A limited number of items came to our attention today.

Jane J. Kim and Jeff D. Opdyke in the Wall Street Journal report that individual investors are piling into stocks. One could claim that the flows are driven by return-chasers who are fleeing poorly performing real estate and fixed income markets. Not surprisingly a good chunk of those inflows are going into overaseas funds (and markets).

Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture notes in relation to the WSJ story the fact that the mass of retail investors are often wrong at turning points when they are either piling into or out of certain asset classes.

Nicole Lee at LBO Wire notes the increasing resistance to private equity lead deals overseas due in part to the fears of “private equity profiteers.”

The Economist notes the ever increasing hybrid funds trend.

Lauren Young at BusinessWeek notes the forthcoming close of one of the best performing Japan focused funds, the Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies (FSJCX) fund.

With talk of alternative energy in the air, The Stalwart notes some interesting news on the increasingly viable future for diesel-powered vehicles.

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