Eddy Elfenbein, “Basic economics tells us that profits can only go so far without sales growth — sales growth has been dismal. ”  (Crossing Wall Street)

Bond yields are low, but what about real yields?  (Bespoke)

A trade to play a pullback in bonds.  (Milk Trader)

Despite some advances, muni bond pricing for individuals is still a minefield.  (BusinessWeek)

What are the chances the Build America Bond program gets extended?  (Morningstar)

Will investors simply have to look at stocks at this point?  (Street Sweep)

James Montier on the fact that dividends matter, a lot.  (FT Alphaville, Big Picture, Random Roger)

Bears are getting a lot of press these days.  (FT Alphaville, ibid)

Never forget that the ETF business is in fact a (big) business.  (AR Screencast)

Despite the titles, like ETFs can perform differently.  (Felix Salmon)

Have commodities decoupled from the stock market?  (HedgeWorld)

Barron’s is wrong on Medtronic (MDT).  (Vitaliy Katsenelson)

Comparing the two small cap India ETFs.  (IndexUniverse)

The wave of enthusiasm on BP (BP) has waned.  (FT Alphaville)

CFA vs. MBA:  does it matter?  (CXO Advisory Group)

Large funds are hamstrung by their size.  (Crossing Wall Street)

How Fairfax Financial is hedging against deflation.  (Street Capitalist, WSJ)

Apartment REITs have been outstanding performers YTD.  (Time)

Shareholder activism just got a little easier (and cheaper).  (SmartMoney, WSJ)

No matter how you slice it home sales are really low. (Bespoke, Calculated Risk)

The real estate market will not recover until everyone recognizes that housing prices have fallen.  (The Frontal Cortex, Boston Globe)

Alan Blinder says the Fed is running “low on ammo.”  (WSJ)

Some doubts as to the effectiveness of further quantitative easing.  (NYTimes, Gavyn Davies)

Initial jobless claims decline.  (Calculated Risk also TRB, FT Alphaville)

Truck tonnage has been flat since April.  (Calculated Risk, Pragmatic Capitalism)

Beware countries, like companies, that complain about downgrades.  (Money Game also MarketBeat)

What sovereign spreads are telling us about the state of the world?  (The Source)

The Great Moderation is history.  (research puzzle pix)

What is a “persistent large output gap” and do we have one?  (Lex)

The case for developed Europe.  (EconomPic Data)

The venture capital industry is in “freefall.”  (MercuryNews)

Private equity is finding fundraising tough going.  (Bloomberg, DealBook)

Matthew Goldstein and Svea Herbst Bayliss, “In some respects, Falcone’s LightSquared gambit is one of the riskiest hedge fund trades ever. ”  (Reuters)

What language says about your market beliefs.  (Big Picture)

Jeff Carter, “When a trader talks his position, listen with cynicism.”  (Points and Figures)

What do quants do?  (StockTwitsU)

Mark Cuban’s best investment advice.  (blogmaverick also Minyanville)

NetFlix (NFLX) has the big picture right, however there will be some transition pain.  (DailyFinance also TechCrunch, GigaOM)

Google (GOOG) adds free calls to Gmail.  Skype shudders.  (WSJ, GigaOM)

Does what Apple (AAPL) have up its sleeve in September worth 12%?  (Apple 2.0, Bits)

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