Quote of the day

Howard Lindzon, “In my opinion, social buttons do not mean you have a social and new media site.”  (True Ventures)

Chart of the day

It took a while, but transport outperformance eventually succumbed to higher energy prices.  (Bespoke)

Markets

Have we run out of room for further upside economic surprises?  (Big Picture)

The US leads the world in IPOs for 2011.  (Deal Journal)

Why hedge fund managers hate when their investor letters surface online.  (Clusterstock)

Retail CDS options coming to a screen near you.  (Zero Hedge)

Strategy

For traders what is the proper mix of timeframes to examine?  (Dragonfly Capital)

Step away from the screen to become a better trader.  (Tyler’s Trading)

Why aren’t universities teaching trading?  (SMB Training)

The “contingent-market hypothesis” and our inability to calculated equity prices.  (Economist)

Companies

AIG (AIG) is planning a May ‘re-IPO.’  (WSJ, ibid)

“In the world of physical trading — buying, transporting and selling the basic stuff the world needs — Glencore is omnipresent and controversial, just as Goldman is in banking.”  (Reuters also Felix Salmon)

In the information age (and leaks) how should corporations protect their secrets?  (Economist)

ETFs

Are the new leveraged spread ETFs from FactorShares an “innovation” too far?  (Felix Salmon)

State Street adds an emerging market dividend and local bond ETF to the mix.  (IndexUniverse)

Vanguard continues to push ETF fees lower.  (IndexUniverse)

Munis

The “roller coaster ride” in muniland is not over.  (Bond Buyer)

Muni funds with large holdings in unrated paper are particularly vulnerable to outflows.  (InvestmentNews)

John Carney, “Without BAB, the evidence of trouble in the muni market may have been apparent even earlier.”  (NetNet)

Global

Michael Pettis, “Let’s face it – most Chinese growth is the result of overheated investment, and removing the sources of overheating without eliminating growth is going to prove impossible.”  (China Financial Markets)

What countries gets hurts most by rising oil prices?  (beyondbrics, FT Alphaville)

How is it that Germany continue to perform well?  (Curious Capitalist)

Despite 4Q GDP, the UK recovery seems to be on track.  (Gavyn Davies)

The case of the SNB shows that central banks can lose money.  (naked capitalism)

An index to countries at-risk of unrest.  (The Source)

Economy

According to 4Q GDP revisions the economy continues to “recover.”  (Economist’s View, WSJ)

Consumer sentiment continues to recover.  (Calculated Risk)

TIPS breakeven rates are back to where they were for the past decade.  (the research puzzle)

The ECRI WLI continues to trend higher.  (ECRI)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Hedge funds may have a tendency to herd, but owning Apple (AAPL) has to-date been a boon not a mistake.  (AR Screencast)

Our Friday morning live link look-in.  (Abnormal Returns)

Errata

Four rules to win your Oscar pool.  (Nate Silver)

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