Quote of the day

Cullen Roche, “Equity investors are voting that QE will do something for the economy.  However, that does not mean it will do something for the economy. ”  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Chart of the day

Percent jobs lost during recessions (past and present).  (Calculated Risk)

Markets

Cumulative breadth and new highs surge.  (Trader’s Narrative, Quantifiable Edges)

We have yet to see “stubborn bullishness” from advisers.  (Marketwatch)

“Lesson #1: Investors don’t mind a correlation of one across asset classes when everything goes up.”  (EconomPic Data)

Even laggards like the homebuilders and the financials are catching a bid.  (StockCharts, Bespoke)

‘Strong banks‘ may soon be ‘allowed’ to raise their dividends.  (WSJ, MarketBeat, Clusterstock, Crossing Wall Street, Street Sweep)

The US Treasury curve is steep (and getting steeper) relative to the rest of the world.  (FT Alphaville)

“In a world of negative yields, owning gold has no opportunity cost.”  (Economist)

The US dollar and stocks are not getting along of late.  (Bespoke)

The Chinese stock market really likes quantitative easing.  (VIX and More)

Is Bank of America (BAC) now simply ‘too big to manage’?  (Felix Salmon)

Volatility

What QE2 is doing to equity (and currency volatility).  (FT Alphaville)

The volatility complex just keeps getting more complex…  (Daily Options Report also VIX and More)

On the relationship between equity volatility, the slope of the yield curve and the US dollar.  (SurlyTrader)

Strategy and Tactics

Phil Pearlman, “There is a thick line between rational contrarian investing and recklessly taking the other side.”  (StockTwitsU also Alchemy of Trading, Derek Hernquist)

What Mark Carhart learned from the quant crisis of 2007.  (Institutional Investor)

The case for using a global equity fund as a core allocation.  (Capital Spectator)

How to think about the covered call decision.  (Tyler’s Trading)

Talking risk, return and ‘low volatility’ investing with Eric Falkenstein.  (Abnormal Returns)

Part five of an interview with Buffett-biographer Alice Schroeder.  (Simoleon Sense)

More QE2 talk

If the Fed is trying to force capital into risk assets, then so far, so good… ( Kid Dynamite, Random Roger)

Does economic strength negate the need for QE2?  (Real Time Economics, Calafia Beach Pundit)

The QE2 backlash is here.  (Free exchange, The Reformed Broker)

The effects of QE2 will be modest, at best.  (Econbrowser)

Who wins (and loses) with QE2?  (HuffingtonPost via Felix Salmon)

How we will know if QE2 failed.  (Money Game)

Economy

It seems like the economy is finally beginning to add private sector jobs.  (WSJ, Big Picture, Calculated Risk, Curious Capitalist, Free exchange, Economist’s View, FT Alphaville, Atlantic Business, Floyd Norris)

Three things we learned about the US economy this week.  (Gavyn Davies)

Growth in rail traffic continues apace.  (Pragmatic Capitalism, Mish)

Why who is holding shaky Eurozone debt, like Ireland’s, matters.  (naked capitalism also The Source)

A look at the (real) rise in the yuan.  (Economist)

Just Because

Want to know how you will react to an event?  Ask some one who has already experienced it.  (Marginal Revolution)

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