Sector returns YTD: industrials lead, utilities lag.  (Afraid to Trade)

IPO volume is coming back, but is still well below the peaks.  (Bespoke)

Is the market going to take a breather from beta?  (The Pragmatic Capitalist)

Junk stocks continue to move higher.  (the research puzzle)

Now the 7-year swap spread has gone negative.  (FT Alphaville)

The yield curve is steepening once again.  (Bespoke)

Mohamed El-Erian and Pimco are staying away from US Treasuries.  (CBS MoneyWatch)

More muni bond ETFs coming courtesy of Nuveen and State Street (STT).  (WSJ)

Every trading system undergoes drawdowns.  What matters is how to you react to them.  (Abnormal Returns also Greenbackd)

Every trade has a hidden assumption about volatility.  (TraderFeed)

An article with “catheter” and “sexy” in the same sentence.  (Financial Adviser)

Speculation on why Palm (PALM) will be bought out by Research in Motion (RIMM).  (VentureBeat also Marketwatch, Deal Journal)

If you wait for the deficit picture to get cleared up before you invest, you are going to miss a great deal in the meantime.  (A Dash of Insight)

Offshore oil drilling coming to the East Coast.  (NYTimes)

Be careful interpreting the oil/natural gas price ratio.  (The Reformed Broker)

Be afraid.  PIK toggles are back.  (Deal Journal)

The Fed is out of the mortgage biz.  Risks await.  (Reuters Breakingviews, MarketBeat, Crossing Wall Street)

What role did hedge funds play in the financial crisis?  (All About Alpha)

Research indicates that companies that are widely owned underperform.  (SSRN)

More evidence that insiders outperform.  (SSRN)

How governments should manage their sovereign bank shareholdings.  (Felix Salmon)

What bank reform should look like.  (Aleph Blog)

The jobs recession has been characterized by a surge in productivity.  (WashingtonPost also Atlantic Business, DJ Market Talk)

Restaurants and railroads showing better traffic.  (Calculated Risk, Carpe Diem also EconomPic Data)

Large swaths of the US avoided the housing boom (and bust).  (Big Picture, Real Time Economics)

It is hard to justify UK home prices with low real interest rates.  (Buttonwood)

Ending Saturday mail service is the beginning of greater austerity moves.  (WashingtonPost)

Half the country is still in recession.  (Calculated Risk)

In defense of bubbles.  (Rational Irrationality)

AOL (AOL) needs to fix its content strategy – fast.  (Silicon Alley Insider)

Some favorite ETF sites.  (VIX and More)

The last word (thankfully) on the Henry Blodget-Felix Salmon spat.  (Village Voice)

The twenty best financial blogs.  (24/7 Wall St.)

Ten bloggers who should write a book.  (Financial Adviser)

Why we need more competition in the realm of economic thought.  (HBR also Ezra Klein)

Why wine is not an investment.  (Felix Salmon)

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