The VIX is up.  Should we be worried?  (Research Reloaded, Daily Options Report, VIX and More)

Catching up with June hedge fund performance.  (market folly)

Investor sentiment is still weak.  (Bespoke)

“The ProShares Credit Suisse 130/30 (CSM) fund falls under the realm of actively managed funds.”  (TheStreet)

The State of Massachusetts begins sniffing around leveraged ETFs.  (WSJ also IndexUniverse)

Is natural gas dropping due to a freeze in share issuance at the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG)?  (WSJ)

“Some people on Wall Street are suggesting that Goldman Sachs inflated its staffing numbers to deflate its compensation figures per employee.”  (DealBook)

How pay works at Goldman Sachs (GS).  (Clusterstock)

The debate (in full) over the Matt Taibbi-penned Goldman Sachs story.  (The Opinionator, Rolling Stone)

It turns out that CIT Group (CIT) really was too small (and lent to the wrong firms) to get bailed out. (Baseline Scenario, Matthew Goldstein)

Prepare for the backlash against letting CIT Group fail.  (Clusterstock, Jeff Matthews)

“I would argue that investment banking’s obsession with growth, as an industry, has contributed immeasurably to the enormity of the systemic clusterf**k in which we currently find ourselves entangled.”  (Epicurean Dealmaker)

What role does cognitive ability play in testing behavioral finance?  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Calpers vs. the rating agencies.  (FT Alphaville, Atlantic Business)

Are banks forced to grow due the commoditization of its core businesses?  (Dealscape)

The slack in the economy is profound.  (Atlantic Business, EconomPic Data)

It is worth maintaining the fiction that the Federal Reserve remain independent?  (Breakingviews, Real Time Economics, Crossing Wall Street)

Interviews with traders Anni Virag and aiki14.  (Wall St. Cheat Sheet, My $10,000)

Jim Cramer is now an internet hack shill.”  (Falkenblog)

How CNBC makes money these days.  (Zero Hedge)

Econblogs have become the darlings of the blogosphere, including a list of 25 top econoblogs.  (WSJ, Real Time Economics)

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