Quote of the day
Mebane Faber, “The characteristics enabling one to appear on TV and become a famous pundit are not the same as the characteristics of being a successful trader or money manager.” (World Beta)
Chart of the day

How about them Fibonacci levels? (Afraid to Trade)
Markets
Being oversold only gets you so far. (All Star Charts also Horan Capital)
A handful of reliable contrarian signals. (market folly)
Indices understate the market carnage. (Portfolio Probe)
Corporate insiders have started buying. (Marketwatch)
More evidence of forced selling. (Money Game)
Everybody, including retail, was selling yesterday. (MarketBeat)
Investors can’t get enough investment grade paper. (FT)
Think 1998, not 2008. (Market Anthropology)
Time for gold equities to shine. (The Source)
Corn is the new wheat. (WSJ)
Looking to the New Yorker cover for some sort of bottom. (Humble Student of the Markets)
Valuation
The secular decline in US P/E ratios continues. (Dr. Ed’s Blog)
Other markets may be cheaper than the US at this point. (Free exchange)
By this measure the S&P 500 is substantially undervalued. (ValuePlays)
Where the stock market stands according the Shiller CAPE. (FiveThirtyEight)
Dividends continue to look good. (Political Calculations)
Perspective
Greg Harmon, “Indicators should be used to raise your awareness, so you are ready when price decides it is the right time to turn.” (Dragonfly Capital)
Big rallies are not necessarily a good thing at this point. (Phil Pearlman)
When buying down 600 points still hurts. (Howard Lindzon)
A sustainable low is not in yet. (Big Picture)
Investors don’t like it when no one is in charge. (HBR)
Strategy
Shorting volatility at these levels makes sense, but it is not the faint of heart. (Tyler’s Trading)
Inverse ETFs vs. put options: pros and cons. (AllETF)
What is the proper benchmark for an active manager? (Empirical Finance Blog)
People who should sell stocks now, or anytime for that matter. (Bucks Blog)
A frank assessment of portfolio (mis) performance. (The Fly, ibid)
Companies
Apple ($AAPL) stock is holding up pretty well in this environment. (Bespoke, MarketBeat)
While AOL ($AOL) is at new lows. (SplatF, Bloomberg, SAI)
Yahoo! ($YHOO) is ripe for a takeover. (Bloomberg)
A window may have closed for E*Trade Financial ($ETFC). (Deal Journal)
Finance
A look inside the S&P credit rating committee. (NYTimes)
There is a big flaw in how S&P rates sovereign credits. (FiveThirtyEight)
Another look at where the US stands relative to other sovereigns. (Big Picture)
Another shoe drops as a scad of muni bonds get downgraded by S&P. (Bloomberg)
The IPO window is ajar for only the biggest names at this point. (SAI)
Five questions to ask about any insider trading case. (Dealbook)
Funds
It doesn’t pay to follow Carl Icahn. (Institutional Investor)
Paulson funds keep on getting crushed. (Clusterstock)
What hedge funds might be holding up best in the downturn. (Insider Monkey)
Global
Germany and France are going to pay the price for supporting the periphery. (FT Alphaville)
Sovereign lending always seems to come back to bite the banks. (Project Syndicate)
Nobody seems too concerned with China’s inflation problem at the moment. (Globe & Mail)
Three foreign stocks worth a look. (YCharts)
Economy
Ample global savings will likely keep US rates low for some time to come. (Curious Capitalist)
The global economy is out of saviors, including the Fed. (Curious Capitalist, Term Sheet)
Small business are still not feeling good about the economy. (Calculated Risk)
Don’t count on QE3 just yet. (MarketBeat)
It’s the economy, stupid. (FT Alphaville)
Economic shocks often lead to uncertainty and further economic weakness. (Capital Spectator)
At least gasoline prices are falling. (NYTimes, Bonddad Blog)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
What you missed in our Tuesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our late Monday carnage recap. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Introducing the StockTwits Social Web Index. (StockTwits)
The long list for the FT Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year 2011. (FT)
What the world looks like to Wall Street. (Big Picture)
A look at the winners (and losers) from the new ESPN QB rating system. (Freakonomics)
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