The Risk Assets Index is showing a bit too much enthusiasm.  (TraderFeed)

The Russell 2000 has retraced some two-thirds of its bear market move.  (Barron’s)

The problems with using put/call ratios as a market indicator.  (Options Zone)

Volume has picked up dramatically in the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX).  (Bespoke)

Investors are loading up high yield muni bonds.  (Bloomberg also Money & Co.)

The credit markets have opened back up again.  (WSJ)

A peek at the TIPS yield curve shows bonds are not cheap.  (Crossing Wall Street)

The case for the Canadian dollar.  (Credit Writedowns)

The CBOE is moving towards an IPO.  (WSJ, MarketBeat)

Essential rules for short selling.  (James Altucher)

Testing the turn-of-the-month trading strategy.  (MarketSci Blog)

Soft commodities are in a permanent downtrend due in large part to advancing technology.  (The Money Game)

Jeff Miller, “Here is the biggest challenge for most investors: You have an opinion, and you are unwilling to see any new evidence.”  (A Dash of Insight)

Tom Brakke, “To date, the evidence supports the view that portfolio differentiation as measured by active share is a key metric to assess manager skill.”  (the research puzzle)

An eight stock index fund.  (Crossing Wall Street)

Do hedge funds covered by the news media underperform “hidden gems?”  (CXO Advisory Group)

Hedge fund managers who made the Forbes list of billionaires. (market folly)

Why exactly does Barclays (BCS) want to buy a U.S. bank?  (Atlantic Business)

How much is AIG (AIG) ultimately going to cost taxpayers?  (Newsweek)

The Feds made a hash out the GMAC bailout.  (Calculated Risk)

Barry Ritholtz, “This is simple, folks: Derivatives should not receive special treatment — they need to be regulated the way most other financial products in the world are.”  (Big Picture)

Why is Greece still rated investment grade?  (The Money Game)

The long term look at sovereign default cycles.  (Free exchange)

How a country becomes beholden to the credit markets.  (Rajiv Sethi)

Ramping up inflation is not a viable strategy for developed country debt woes.  (Economist)

Why hedge fund managers often ignore the risk of inflation.  (Felix Salmon)

Should we welcome a rise in the unemployment rate?  (Atlantic Business)

How concerned should we be about a flattening out in initial jobless claims?  (DJ Market Talk)

Why has the recession hit small business so hard?  (Real Time Economics)

How much revolving debt have consumer actually paid down?  (EconomPic Data, Felix Salmon)

The pension fund crisis is coming.  (Institutional Investor)

We continue to underestimate the demand for oil in developing markets.  (Gregor Macdonald)

Ed Thorpe on the key questions for risk management.  (Farnam Street)

A neat graph of our behavioral vulnerabilities.  (Big Picture)

Do we really want to give people the ability to bet real money on box office returns?  (NYTimes, LATimes)

Bonjour Cannes.  Hold on America.  Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps release date gets pushed back.  (Variety)

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