Quote of the day

Buttonwood, “..journalists are no better forecasters than anyone else; after all, if your blogger was good at forecasting market movements, he would be running a hedge fund…”   (Economist)

Chart of the day

The Russian stock market had better hope for oil prices to stabilize in here. (chessNwine also beyondbrics)

Markets

Say hello to the window dressing rally.  (The Reformed  Broker also Bespoke)

Q3 earnings do not seemed to have collapse.  (Money Game)

Late comers to the precious metals party got hurt.  (Peter L. Brandt)

The divergence between copper and stocks keeps growing.  (MarketBeat)

Canada vs. the US:  stock market edition.  (StockCharts Blog)

High yield bond spreads and Operation Twist.  (Bespoke)

Strategy

Some low volatility research links.  (Capital Spectator)

Rising pessimism and the rising equity risk premium.  (Businessweek)

Putting your portfolio’s aches and pains into some perspective.  (The Technical Take)

This market wants to confuse as many people as possible.  (Tyler’s Trading)

Keeping an eye on the gold/silver ratio.  (Market Anthropology)

Yale beats Harvard.  (Businessweek)

Companies

Whitney Tilson’s long case for Dell ($DELL).  (TechInsidr)

Comparing Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKB) to the competition.  (YCharts Blog also Dealbook)

Steve Jobs missed on the new/proposed Apple ($AAPL) headquarters.  (New Yorker via Apple 2.0)

ETFs

Just in case you needed to bet on inflation on a daily basis.  (IndexUniverse, ETFdb)

Comparing the Dim Sum bond ETFs.  (Invest With An Edge)

Finance

Bank of America ($BAC) has got a big problem on its hands.  (Dealbook)

The IPO window is closed.  (Term Sheet)

On the declining attractiveness of being public.  (Professor Bainbridge)

In praise of high frequency trading…for forex.  (WSJ, BIS)

Cereberus is hunting for distressed opportunities in Europe.  (Deal Journal)

Just how at-risk are US banks to the turmoil in Europe.  (Curious Capitalist, YCharts Blog)

How to find a job in finance.  (Aleph Blog)

Global

Betting that Europe will “socialize the losses.”  (The Source, Gavyn Davies)

Europe is facing a currency crisis, not a banking crisis.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Ian Bremmer says Greece is not leaving the Euro, now or ever.  (FT)

Brazil:  so much for decoupling.  (FT)

Economy

Better than expected durable goods orders.  (Capital Spectator, Calafia Beach Pundit)

Truck tonnage is moving sideways.  (Calculated Risk)

Checking back in on the “US is Japan” meme.  (Money Game, Pragmatic Capitalism)

“Shadow” housing inventory is falling.  (Real Time Economics)

Is the Fed contributing to the credit crunch?  (Global Macro Monitor)

All the pieces are in place for a turn in the housing market. Now all it has to do is turn.  (Crackerjack Finance, Bonddad Blog)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

The big difference between Amazon ($AMZN) and Apple ($AAPL).  (Abnormal Returns)

The difference between politicians and traders.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Another positive review for The Inner Voice of Trading by Michael Martin.  (Dynamic Hedge)

Generation Y “covets” self-esteem.  (Wonkblog)

25 awesome one-hit wonders from the 1990s.  (Paste)

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