Did the Fortress Investment Group (FIG) IPO represent a top, or not? (via DealBook & FT Alphaville & DealBreaker.com)

Matthew Lynn and Amity Shlaes both at Bloomberg.com weigh in on why the Blackstone Group may want to come public and why some private firms stay private.

Roger Ehrenberg at Information Arbitrage on what PE firm is doing buying PIPEs.

Mark Hulbert at Marketwatch.com notes sentiment has not bounced back with the market.

Ticker Sense with a neat graph on Fed easing cycles and inflation.

Is the “carry trade” back in full force? (via FT Alphaville)

Aaron Lucchetti in the Wall Street Journal on the battle brewing over CBOT Holdings (CBT).

Are shareholders in a proposed restaurant buyout getting a “raw deal.” (via Morningstar.com)

Trader’s Narrative on timing the market using BPI charts. (via Trader Mike)

Chris Perruna on the value, or lack thereof, of paper trading. (via Daily Options Report)

On the related topic of backtesting, Jeff Miller at A Dash of Insight warns readers to be judicious in their use of these potentially powerful tools.

Brett Steenbarger at TraderFeed on the challenges of being a true buy and hold investor, and lessons learned from the most recent market decline.

All About Alpha reviews a paper on the challenges of identifying mutual funds that outperform the market.

Paul Herbert at Morningstar.com on how investors can use international bond funds.

James Altucher at TheStreet.com on some discounted closed-end funds worthy of inclusion in retirement portfolios.

Learning the lessons of “hypernegative growth” in (music) CD sales. (via Infectious Greed)

Felix Salmon on whether wine really is an investable asset.

Apple TV gets a positive review from Walter Mossberg and Katherine Boehret in the Wall Street Journal.

The Green Hornet movie is coming to a screen near you. (via AP/WSJ.com)

Thanks to all of our new readers. Your questions and/or comments are always welcome.