The bond bubble keeps growing. (Crossing Wall Street)

The state of market sentiment. (A Dash of Insight, TraderFeed, Big Picture)

A volatility spike…at last. (IndexIndicators.com, Daily Options Report)

Do retail investors really matter to Wall Street anymore? (DealBook)

The new coal ETF is particularly volatile. (TheStreet.com)

“(I)t seems that merger arbitrage might be the new statistical arbitrage: a strategy which performed very well, until it didn’t.” (Market Movers)

Wall Street writedowns now exceed $100 billion. (MarketBeat)

“Although sovereign-wealth funds make up only 2% of the world’s $165 trillion-worth of traded securities, they have a lot of firepower…” (Economist.com)

But will the SWFs use to “demand swift and radical change”? (FT Alphaville)

“Greater rewards requires greater risk.” (Big Picture)

Alpha, depends in large part, on how you define it. (Capital Spectator)

“I guess there really is no way to reduce your risk as an investor without … no, it can’t be that easy … reducing your return.” (Epicurean Dealmaker)

The end of the AMEX. (NakedShorts, IndexUniverse.com)

On the predictability of exchange rate moves. (VoxEU via Economist’s View)

Angel investors are pushing traditional VCs aside. (Marketwatch.com)

Do we need a recession to purge the economy of its many ills? (Curious Capitalist)

The case against fiscal stimulus. (Econbrowser)

Evolutionary economics explains why seemingly irrational economic behavior remains ingrained in us to this day. (Scientific American)

Have we missed an interesting post in the financial blogosphere? Feel free to drop Abnormal Returns a line.