Quote of the day

Andrew Lo, “The whole hedge-fund industry is a series of crowded trades.” (WSJ)

Chart of the day

2011 is a big year for muni refinancings.  Bad timing.  (WSJ, ibid)

Markets

The changing asset base of volatility-based ETPs.  (VIX and More)

Having fun with the chart of Bank of America (BAC).  (Bonddad Blog)

The bull market in gold-backed ETFs rolls on.  (IndexUniverse, Barron’s)

Commodities

On the relationship between the base metals and Asian economies.  (The Reformed Broker)

What does an investment in long-only commodities actually get you?  (All About Alpha)

Secular demand, volatile weather and the effect on food prices and global inflation.  (AR Screencast)

Tactics

Cullen Roche, “Your strategies should not be rigid, but your implementation of them should be.”  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Why are value investors willing to share ideas?  (Rational Walk)

Relative strength and absolute strength both matter.  (StockTwitsU)

ARTV with Derek Hernquist.  (Abnormal Returns)

Technology

A look at the second wave of Internet IPOs.  (A VC, John Battelle)

It’s happening…Groupon is planning an IPO for the spring.   (Dealbook, Bloomberg)

Answering “what’s it worth” is not an easy question.  (the research puzzle)

Finance

The rise and fall (and lies) of the Schwab YieldPlus fund.  (Floyd Norris, Felix Salmon)

The financial crisis did not solve the problem of pay on Wall Street.  (naked capitalism)

Bank regulators need more than good data. (Economist)

The three problems with S&P and Moody’s.  (Big Picture)

Global

Is Europe ready for fiscal federalism?  (Gavyn Davies)

Euro rally:  short-covering or trend change?  (The Source, Global Macro Monitor)

A neat chart of global unemployment rates.  (Bespoke)

Economy

Industrial production comes in ahead of expectations.  (Calculated Risk, Crossing Wall Street)

Retail sales are now above pre-recession highs.  (Calculated Risk, Atlantic Business)

Consumer inflation comes in hot.  (FT Alphaville, Money Game)

Rail traffic continues to chug along.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Given the recent data Fed policy is likely to “shift to autopilot.”  (Tim Duy)

Why doesn’t the FED make MORE money.  (Aleph Blog)

Errata

IBM’s Jeopardy-playing supercomputer and the coming of age of AI.  (Engadget, Modeled Behavior)

The resume is dead.  (The Minimalist Trader)

Farhood Manjoo, “If you type two spaces after a period, you’re doing it wrong.”  (Slate)

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