It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for the stock market).  (Crossing Wall Street)

Newsletter writers have gotten pretty bullish.  (Bespoke)

The big money is bullish and the small money is almost as bearish as they’ve been all year (a possible explanation for the skepticism of the rally).”  (The Pragmatic Capitalist)

Health care ETFs love health care reform.  (Bespoke)

The cheapest ETFs by category.  (ETF Database)

A decade-long stealth bull market in Iowa farmland.  (Abnormal Returns)

More data is not always better when it comes to investing.  (The Psy-Fi Blog earlier Abnormal Returns)

The ugliness that is the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX).  (Daily Options Report)

Do TIPS work as a long-term inflation hedge?  (CXO Advisory Group)

Why it is difficult to embrace indexing as a strategy.  (IndexUniverse)

Ten lessons not learned from James Montier.  (Trader’s Narrative)

Ten predictions for 2010 from Richard Bernstein.  (The Money Game)

Research into ways to enhance the returns from the carry trade.  (Economist also The Money Game)

With a 0% Fed funds rate it is no wonder banks are lending to the Treasury and not to businesses. (Clusterstock)

Can Paul Volcker move the debate on the reform of big banks?  (Economix, Fundmastery Blog, The Daily Beast)

Is there a chance Glass-Steagall will be reinstated?  (Big Picture)

The Treasury just can’t get it right when it comes to Citigroup (C).  (Clusterstock)

Did the current recession kill the “Great Moderation“?  (Economist’s View)

“Why is business investment so weak?”  (Mankiw Blog)

A twist on the Tobin tax.  (FT)

Should underwater homeowners “strategically default”?  (Interfluidity)

Time Magazine, and its pick as Person of the Year, as a contrarian indicator.  (Mish, Rational Irrationality)

In contrast to Time, Simon Johnson ranks at the top of a list of the “Top 25 Brains of the Crisis.”  (Prospect also Rortybomb)

Investors trust their financial advisors but don’t trust financial institutions in general.  (The Big Money)

Fine art hedge funds are not faring all that well.  (FINalternatives)

Nice work if you can get it.  A place on the Apple (AAPL) board of directors.  (24/7 Wall St.)

Some recommended investment reading.  (FT Alphaville)

Are e-readers, like the Kindle, going to change the way people pay for content on the web?  (Atlantic Business)

Gift cards blow.  How to do better.  (Big Picture)

The entry deadline for our holiday book giveaway is nigh.  (Abnormal Returns)

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