Daniel Gross at Slate.com on the odd bedfellows that make up the “Punch Bowl Caucus.”

“The biggest, most visible way to play the negativity around hedge funds is Man Group…” (via WSJ.com)

Renaissance Technologies is reportedly looking to a private placement of shares in the hedge fund behemoth. (via DealBook)

All About Alpha on how recent hedge fund contagion resembles a virus in a nursery school.

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael J. de la Merced at NYTimes.com on why the HD Supply renegotiation is not likely to spread to other deals.

Rebecca Buckman at WSJ.com writes “Some top venture-capital firms eager to expand into new markets are twisting their investors’ arms to get them to go along — or so say the investors.”

Lina Saigol at FT Alphaville on why successful risk arbitrage takes “guts.”

A sign of the times. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange inks a deal to sell their trading floors. (via ChicagoTribune.com)

David Gaffen at MarketBeat on the recent correlation between the Japanese Yen and the S&P 500.

Adam Warner at the Daily Options Report on a huge “intraday volatility pop that big in a stock that was not in the middle of takeover rumors.”

Helen Thomas at FT Alphaville on the disturbing composition of earnings growth for Chinese companies.

Brett Steenbarger at TraderFeed looks at what happens when commercial paper rates (widely) diverge from T-bills.

John P. Hussman at Hussman Funds is done (for now) writing about the Fed Model.

Accrued Interest has a neat look at how the subprime crisis has affected where CDS are trading for a wide range of credits.

Mark Hulbert at Marketwatch.com has yet to see a meaningful rise in newsletter equity sentiment.

Bespoke Investment Group with an cool overview of historical sector weightings for the S&P 500.

A couple of “orphan ETFs” are merging. (via IndexUniverse.com)

Christopher Davis at Morningstar.com asks “How much foreign (stock) exposure do you need?”

Economists’ consensus rarely sees a recession coming. (via Econocator)

Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture has another indication that the housing market stinks.

Free Exchange on how the idiosyncrasies of local homeowners insurance affect “personal housing decisions.”

James Surowiecki at NewYorker.com on why air travel remains a largely miserable experience.

Claudia Dreifus at NYTimes.com talks with a researcher in the field of “intuitive thinking.”

David Stipp at CNNMoney.com on the widespread, mysterious death of honeybees.

Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed assembles some interesting statistics on the increasingly short cuts seen in major motion pictures.

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