Leveraged loans are piling up on bank balance sheets. (WSJ.com)

Default rates on high yield bonds are expected to surge in 2008. (WSJ.com)

Skepticism reigns in regards to Moody’s plan to put a “warning label” on its ratings. (Big Picture, Calculated Risk)

Talk of a monoline bond insurer bailout are still premature. (FT Alphaville)

ETFs have not yet taken over the world. (The Float)

Some perspective on the 26-year bond bull market. (Capital Spectator)

“(I)t appears unlikely that the economy will escape the current slowdown without a recession.” (Econbrowser)

Is the slide in the ISM non-manufacturing index a sign of a “broadening out” of economic weakness? (WSJ.com, A Dash of Insight, Jeff Matthews, naked capitalism)

The import of trouble in the world of municipal auction rate securities. (Accrued Interest)

Inverted yield curves and their effect on the stock market and economy. (Afraid to Trade)

Humans are “poorly adapted to making decisions under risk.” (InVivoAnalytics.com)

The relationship between reported levels of happiness and achievement. (TraderFeed)

Top trades of 2007 (Trader Daily via FT Alphaville)

“So, even minor reappraisals by investors of a company’s prospects can lead to big percentage swings in the value of its traded securities. When the company is a behemoth like Microsoft, those percentages pretty rapidly add up to some serious coin.” (Epicurean Dealmaker)

“(A) Yahoo white knight may indeed be emerging–in the form of Microsoft’s unhappy shareholders.” (Silicon Alley Insider)

The surprising strength of Bloomberg in the Internet age. (Market Movers)

Welcome Carl Icahn to the world of blogging. (DealBook, Silicon Alley Insider)

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