBeat)

The iPad proves that Apple isn’t just for rich guys anymore.  (Slate)

Finance

Why didn’t covenant-lite loans blow up en masse?  (Slate)

Do management-led buyouts inherently shortchange shareholders?  (Dealbook)

More companies are outside the reach of private equity than prior to the financial crisis.  (Fortune Finance also FT Alphaville)

States are not corporations.  How politics plays a big role in the muni bond debate.  (NetNet)

Global

The Saudis are getting nervous.  (FT Alphaville)

The Swiss franc still looks like a safe haven currency.  (The Source)

Russia is a big beneficiary of a Mideast-led oil shock.  (FT Alphaville)

What are the prospects for democracy in Egypt?  (Economix)

Economy

How worried should we be about higher oil and gasoline prices?  (Calafia Beach Pundit)

Existing home sales up.  Inventories down.  (Atlantic Business)

Commodities play a small role in consumption.  (Economist’s View)

A higher gasoline tax in the US is a no-brainer.  (Free exchange)

The many challenges of trying to calculate whether public sector employees are over/underpaid.  (Megan McArdle)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Cyclical stocks are struggling.  Time to worry?  (AR Screencast)

Our Wednesday morning live link look-in.  (Abnormal Returns)

Errata

Good luck Mayor Emanuel…you are going to need it.  (Points and Figures, SunTimes, Chicago Tribune)

Six steps to becoming a financial guru.  (Trader Habits)

How the NBA became English soccer.  (WSJ, Economix)

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