Quote of the day
David Merkel, “The Federal Reserve may pretend that it is the guardian of stability, but it is not so with respect to asset values.” (Aleph Blog)
Chart of the day

The financials have always mattered. (Phil Pearlman also Afraid to Trade)
Markets
Oversold stocks now represent 50% of the S&P 500. (Bespoke also Horan Capital, Quantifiable Edges)
Keep an eye on this harbinger of increasing risk aversion. (Market Anthropology)
The character of the VIX has changed. (Investing With Options, Adam Warner)
A look at the post-silver crash chart patterns. (All Star Charts, Trader’s Narrative)
Risk & Return
Why a 0% equity risk premium isn’t out of the realm of possibility. (Falkenblog)
So much for a relationship between risk and return. (Marketwatch)
Modern portfolio theory IS hurting your portfolio. (Value Restoration Project)
Financial literacy has been resistant to most education efforts. (Marketwatch)
Trading
On the tension between rules-based and discretionary trading. (black swans & white crows)
You don’t have to trade every minute of every day. (Crosshairs Trader)
If you are a perma-anything you won’t know when to sell. (Kid Dynamite)
Arguing with the stock market is pointless. (Stock Sage)
Finance
Buyout by buyback. The Walton family is once again poised to have a 50%+ stake in Wal-Mart (WMT). (Breakingviews)
The implementation of Dodd-Frank rules is way behind schedule. (NYTimes, Felix Salmon)
In defense of Goldman Sachs (GS) subprime actions. (Dealbook contra naked capitalism)
A look at private equity and venture capital returns. (Term Sheet)
ETFs
Have we run out of ETF ideas? (Random Roger)
A look at the range of actively managed bond ETFs. (ETFdb)
Apple
Apple (AAPL) should return some cash to shareholders. (TechInsidr)
The future of digital consumption. (Asymco)
Is iCloud the beginning of the end of piracy? (Speakeasy)
Is the app going to go the way of the dinosaur? (GigaOM)
Global
Russia is about to undertake another round of privatizations. (beyondbrics)
More Chinese companies under the microscope. (Clusterstock)
Despite some changes don’t expect natural gas to become a truly globalized commodity any time soon. (FT)
The Swiss franc needs to take a breath. (Behind the Headlines)
Economy
A measure of economic surprises is nearing a pivot point. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
What to listen for in Bernanke’s speech. (Mark Thoma)
Job openings dropped in May. (Calculated Risk)
The productivity mismatch in US employment. (Curious Capitalist)
How fast is news incorporated? (Econbrowser)
Rail traffic continues to slow. (Money Game)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you missed in our Tuesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
What is ETF.com worth? (Felix Salmon)
Financial television will not help you trade. (Bucks Blog)
When faced with a large number of choices we rely increasingly on heuristics. (Scientific American)
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