Quote of the day

Farhad Manjoo, “Steve Ballmer was right. Android isn’t free. In fact, it’s not even cheap.”  (Slate)

Chart of the day

Gold and gold miners are two very different things.  (IndexUniverse)

Markets

“Total freakouts” and the volatility of volatility.  (SurlyTrader also Don Fishback, Mark Hulbert)

The stock market is calling for more inflation.  (Crossing Wall Street)

Crude oil and stocks after a brief dip are once again trading in line with each other.  (StockCharts Blog)

A look at asset class correlation trends.  (Bespoke)

Magazine covers do not market bottoms.  (Phil Pearlman)

Strategy

Market conditions change, do you?  (Afraid to Trade)

Is risk-parity read for prime time?  (All About Alpha)

Expect M&A activity to heat up in the gold mining sector.  (Globe and Mail)

Companies

Why Wal-Mart ($WMT) is always a lousy investment.  (Behind the Headlines)

What is going on with Wal-Mart’s international business?  (YCharts)

HP’s new TouchPad tablet is a disaster.  (TechInsidr)

iAds are not a core business for Apple ($AAPL).  (SplatF)

The coming culture clash at Google-Moto.  (WSJ)

Funds

Bruce Berkowitz is playing a high stakes game at the moment.  (research puzzle pix)

A new mortgage REIT ETF hits the market.  (ETFdb)

Speaking of fund of funds here comes a global buy-write ETF of ETFs.  (IndexUniverse)

Economy

Speaking of inflation the PPI came in hot.  (Bloomberg, EconomPic Data)

Are we closer to capacity constraints than we think?  (EconomPic Data)

The indicators are not yet indicating a double-dip recession.  (Bonddad Blog)

Hard to get unemployment down as long as housing starts remain depressed.  (Calculated Risk)

Why the Feds have such a hard time telling us how fast the economy is growing.  (NYTimes)

Policy

A deal on the tax treatment of cash repatriation is one that both sides can likely agree on.  (Dealbook)

What a national consumption tax would look like.  (Felix Salmon)

The SNB would be crazy to hitch its wagon to the Euro.  (The Source)

The bull market in patents.  (NYTimes)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Watered down ETF exposure.  (Abnormal Returns)

REITs are trading pretty much in line with other risky assets these days.  (AR Screencast)

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

Mixed media

To what degree is social media affecting current market volatility?  (Hedge ->  Accordingly)

A positive review of Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin.  (Frank Voisin)

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