Coming on the heels of the news that Morningstar is going to begin ranking long-short equity funds as a separate group, we should not be surprised that more fund companies are trying their hands in the category with new funds.

Yet another mutual fund firm has jumped into the ‘hybrid fund’ arena. According to Alistair Barr at Marketwatch.com American Century is launching the American Century Long-Short Equity Fund (ALHIX) with the goal of generating returns in the neighborhood of 4-5% over the three month Treasury bill rate.

Dan Culloton at Morningstar.com notes some evidence that the stocks of fund companies have outperformed the funds they manage. As Culloton notes this highlights the inherent tension between the management of fund companies and the shareholders of the funds they manage.

If you are not sick of hearing about the January Barometer, then you can visualize the results over at Chart of the Day. Chet Currier at Bloomberg.com is skeptical that anybody actually uses indicators like the January Barometer.

Roger Nusbaum at TheStreet.com goes east, but not too far east, to discuss the investment opportunities in Iceland.

Daniel Kadlec at Time.com checks in with Ron Muhlenkamp to see if he is still high on the home building stocks.

Shefali Anand in the Wall Street Journal reviews the punk performance of world bond funds in 2005. The strength in the U.S. dollar sapped the returns from unhedged portfolios, but for those looking for diversification away from the U.S. dollar they remain an option.

Martin Feldstein is worried that another leg up in oil prices could have a marked effect on the domestic economy – this time. (via Economist’s View)

We previously pulled together a few items on the potential for the substitution of alcohol for petroleum in the economy. Kevin Kerr at Marketwatch.com looks for some ways to play the switch to ethanol as a fuel.

Felix Gillette at CJR Daily wonders why more reporters are unable to see through Carl Icahn’s assertions about Time Warner (TWX).

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