“Investing is an act of faith.”  (behavior gap)

Members of the perma-bear cult, “..never ever or rarely make money.”  (TheStreet)

“..everyone is a product of the last tick.”  (footnoted)

What say ‘Tobin’s Q‘ about current market valuations?  (Trader’s Narrative)

“Is there an enduring small-cap value effect? It certainly looks that way, although it’s likely to be a rough ride in the short run at times.”  (Capital Spectator)

“The bottom line is that domestic investors should look towards many foreign markets as more resistant to any pending market correction.”  (Barron’s)

Beta blows.  (CXO Advisory Group)

It’s time to start paying closer attention to the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX).  (Daily Options Report)

Beware the hidden correlations in ETF returns.  (A Dash of Insight)

On the rise of currency ETFs. (Morningstar)

Have we entered a “vice-less recovery“?  (Zero Beta)

Citigroup (C) stock is still violating the law of one price.  (Infectious Greed)

You can’t make this stuff up. “Some banks are prodding the government to let them use public money to help buy troubled assets from the banks themselves.”  (WSJ also Clusterstock, Baseline Scenario, Calculated Risk, Dealbreaker)

With General Motors (GM), “What began as a temporary “bridge loan” has become a free-money bonanza with no historic precedent.”  (Deal Journal also WSJ, WashingtonPost, naked capitalism)

The FDIC has a problem.   The growing number of “problem” institutions is on the rise.  (Calculated Risk, Real Time Economics)

Air freight volumes have bottomed and the Baltic Dry Index hits an eight-month high.  (CNNMoney, FT Alphaville)

“Will the greenback turn out to be the Achilles heel of the US economy?”  (Big Picture also EconomPic Data)

Oil is at six-month highs.  What does that imply for future inflation?  (Pragmatic Capitalist)

How long can the Fed keep interest rates near zero?  (The Stash)

“Consumers may be feeling a bit better these days. That’s a good sign for retailers in the short term. But the fundamentals don’t yet support optimism about Americans’ buying power over the long term.”  (BusinessWeek also MarketWatch)

Green shoots, green shoots, green shoots!  (Clusterstock, ibid, ibid)

Will economic growth re-fade after the stimulus wears off?  (Baseline Scenario)

Where is China spending its stimulus programs?  (Fund My Mutual Fund)

What did Larry Summers learn from his last stint in government?  (Economist’s View)

“If there is any form of economic transaction where psychology does and must take center stage, large scale corporate M&A is it.”  (Epicurean Dealmaker)

Finance-types take a biggest hit from taking time off.  (The Atlantic)

Some consumers are wired to to make bad financial choices.  (Newsweek)

“Holy cow, Facebook is worth $10 billion?”  Not so fast.  (Breakingviews)

Ten ways Twitter will change business.  (24/7 Wall St.)

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