We took a vote here at Abnormal Returns HQ on the most overrated holiday. The winner was New Year’s Eve. In a close second place was a new all-time high on the Dow. Despite our disinterest in meaningless records there are some interesting items worth noting in the linkfest.

Previously we noted some catalysts that made a megacap comeback possible. Lo and behold Gregory Zuckerman and Ian McDonald in the Wall Street Journal note that big cap stocks are taking the lead over their small cap cousins.

Ticker Sense notes what stocks have lead the Dow to a new record and how the Dow and S&P 500 P/E ratios have diverged over time.

Alistair MacDonald in the Wall Street Journal looks at the possibility of the U.S. serving as a “safe haven” during a global economic slowdown.

James Hamilton at Econbrowser on how the stock and bond markets are signalling a “soft landing.”

James Picerno at the Capital Spectator on the archaic nature of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Random Roger on growing strains in the stock/bond ratio.

Caroline Baum at Bloomberg.com thinks stock investors should not ignore the inverted yield curve.

Brett Steenbarger at TraderFeed on how shifting market correlations can give us a clue about future market moves.

The Big Picture focuses the new “Blog Spotlight” on a post on the controversy over the recent move in gasoline prices.

DealBook on the idea that “as hedge funds retreat, so do energy prices.”

Tavia Grant and Roma Luciw at the Globe and Mail on the potential for further weakness in the commodities markets.

Jay Walker at the Confused Capitalist highlights some resources explaining the idea of “fundamental indexing.”

Thomas Kostigen at Marketwatch.com on whether active management works as well in bull and bear markets.

CXO Advisory Group notes some interesting results from a paper on the use of a variety of accounting variables, including the discount rate, to predict stock prices.

Roger Ehrenberg at Information Arbitrage on the parallels between venture capital and hedge funds.

Non-story of the day. Insider trading is suspected in the Harrah’s Entertainment (HET) offer. (via Wall Street Journal)

On the buyout front, DealBook highlights speculation about another major buyout candidate.

DealBook notes some disturbing activities surrounding the Kinder Morgan MBO plan.

The Stalwart on the vagaries of various insurance markets.

In light of the spinach fiasco, Lifehacker points to an informative story on “food expiration dates.”

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