Quote of the day

Gillian Tett, “If we wanted to build a safer finance system, we might do well to take a hard look at the world of engineering and nuclear power for tips about how to operate a more efficient reward system and better safety checks.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

Check out the decline in natural gas prices.  (Global Macro Monitor)

Markets

Market volatility has forced many investors from the market altogether.  (James Surowiecki)

Investors should bring down their expectations for bonds (and equities).  (WSJ)

In praise of naive asset allocation strategies.  (Capital Spectator)

2011 was a year in correlation extremes.  (The Source)

Strategy

Why earnings anxiety may lead to a pop in stocks.  (MarketBeat)

So you want to be a trader?  Good luck.  (Points and Figures)

Why calculating your investment performance is so important.  (Forbes)

Companies

Hey Google ($GOOG) holders remember that whole Motorola acquisition?  (SAI)

Speaking of Google it has to buy Twitter.  (@arikuchinsky)

A contrarian signal for Apple ($AAPL).  (Slope of Hope)

Smartphone sales and share prices.  (Asymco)

The history of Netflix ($NFLX) is not encouraging.  (Can Turtles Fly?)

The stock market is betting on a revival in housing.  (Market Montage)

Finance

Bankers are looking at a pay cuts and are not happy about it.  (WSJ, Clusterstock, Dealbreaker, Dealbook)

Banks are looking for revenue wherever they can find it:  financial adviser edition.  (Big Picture)

A positive review of Yalman Onaran’s Zombie Banks: How Broken Banks and Debtor Nations Are Crippling the Global Economy.  (Big Picture)

Hedge funds

Hedge funds seem to have kept the bulk of their gains over time.  (FT)

Meet the top performing hedge fund of 2011.  (Institutional Investor)

John Paulson is going to have to make do on 1.5% of $28 billion for a while.  (Bloomberg)

Funds

Now THIS is a focused mutual fund.  (The Reformed Broker)

When to fire a fund manager.  (Marketwatch)

The ETF Deathwatch for January 2012.  (Invest With An Edge)

Times have been tough for quant-focused equity funds.  (Morningstar)

The downside of indexing:  the case of European bonds.  (WSJ)

Global

Is China already rebalancing?  (FT Alphaville)

Philipp Hildebrand is out as head of the SNB.  (FT, Bloomberg)

The golden age of emerging market investing is over.  (FT)

Oil in Euro terms is getting expensive.  (FT Alphaville)

Economy

The US economy is the tale of two employment sectors.  (Sober Look)

Can insourcing be a source of jobs growth?  (Mandel on Innovation)

The prospects for QE3 really depend on the Fed’s ultimate goals.  (Economist’s View)

Life in America is more volatile.  (Money Game)

Some interesting on state level population changes.  (New Geography)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Mixed media

The revenge of the 0.1%.  The art market “surged” 11% in 2011.  (FT)

The secret of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.  An excerpt from Jim Stengel’s Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies.  (The Atlantic)

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