RIP, mark-to-market accounting rules.  (Zero Hedge, Money & Co., FT Alphaville, WSJ.com, Dealbreaker)

Are mark-to-market and the PPIP incompatible?  (MarketBeat)

Even if banks were willing to part with their toxic assets, only the elite can get admitted to the PPIP club.  (Clusterstock)

Count one big money manager out of the PPIP plan.  (Dealbreaker, NYPost.com)

Are the CDS contracts written by AIG even legal?  (Big Picture)

The quants are back in force.  (FT.com)

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) borrows at a rate higher than Citigroup (C).  (Bloomberg.com)

Risky (and not-so-risky) stocks by industry.  (Value Expectations)

We should not judge hedge fund managers by annualized returns, rather “capital-weighted annualized returns” would better capture the dollar returns they generate for investors.  (Rick Bookstaber)

Why merger arbitrage returns have declined since 2002.  (SSRN.com)

A more skeptical take on the IQ Alpha Hedge Strategy Fund (QAI).  (Fundalarm)

Who quickly do divergences from intrinsic value get erased?  (SSRN.com)

“By controlling our exposure to risk and reward, we control the degree to which our brains get hijacked. Trading 100% of our risk turns planned trading into gambling; cutting risk back moderates the reactivity of our dopamine systems.”  (TraderFeed)

GM bondholders are playing a “high-stakes game of chicken” with the Obama administration.  (Baseline Scenario)

Should Canadian banks steer clear of opportunities amongst the wreckage south of the border?  (WSJ.com)

The stress test is turning out to be quite stressful for bankers.  (Clusterstock)

Econobloggers want the administration to fix the banks.  (Kauffman.org)

Signs of a bottom in the economy is greatly exaggerated.  (Zero Hedge, FT Alphaville)

What evidence is there that Washington is in the thrall of Wall Street?  (The Stash)

“All newspapers—all print media—have been hit hard in this recession. All face an existential crisis and may ultimately face the prospect of bankruptcy. Those whose owners saw papers as assets to be flipped, leveraged, and stripped are already bankrupt.”  (Slate.com also Big Picture)

Is Twitter killing RSS feeds?  (Venture Chronicles)

How Twitter killed his blog (and golf game). (Howard Lindzon)

The death of art as an asset class.  (Felix Salmon)

“If there’s a formula to Apple’s success over the past 10 years, that’s it. Start with something simple and build it, grow it, improve it, steadily over time. Evolve it.”  (Daring Fireball)

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