David Gaffen at MarketBeat notes the important word surrounding the Thai market debacle is – contagion.

Brett Steenbarger at TraderFeed on the question if the iShares MSCI Emerging Market ETF (EEM) is a better measure of speculative sentiment?

On the subject of emerging market ETFs, Jen Ryan at TheStreet.com on (at least) two new ETFs that will track the Indian stock market.

Randall W. Forsyth at Barrons.com on Internet stocks and Time magazine as a contrary indicator.

Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture thinks, “Tales of Inflation’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

Justin Lahart in the Wall Street Journal and David Altig at macroblog on the state of the housing market decline.

DealBook on the seemingly inevitable spin-off of Discover card from Morgan Stanley (MS).

Adam Warner at the Daily Options Report has more thoughts on Google’s options monetization plan.

Chet Currier at Bloomberg.com on the legitimization of portable alpha as an investment strategy.

All About Alpha on how the pressure to generate (no surprise) alpha is changing the way we look at mutual fund ratings.

Accrued Interest with a list of ways bond managers look to add value, i.e. alpha, to their portfolios.

FT Alphaville with some more data points on alternative investment firm valuations.

Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed points to an article on private equity backers being tapped out in light of the most recent round of funding and limited cash-outs.

FT Alphaville on how the “delicate balance” between the debt and equity markets will tell the tale for M&A and private equity in the new year.

JR Minkel at Scientific American on a recent study that documents how happiness affects our ability to think creatively and maintain our focus.

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