Quote of the day
Eddy Elfeinbein, “The S&P 500 is lower than where it was on December 23, 1998.” (@eddyelfenbein)
Chart of the day

Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKB) stock can’t buy a friend these days. (Bloomberg)
Markets
Things to consider if you are buying puts in here. (Condor Options)
Remember the TED spread? (Pragmatic Capitalism)
On the inverse relationship between gold and P/E ratios. (Dr. Ed’s Blog)
Implied gold volatility is just beginning to move. (FT Alphaville)
The relationship between the S&P 500 vs. the TIPs yield spread. (Crossing Wall Street)
Stocks above their 20 day moving average are at 2007-08 levels. (ZorTrades)
Big Treasury yield moves and market lows. (Market Anthropology)
Strategy
Think 1938, not 2008. (The Reformed Broker)
An obsessive focus on price movements can hurt a trader. (Peter L. Brandt)
Tom Brakke, “How do we look at the “real” maps of investment style and process?” (the research puzzle)
Do realized skew and kurtosis predict the cross-section of equity returns? (SSRN via CXOAG)
Putting into perspective market volatility. (World Beta)
Funds
Investors are enamored with local currency emerging market debt ETFs. (IndexUniverse)
Low beta investing comes to the emerging markets. (ETFdb, (IndexUniverse)
Finance
Maybe Goldman Sachs ($GS) did know something when they ratcheted back their risk profile. (MarketBeat)
BNY Mellon ($BK) seriously does not want your deposits. (FT Alphaville, Kid Dynamite)
The Mutual Fund Store gets new ownership. (peHUB)
Ken Griffin is up double digits in 2011. (Institutional Investor)
Wall St. meets Main St. as buying and renting foreclosed properties goes mainstream. (WSJ, ZorTrades)
It sounds like an oxymoron, but there are some smaller conglomerates out there. (Morningstar)
Global
The European crumble in pictures. (Bespoke)
How Europe deals with Italy and Spain will be telling. (FT, WSJ)
Global market capitalization have topped 2007. (Infectious Greed)
Much-hyped Glencore International is some 20% below its IPO price. (FT)
Economy
Jobs growth is weak, but still positive. (Capital Spectator, CBP)
Rare earth metal production in the US is set to take off. (Business Insider)
Inflation expectations are not indicative of further quantitative easing. (MarketBeat, ibid)
Economic momentum has evaporated but a new recession is still unlikely. (Economist’s View)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Assessing your risk tolerance in the midst of a market free-fall is next to impossible. (AR Screencast)
What you missed in our Thursday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Haven’t refinanced your mortgage? Now’s your chance. (Bloomberg, MarketBeat)
Multitasking is hurting you more than you think. (Farnam Street)
What is in your ‘blog portfolio‘? (The Financial Philosopher via @researchpuzzler)
Just what kind of discipline is statistics. (Emanuel Derman)
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