Quote of the day

Lessons learned:  Tyler Cowen, “Don’t borrow in someone else’s currency.”  (Marginal Revolution)

Chart of the day

The pairs trade of the year:  long Domino’s Pizza ($DPZ), short Italy iShares ($EWI).  (Phil Pearlman)

Markets

Is the stock market resilient or complacent at this point?  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

A look at the sentiment picture post-rally.  (The Technical Take)

Investors continue to shun muni bonds.  (WSJ)

A look at the historical record of year-end seasonality.  (Trading the Odds)

Strategy

High correlations matter less then your true investment risks.  (WSJ also NYTimes)

Investors just can’t quit hedge funds.  (Deal Journal)

How to “double up” using options to avoid wash sale rules.  (Barron’s)

Investors do everything they can to “avoid feeling stupid.”  (Systematic Relative Strength)

Companies

Apple ($AAPL) is in the rare position of underperformer.  (MarketBeat)

Why is Corning ($GLW) seemingly so cheap?  (Barron’s)

Bill Ackman’s case for Lowe’s ($LOW).  (Dealbreaker)

Finance

The CME Group ($CME) move to fund MF Global customer accounts raises more questions than it answers.  (Jesse’s Cafe Americain also WSJ)

The Sisters of St. Francis as shareholder activists.  (NYTimes)

Just how big a premium is Kinder Morgan ($KMI) paying for El Paso ($EP)? The answers vary. (Dealbreaker)

Debating the state of the IPO window.  (GigaOM)

ETFs

High yield bond funds had a monster month of inflows.  (Money Game)

Three things ETF investors should be worried about.  (Financial Post)

Global X is rolling out its own version of a “permanent portfolio.”  (IndexUniverse)

Global

The big difference between Italy and Japan.  (Credit Writedowns, ibid)

Two “cheap” solutions to the Euro crisis.  (Free exchange, Money Game)

Berlusconi resigns.  (WSJ, NYTimes)

Hopes rise for a major free trade deal in the Pacific Rim.  (Economist, WSJ)

Economy

Expect talk about the “supercommittee” to heat up.  (Real Time Economics)

No matter how you slice it the US economy is still growing too slowly.  (Mark Thoma, Calculated Risk)

Where do discipline and hard work fit into the discussion of income inequality?  (Tyler Cowen)

On the limits of risk engineering for society as a whole.  (Megan McArdle)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What everyone else was reading this week on Abnormal Returns.  (Abnormal Returns)

What you missed in our Saturday morning long form linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Book reviews

A review of Jim Rickards’ Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis.  (FT)

An updated version of the Kindleberger classic Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises.  (Aleph Blog)

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