Welcome to all the new readers of Abnormal Returns. We hope you enjoy this edition of our daily linkfest.

Fed Chairman Bernanke speaks, and the market responds. With economic growth expected to moderate in the second half, many are expecting the Fed to pull a "one and pause" sort of scenario. Coverage from the WSJ, FT and TheStreet.com.

Barry Ritholtz fears a worst case scenario with the Fed pausing at 5.00%, inflation accelerating, thereby forcing the Fed into an ultimately much more aggressive policy down the road.

Caroline Baum at Bloomberg.com says goodbye to the "conundrum."

Daniel Gross at Slate.com reviews the case for globalization now spreading inflation after what had been a period of globalized disinflation.

Then again this focus on the state of the economy may not be worth all that much. CXO Advisory has another of their "summary and synthesis" pieces which highlights the limited value of economic indicators and future stock returns.

Alison Tudor at Reuters.com reviews the evidence for a shakeout for smaller firms in the private equity industry.

Speaking of shakeouts, Daily Dose of Optimism reads a prominent report on a coming hedge fund reversal and is skeptical that insitutional investors will catch on all that quickly.

Bobby Bartlett at Truth on the Market reviews the case for mark-to-market accounting at private equity firms in the face of potential government regulation.

Karen Dolan at Morningstar.com highlights the case for commodity mutual funds in light of some tax-law changes that have forced managers to change the way they gain commodities exposure.

The FT.com reports on the decision by the Chicago Board of Trade to begin trade its agricultural contracts electronically alongside its open outrcy pits.

James Picerno at the Capital Spectator looks at the divergence in performance between housing stocks and REITs and which serves as a better indicator.

The Confused Capitalist writes on the topic of portfolio construction with the goal of outperformance in mind.

Lawrence Carrel at SmartMoney.com on the decidedly underplayed story of the decided lack of shortable shares of most exchange traded funds available to retail traders.

Paul Kedrosky also notes the launch of Blogging Stocks as we did earlier.

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