Trend followers are having a hard time following up a strong 2008.   (WSJ)

Should we actually require investors read the prospectus of leveraged ETFs before they invest?  (Daily Options Report)

Put buyers are on strike.  (VIX and More)

Are we facing a replay of the commodity spike of 2008?  (FT Alphaville)

Do fixed income ETFs work as advertised?  (IndexUniverse, ibid)

Moody’s forecasts a lower peak in junk bond defaults.  (Reuters)

Traders should always be on the lookout for new trading niches. (TraderFeed)

Individual investors love to chase the hot hand.  (MarketSci Blog)

How regret plays a role in the disposition effect.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

“High-frequency trading has officially joined the ranks of excuses analysts can give when they have nothing to say.”  (Clusterstock also EconomPic Data)

Wall Street is getting its fair share off of the carcass that is AIG (AIG).  (WSJ)

Will General Motors really be able to pull off an IPO in 2010?  (Deal Journal)

Near death experience aside, Goldman Sachs (GS) believes it is invincible.  (NYTimes)

Is any regulator willing to take on Goldman?  (Felix Salmon, Free exchange)

When being big means you don’t have to be better.  (Atlantic Business)

“The real mistake of Lehman may not have been to let it die, but to fail to understand the implications of that failure.”  (Dealscape)

Is the Fed planning to end its Treasury bond “buying spree”?  (The Stash)

Fannie and Freddie are in line for a good bank/bad bank overhaul.  (WashingtonPost also Clusterstock, Free exchange)

Insurance card in your wallet aside, “You do not have health insurance.”  (Baseline Scenario)

Twitter is under attack (literally).  (Bits)

“Being on Stocktwits is like having a team of thousands of part-time analysts working for you by your side.”   (Zero Beta)

“CNBC is a media venue that has surprisingly little control over its own fate.”  (Big Picture)

Statistics is the hot new field.  (NYTimes)

Is social networking done as a popular phenomenon?  (The Reformed Broker)

Children as a luxury good.  (Economist)

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