Wednesday links: the importance of markets

• abnormalreturns
• February 16th, 2011

Quote of the day

Steve Cohen, “Leverage, concentration and illiquidity are the three things that can kill you.”  (Dealbook via Pragmatic Capitalism)

Chart of the day

Deere (DE) continues to surge on the back of the booming agriculture economy.  (Fund My Mutual Fund)

Markets

The S&P 500 has officially doubled off of the ’09 low.  (Crossing Wall Street)

The muni bond market is moving out of panic mode.  (Money & Co., MarketBeat)

Has DE Shaw lost its luster?  (Clusterstock, Dealbreaker)

Strategy

A deep dive into the Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) portfolio.  (Bespoke)

Ten conviction buys from the ultimate stock pickers.  (Morningstar)

Using regret as an indicator.  (Derek Hernquist)

Man cannot live on stock screens alone.  (Crossing Wall Street)

How we sort markets may be important than what country comes out on top.  (the research puzzle)

Companies

Six key lessons from the Apple (AAPL) era.  (The Reformed Broker)

Is Apple shooting itself in the foot by trying to extract too big a price for subscriptions?  (Big Picture)

When under pressure add a poison pill.  The case of St. Joe Company (JOE).  (ValuePlays, Dealbook)

A sign of the times.  Borders goes bust.  (WSJ, Bloomberg, Dealbook)

On the prospects for a nuclear power revival in the US.  (Scientific American)

Finance

Baruch, “And ultimately whether Facebook goes public or not won’t change the central importance of stock markets.”  (Ultimi Barbarorum)

Why Facebook is worth its current valuation.  (Leigh Drogen)

Is the retail forex boom already over?  (Money Game)

What could possibly go wrong?  Banks are now lending directly to municipalities.  (WSJ, FT Alphaville)

Talk about a lost decade.  Venture capital returns have been horrid.  (Term Sheet)

Global

Where managers are placing their bets with the emerging markets.  (beyondbrics)

Yuan options are coming to a screen near you.  (Reuters)

Economy

The housing recovery remains muted, at best.  (Calculated Risk, Atlantic Business, Calafia Beach Pundit)

Lenders are now demanding real (~22%) down payments to issue mortgages these days.  (WSJ)

Core producer prices surge.  Margins under pressure.  (EconomPic Data, Money Game, Calafia Beach Pundit)

Consumers are reducing indebtedness while corporations begin to spend their cash hoards.  (WashingtonPost, Bloomberg)

More color on the farmland price boom.  (Bloomberg, Fund My Mutual Fund)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Exchanges are constructs, therefore changing ownership and rules can affect various constituencies.  (AR Screencast)

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

Mixed media

A smorgasbord of recommended investment reading.  (Big Picture)

Monopoly, dumbed down for Americans today.  (Kid Dynamite)

The godfather of options blogging is moving on.  (Daily Options Report)

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Tickers: $AAPL, BRKB, DE, FXCM, JOE

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