“So ultimately, leveraged investing comes down to picking good assets first, then getting the leverage right. The crisis has been brought on by poor asset decisions more so than too much leverage.”  (Accrued Interest)

The number of stocks facing naked short sales has plummeted.  (WSJ.com also Bull Bear Trader)

“I think that in this intermediate timeframe, the market is very difficult to short.”  (MarketSci Blog)

Hedge fund assets may fall 20% in 2009.  (Marketwatch.com)

Hedge funds are sniffing around the SPAC trade.  (TheStreet.com)

A shakeup coming to the MSCI Emerging Market Index.  (WSJ.com)

Emerging market bond funds are a better diversifier than emerging market equity funds.  (Morningstar.com)

“(W)e need to recognize that the relevant risk factors for estimating return premia aren’t a stable lot.”  (Capital Spectator)

The April ETF Deathwatch is up.  (Invest With an Edge)

What role does economic volatility play in market volatility?  (SSRN.com)

Don’t put too much stock in the explanations the media give for daily market movements.  (Daily Options Report)

The major banks are worth what the market says they are.  (24/7 Wall St.)

The capital markets (including converts) have opened up to a degree.  Can it last without continued government support?  (DealBook, Breakingviews)

Goldman Sachs (GS) always seems to come out on the right side of government action.  (Marketwatch.com)

Is tax-deductible debt expense the root of our credit problems?  (Breakingviews)

Why are turning the one agency people trust, the FDIC, into an “enabler of enormous leverage”?  (NYTimes.com also Felix Salmon)

The PPIP is open to being scammed by the big banks.  Should we care? (Interfluidity, Clusterstock, ibid, The Stash)

Are the Feds’ plans for broader financial regulation overly ambitious?  (WashingtonPost.com)

Some signs of light at the end of the economic tunnel.  Growth may resume in Q4.  (Clusterstock)

For better or worse we still cannot escape the comparisons of this downturn with the Great Depression.  (naked capitalism, Free exchange,  Curious Captialist)

Inflation expectations remain contained.  But the risk of a policy mistake remains high.  (Economist’s View)

How long will it take to take up the excess capacity in the economy?  (NYTimes.com)

Just how predictive of future growth is the slope of the yield curve across countries?  (Econbrowser)

Is energy, in some form or fashion, the right way to structure a new global currency?  (FT Alphaville)

A touching tribute to Greg Newton.  (Felix Salmon)

Another rave review for The Ivy Portfolio.  (dshort.com)

The art market has crashed.  (FT.com)

There is no shortage of ways to watch MLB this season.  (Gadgetwise, The Big Money, Silicon Alley Insider also GigaOM)

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