This is our last post of the year. Thanks to all of readers to whom we with a happy and prosperous New Year. We hope you have enjoyed what you have read here to date. Please feel free to contact us with feedback or comments.

We thought we had written our final piece on the inverted yield curve previously, but a couple items of interest came to our attention.

First, Mark Thoma at Economist’s View posted a good piece for those of you who may be unclear as to what the whole yield curve thing is about in the first place. Second, Jack Willoughby in Barron’s discusses a ETF strategy that looks to profit from the yield curve steepening. While everyone is discussing the implications of the inverted yield curve, some analysts are already looking for some normalization.

If 2005 was not the year of the hedge fund, then it was most definitely the year of the exchange traded fund (ETF). Erin A. Arvedlund in Barron’s chronicles the growth in the ETF industry and the way ETFs have changed the way some managers construct portfolios.

breakingviews in the Wall Street Journal sees an opportunity in the coming split-up of Triarc Cos. (TRY).

James Altucher at RealMoney.com on the continuing saga brewing on the future of the Korea Equity Fund (KEF).

Alistair Barr at Marketwatch.com chronicles some odd happenings over at Rydex Investments in regards to their hedge fund product and the Refco bankruptcy.

Chuck Jaffe at Marketwatch.com thinks investors should think twice before investing in commodity-based mutual funds affected by a recent IRS ruling.

Barry Ritzholtz at the Big Picture highlights some graphs that document the “death of volatility.” Not only has realized and implied volatility remained low in the U.S., but has extended its reach to nearly the entire world.

Mark Hulbert at Marketwatch.com is surprised to see that investor sentiment towards gold is not higher given the run in the shiny metal.

Here’s hoping we do not have to read another story about Bill Miller’s streak for another eleven months or so.

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