Quote of the day
Michael Sivy, “The big winners of the recent Great Recession have been the largest U.S. corporations.” (Time)
Chart of the day

Biotech stocks are breaking out to new highs. (The Reformed Broker)
Markets
Where did all the bears go? (Bloomberg)
Earnings are coming in worse than expectations. (MarketBeat)
The intermarket landscape is muddled. (Afraid to Trade)
The Treasury market has not been stressed of late. (Stock Sage)
Two keys to the transports. (Dr. Ed’s Blog)
Real estate
Calpers dumps its last big housing investment. Another sign of a bottom? (WSJ)
The long term case for REITs as a portfolio diversifier. (AAII)
Apartment REITs are the new dotcoms. (YCharts Blog)
Homebuilders are becoming increasingly confident. (Calculated Risk, Real Time Economics)
Checking in on Canada’s housing bubble. (Pension Pulse)
Energy
The ongoing search for a bottom in natural gas prices. (MarketBeat, ibid)
A surprising drop in oil demand. (FT)
Would a Euro recession put a dent in oil prices? (The Source)
Research
How time horizon should affect your investment strategy. (voxEU)
The recent history of small cap and value has been pretty good. (Capital Spectator)
Companies
A cautionary tale for anyone thinking about buying Research in Motion ($RIMM). (bclund also Asymco)
Some retail names the Sequoia Fund owns at the moment. (Morningstar)
Christopher & Banks ($CBK) and the fickleness of retail. (research puzzle pix)
Finance
Is it fair to compare the pay of Federal Reserve officials with hedge funds? (Dealbook)
The Carlyle Group is another private equity firm that wants public shareholders, but not stakeholders. (Bloomberg)
The insider trading sweep is not over yet. (WSJ)
Goldman
Goldman Sachs ($GS) is seeing its business (and compensation) shrink. (Dealbook, MarketBeat, FT)
What now for Morgan Stanley ($MS) earnings? (Bespoke)
Is trading done at Goldman? (NetNet)
ETFs
Another $SPY/$VIX low volatility ETF is in the works. (IndexUniverse)
The most popular low volatility ETF, $SPLV, looks a lot like $XLP. (VIX and More)
Will low volatility investing fly overseas? (IndexUniverse)
Why are some ETFs less tax-efficient than others? (Morningstar)
Why you need to be a “cautious consumer” of ETFs. (Institutional Investor)
Global
The Latin American drought is likely to put upward pressure on food prices. (FT)
Why deficits are good during a balance sheet recession. (Pragmatic Capitalism, Money Game)
Why mining stocks are not same thing as the actual metals. (beyondbrics)
China’s real estate market continues to get worse. (FT Alphaville)
Economy
Capacity utilization was up in December. (Calculated Risk)
Has warm weather helped the economy? (Real Time Economics)
Five reasons why QE3 are off the table. (Sober Look)
Modeling the ECRI WLI. (Aleph Blog)
Why has household formation been so slow? (Wonkblog, Modeled Behavior)
On the role of safe assets in the financial system. (Conversable Economist via Economist’s View)
What the top 1% of earners majored in. (Economix)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
Gold miners are not good as gold. (Abnormal Returns)
What you missed in our Wednesday morning linkfest. (Abnormal Returns)
Mixed media
Suze Orman is now hopelessly conflicted. (Felix Salmon)
How might SOPA affect blogs, including this one? (Baseline Scenario, Big Picture, The Reformed Broker)
Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.