Quote of the day

Jeff Miller, “Ask not what some pundit thinks should happen.  Ask instead what is most likely to happen.”  (A Dash of Insight)

Chart of the day

Muni bonds did not read from the Meredith Whitney playbook.  (MarketBeat)

Markets

Does Time’s choice of “The Protesters” point to equity gains in 2012?  (Minyanville)

An old school model that points towards equity market gains in 2012.  (Mark Hulbert)

Gold is having an identity crisis.  (WSJ)

A look at analyst ratings.  (Bespoke)

Peter L. Brandt, “There is an enormous difference between a market opinion and a market position”  (Peter L. Brandt)

Bonds

Are Treasuries still a safe haven?  (Total Return, Random Roger,

Are Treasuries a crowded trade?  (Humble Student of the Markets)

Predictions

Ten OUTRAGEOUS predictions from Saxo Bank for 2012.  (The Reformed Broker)

Two reasons why the five reasons to ignore top ten lists are in error.  (Above the Market)

5 reasons to safely ignore ‘top 10 stocks for 2012‘ listicles.  (Abnormal Returns)

Companies

CEOs of startups like Zynga ($ZNGA) don’t need an IPO to cash out these days.  (WSJ, Dealbook)

The outlook for Yahoo! ($YHOO).  Meh.  (SAI)

Everything is smaller in Texas?  The Apple A5 chip is made in Austin.  (Reuters)

The fracking revolution is likely to cause a boom in pipeline building for the likes of Kinder Morgan ($KMI).  (NYTimes)

Finance

Rogue traders don’t like to go on vacation.  (Marketplace)

E-Trade ($ETFC) joins the commission-free ETF trading game.  (ETFdb)

Scott Bell, ” It’s time for the 1% to act like a caring older brother instead of a punk bully punching us in the arm every chance they get.”  (I Heart Wall Street)

Global

Europe is the center of distressed debt investing at the moment.  (FT)

The ECB backdoor bailout.  (Modeled Behavior, Marginal Revolution)

Can London maintain its position as a financial center?  (Fortune)

The bloom is off the Asian real estate boom.  (WSJ)

Economy

Is 400,000 still the number to pay attention to for weekly jobless claims?  (Real Time Economics also macrofugue)

Welcome back to the age of shorter business cycles.  (FT Alphaville)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

Life goes by pretty fast.  “So pay attention.”  (@dinosaurtrader)

Lessons learned from a year of poker playing.  (Altucher Confidential)

The world needs more “crazy billionaires.”  (Fortune)

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