Quote of the day

Interloper, “So we now have two generations of traders, bankers and brokers who in the back of their mind are at least partially conditioned to expect market disaster every few years. Is it any wonder then that technical analysis has become almost the sole determinant of investment decisions?”  (Interloper)

Chart of the day

CVS Caremark Corporation Stock Chart by YCharts

CVS Corp. ($CVS) has disengaged from competitor Walgreens ($WAG).  (YCharts Blog earlier Abnormal Returns)

Markets

How to think about and use the % of stocks above their 50 day moving average.  (Fireside Charts)

A look at S&P sector cumulative advance/decline lines.  (Bespoke)

A Dow 30 CEO leaderboard.  (InvestorPlace)

Dividend stocks are not bonds.  (Vanguard Blog via @jasonzweigwsj)

Should we be worried about a rejection of the “meridian market theory” trendline?  (Market Anthropology)

Markets at work.  Land once destined for development is being returned to farmland.  (WSJ)

Companies

Maybe Amazon ($AMZN) should officially change its name Amazon Prime given its importance to the company.  (WSJ, TechInsidr)

The short case for Salesforce.com ($CRM).  (ValuePlays)

The new whiz kids are changing how we interact.  (GigaOM)

Companies are once again on a buyback spree.  (Fund My Mutual Fund, Crossing Wall Street, Bloomberg)

Demand for new LNG tanker capacity is pushing up rates.  (FT)

Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKA/$BRKB)

Warren Buffett has purchased a big stake in IBM ($IBM).  (Dealbook, WSJ, FT Alphaville)

When the fundamentals and technicals line up.  (Stock Sage)

Is Warren Buffett out of investment ideas?  (Market Blog, MarketBeat)

What Ben Graham thought of IBM.  (Total Return)

Finance

It’s good to be a banker…in Asia.  (WSJ)

A personal account of the fallout from the MF Global debacle.  (Points and Figures)

The SEC has been handicapped by a lack of funds.  (Finance Addict)

We shouldn’t be all that surprised by Congressional insider trading.  (Points and Figures, The Atlantic, FT Alphaville, NetNet)

Mike Mayo on Occupy Wall Street.  (Money & Co.)

ETFs

A look at the risk parity literature.  (World Beta)

ETNs are not ETFs.  (Invest With An Edge)

The Global X Social Media ETF ($SOCL) is set to launch.  (Focus on Funds)

Europe

About the idea of yield targeting by the ECB… (FT Alphaville, FT, The Source)

The liquidity crunch facing Europe.  (Felix Salmon)

European CDS rates are blowing out.  (Credit Writedowns)

How to solve Italy’s debt problem.  (Marginal Revolution)

This is Italy’s last chance for an economic turnaround.  (FT, WSJ, Term Sheet)

Germany has few good options at this point.  (Risk and Return, Term Sheet)

Global

India has an inflation problem.  (beyondbrics)

China’s trade balance is no longer growing.  (Crackerjack Finance)

What a China bull is buying.  (FT Alphaville)

Economy

Keep an eye on the TED spread.  (Econbrowser)

The college student loan bubble needs to be resolved one way or another.  (New Yorker)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Our Monday morning video viewing list.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Books

Publishers have not kept up with the changes in the new media model.  (Bloomberg)

A review of Richard L. Weissman’s Trade Like a Casino: Find Your Edge, Manage Risk, and Win Like the House.  (Reading the Markets)

A review of Alfred Rappaport’s Saving Capitalism From Short-Termism: How to Build Long-Term Value and Take Back Our Financial Future.  (Portfolio Probe)

An updated behavioral economics reading list.  (Farnam Street)

Mixed media

Rules to succeed in financial journalism.  (The Reformed Broker)

Margin Call is a “pretty good movie.”  (Falkenblog)

Reviews of Amazon’s Kindle Fire are rolling in.  (Engadget, The Verge, Wired)

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