Quote of the day

Tyler Craig, “While there is value in having a few strategies in your bag of tricks, don’t embark on a never-ending quest for easy profits by incessantly strategy hopping.”  (Tyler’s Trading)

Chart of the day


Weakness in Apple ($AAPL) is posing a problem for market bulls.  (The Tech Trade, TRB), 24/7 Wall St.)

Markets

Depending on how you look profit margins the S&P 500 could be pretty cheap.  (Market Blog, Bloomberg)

Where major asset classes stand at the moment.  (Capital Spectator)

Three leading indicators charted.  (All Star Charts)

Hard to see much in the way of good news out there.  (Humble Student of the Markets)

Strategy

On the uselessness of the VIX.  (MarketBeat)

Erik Swarts, “Recognizing a market low is a much clearer discipline than determining tops.”  (Market Anthropology)

A 28-year battle between stocks and bonds.  (research puzzle pix)

Technology

What AOL ($AOL) management needs to do to convince investors things have turned.  (SAI)

Does AMD ($AMD) now have the products to compete?  (TechInsidr)

Facebook and Apple are increasingly stepping on each other’s toes.  (Forbes)

Aggressively buying private company shares has worked out well for Felix Investments.  (Dealbook)

We won’t get fooled again.  Employees are diversifying their holdings in private companies.  (NYTimes)

Finance

The Fly on the Wall gets a big win against Wall Street.  (Dealbook)

The current administration missed a great opportunity to reform the banking system.  (Big Picture)

How much should institutions rely on hedge fund alpha? (Institutional Investor, ibid)

The world of prime brokerage is increasingly in the business of providing ‘synthetic exposures.’  (FT Alphaville)

Global

Greece is a waiting game at this point.  (MarketBeat, The Source)

Italy will be the ultimate test case for Europe.  (FT)

More doubts arise about Sino-Forest’s claims.  (Globe and Mail also FT Alphaville, Bronte Capital)

The cash Indian stock market is surprisingly thin.  (FT Alphaville)

China hearts farmland in Argentina.  (WSJ)

Rare earth metal prices are soaring on Chinese export cutbacks.  (FT)

Economy

Household deleveraging continues apace.  (Bonddad Blog)

On the role of too low interest rates in 2003-2005 for the housing bubble.  (Econbrowser)

The potential for housing to actually help the US economy.  (Free exchange)

Don’t expect an economic windfall if companies are allowed to repatriate overseas cash.  (NYTimes, The Atlantic)

The FOMC meeting should be a “big snoozefest.”  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

A new misery index.  Labor’s share of income continues to plummet.  (Mark Thoma)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

The ‘solarcoaster‘ rolls on with short-sellers enjoying the ride of late.  (AR Screencast)

What you missed in our Monday morning linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Our answers to our desert island blogger quiz.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Professional services are now being disrupted by technology.  (Mick Weinstein)

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