David Cassidy in the New Yorker profiles Harry Kat and examines the question of whether hedge fund returns are “replicable.”

Helen Thomas at FT Alphaville on the steady stream of bad news at Bear Stearns (BSC). See also this WSJ.com article.

Greg Newton at NakedShorts on the challenges of pricing (and trading) complex derivative securities.

Gretchen Morgenson in the New York Times on some related-party transactions at Bear Stearns.

That didn’t take long. Blackstone Group (BX) falls below its offering price.

Serena Ng and Henny Sender at WSJ.com on the growing concern with collateralized loan obligations, nee CLOs.

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael J. de la Merced in the New York Times with more indications of a private equity slowdown.

Bespoke Investment Group examines the economic indicator A/D line.

Housing deterioration continues. (via Big Picture)

Eddy Elfenbein and Bill Gross call for a Federal Reserve rate cut.

Zero Beta with a dose of skepticism for forecasts that rely on “small samples of economic data…”

CXO Advisory Group highlights some research that demonstrates outperformance by the “most admired companies.”

Adam Warner at the Daily Options Report parses the “dispersion trade.”

Matthew Hougan at IndexUniverse.com on a new long duration bond ETF offering from Vanguard.

Need a quick stock quote on your cell phone? Text Google. (via GigaOM.com)

David Warsh at economicprincipals.com on the long lag between “revolutionary” finance histories.

Peter Miller at National Geographic on swarm behavior and how “..in a world of complexity, you could do worse than to imitate a bee.” (via Infectious Greed)

Greg Mankiw comments on the “social value of a Wall Street career.”

Joe Brancitelli at Portfolio.com highlights a new service that is looking to bring “corporate jets to the masses.”

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