Quote of the day
Josh Brown, “The bottom line is that being smart and informed isn’t enough…The ability to read the tape along with a basic understanding of technicals will help you put all that news and information you have to actually use.” (The Reformed Broker)
Chart of the day

Banks stocks are getting crushed as news comes out that David Tepper is out. (Dealbook, CNBC, YCharts)
Markets
Why Treasurys rose in the wake of the S&P downgrade. (Modeled Behavior, CBP)
You have to watch the bond market to trade stocks these days. (All Star Charts)
A macro point-counterpoint. (Ultimi Barbarorum)
Panic? This isn’t a panic, yet. (Investing With Options)
Consumer staples and utilities lead a less than happy pack of sectors. (Dragonfly Capital)
Goldman still like commodities. (FT Alphaville)
Strategy
The “implied ERP” is higher than it has been in quite some time. (Musings on Markets)
Are you an investor or a trader? (Random Roger)
What matters in international diversification? (SSRN via CXOAG)
Funds
Fund managers are trying to get to the front of the ETF line. (WSJ)
When do you sell a fund that has gone cold? (WSJ)
WisdomTree Investments ($WETF) is up on the day outperforming on takeover speculation. (Focus on Funds earlier Abnormal Returns)
Tail risk protection doesn’t come cheap. Why not hire a contrarian manager? (FT)
Charles Kirk talks ETFs with Gary Gordon. (ETF Expert)
S&P downgrade
Moody’s reaffirms the USA as Aaa. (Economix)
What’s the big difference between AAA and AA+? (Falkenblog)
The S&P downgrade will now be a theme in company filings. (footnoted)
For whom do credit ratings really matter? (FT Alphaville)
Jim Rogers has a fundamental misunderstanding of what bankruptcy means. (CNBC)
Finance
AIG ($AIG) sues Bank of America ($BAC). Hard to know who to cheer for. (FT)
Banks don’t know what to do with all the deposits they are receiving of late. (Dealbreaker, Don Fishback)
How Visa ($V) plans to dominate mobile payments. (TechCrunch)
Now is a bad time to be a freshly minted tech IPO. (GigaOM, The Tech Trade)
Market turmoil is going to put the private markets on hold. (Term Sheet)
The Feds are sniffing around high frequency trading shops. (WSJ)
Consumer credit jumped in June. (EconomPic Data)
Global
Spanish and Italian bond yields are down (for now). (Calafia Beach Pundit)
Maybe the global savings glut never ended? (Infectious Greed)
Why a full restructuring of the Euro is still on the table. (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Brazil is 30% off its peaks. (Bespoke)
China can complain about the US markets, but where would they go? (Term Sheet)
Making sense of China’s economic statistics. (Real Time Economics)
You can not underestimate role the emerging markets play in the global economy. (Economist)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you missed in our Monday morning megalinkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
There is always a bull market somewhere. New York City taxi medallions trade at all-time highs. (NYPost)
What the music streaming revolution means for you. (Big Picture)
If you don’t love your business, don’t do it. (FeldThoughts)
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