A closer look at stock drops in relation to a recession. (WSJ.com, Big Picture)

“The ride in financials will not likely be a smooth one — profitability has been impaired and will be slow to recover — but, in the fullness of time, it may be a profitable one.” (TheStreet.com)

“The paradoxical truth about the jobs numbers is that they are much better than their critics say they are but nowhere near as good as investors believe them to be.” (NewYorker.com)

Do you need a ‘relative’ or an ‘absolute’ portfolio benchmark? (Bill Rempel)

Testing the robustness of various market anomalies. (CXO Advisory Group)

“How junky is MBIA (MBI)?” (FT Alphaville)

Is there any way the monoline bond insurers can survive? (naked capitalism)

Citigroup (C) and the kitchen sink theory. (DealBook)

More evidence of insider trading on the banking side. (WSJ.com)

Vice beats faith-based investing. (Alea)

On the use of Morningstar’s style box methodology. (Morningstar.com)

Select Sector SPDRs assets climbed some $9 billion in 2007. (ETF Trends)

The Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL) is now trading. (InVivoAnalytics.com, 24/7 Wall St., IndexUniverse.com)

A NYSE-AMEX merger makes sense. (Daily Options Report)

“We’re doomed by the exceptions,” he [Taleb] said. (ChicagoTribune.com)

Q&A (.pdf) with Dick Davis . (Dick Davis Dividend via Kirk Report)

The Apple iPhone has been a boon to traffic to likes of Google. (Infectious Greed)

Is it possible to make money off of a Steve Jobs’ MacWorld keynote address? (Keynote Index Fund via Big Picture)

The debate over a paid vs. free WSJ.com. (Market Movers)

The NFL betting markets don’t provide many opportunities for “easy money.” (All About Alpha)

Wallstrip has a new host. (Howard Lindzon)

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