Activism as an asset class. (DealZone, DealBook)

“When you have more and more companies under stress, suddenly by force everyone becomes a distressed investor.” (NYTimes.com)

Was Bear Stearns (BSC) “too interlinked to fail”? (Salon.com)

Too bad Bear didn’t try to save themselves. (NakedShorts)

The Fed funds rate is historically low and volatile. (Aleph Blog)

It seems that only the regulators are in favor of the Paulson plan. (Finance Trends Matter)

Are investment banks really trying to fix the auction rate securities market? (Market Movers)

Things are bad on Wall Street when the free water is cut off. (DealBreaker.com)

“The history of financial markets is not a stable one. They have imploded every decade or so…” (Economist.com)

Regulators should want banks to take more basis risk versus liquidity and counterparty risk. (EconLog)

Big global macroeconomic trends. (Humble Student)

“The birth of ETFs has helped keep mutual fund managers honest.” (All About Alpha)

A big misunderstanding about the real job of hedge fund managers. (Financial Crookery)

Newly launched ETFs. Newly filed ETF applications. (Morningstar.com, ibid)

“I think it’s pretty fair to say that retail investors simply aren’t set up to judge the risks inherent when you layer market risk, counterparty risk, and foreign-exchange risk in the way that Opdyke recommends.” (Market Movers)

More evidence that high dividend yield stocks outperform. (CXO Advisory Group)

Three down months in a row for non-farm payrolls. (Big Picture, Capital Spectator)

Some models say that home prices are still too high. (Calculated Risk)

Then again, U.S. housing prices don’t seem all that out of whack compared to the rest of the world. (Economist.com)

“It’s interesting that a phenomenon as recurrent as the business cycle can have such a different look each time it comes around. The current episode should be no exception.” (Econbrowser)

A little anxiety does an investor good. (EurkaAlert.org)

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