Quote of the day

Joe Weisenthal, “The opening bell: RIP.”  (Money Game)

Chart of the day

Source:  Bespoke Investment Group

Markets

Individual investors are once again getting bullish.  (AR Screencast)

Chalk another one up for Dr. Copper.  (Money Game also WSJ)

Keeping an eye on crude oil, which could turn into the new (black) gold.  (Dragonfly Capital)

Should we be worried about the market valuation backdrop?  (dshort)

Bears are finding it rough going of late.  (The Reformed Broker)

The VIX did not buy into yesterday’s rally.  (SurlyTrader)

James Picerno, “Betting on consumption has been a winning investment strategy in 2010.”  (Capital Spectator)

Strategy and Tactics

Sean McLaughlin, ‘To maintain sanity, The Minimalist Trader doesn’t seek to be right. He doesn’t equate being right with making money.”  (Chicago Sean)

Why it is a great time to be a trader.  (Bigger Capital)

Stop trading without a plan.  (My Futures Network also The Reformed Broker)

“Can a small stop actually carry more risk than a large stop?”  (SMB Training, StockTwitsU)

Do the diversification benefits of emerging markets still exist?  (IndexUniverse)

A simple test of Bollinger Bands.  (CXO Advisory Group)

Companies

Dow Chemical (DOW) not seeing its typical seasonal slowdown.  (ValuePlays)

Have the airline stocks gone too far, too fast?  (Morningstar)

Apple (AAPL): media gatekeeper or hardware king?  (CNNMoney, Atlantic Business)

“The iPhone isn’t so much a phone as a replacement for a phone. ” (Paul Graham)

A review of the many challenges facing Google (GOOG).  (Economist)

Is Groupon actually a bargain?  (Dealbook)

Some companies that should take a page from the Apple Store playbook. (Howard Lindzon)

Finance

The Fed pretty much bailed out everyone (except Vanguard) during the financial crisis.  (WSJ, WashingtonPost, Barron’s)

Sebastian Mallaby on the dangers of hedge fund concentration.  (Money & Co.)

Short selling may be “unpalatable”, but is it actually “dangerous”?  (Free exchange)

Economy

Is the economic recovery now ready to spillover into the jobs market?  (Big Picture)

Where did all the workers go?  (Economist’s View, ValuePlays)

Was the past week’s jobless claims data anomalous?  (Bespoke, Calculated Risk also Carpe Diem)

Americans are slowly buying cars again.  (Atlantic Business, Calculated Risk)

How much, if anything, has economics learned in the past couple decades?  (Justin Fox)

Is Europe facing a self-fulfilling panic that will eventually lead to the end of the Euro?  (Baseline Scenario)

How New Zealand differs from Ireland & Greece.  (Marginal Revolution)

Worth a read

A positive review of Meir Statman‘s What Investors Want.  (Global Economic Intersection)

Data is snake oil.  (Pete Warden via Infectious Greed)

The hierarchy of visual understanding.  (Big Picture)

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