Quote of the day

Satyajit Das, “The first casualty of war is said to be the truth but, in financial crises, it is trust that dies.”  (FT)

Chart of the day

The unbelievable drop in natural gas prices continues apace. (chessNwine, StockCharts Blog)

Markets

Weighing the market’s positives and negatives.  (Capital Observer)

The “dash for trash” helps explain the current market move.  (Money Game, The Reformed Broker)

Maybe everyone is simply tired of being pessimistic.  (MacroBusiness)

Commodities

Warm weather and the ongoing drop in natural gas prices.  (Money Game, MarketBeat)

Platinum prices are out of whack relative to silver.  (Macro Man)

Bonds

Mortgage rates are nearly a full percentage below last year’s levels.  (Marketwatch)

Even on a multi-century scale interest rates are low.  (Big Picture)

TIPS yields have hit a 10-year low.  (MarketBeat)

On the current state, slightly overbought, of the credit markets.  (Distressed Debt Investing)

Strategy

Do option traders have an information advantage?  (SSRN)

The education (or not) of a silver trader.  (Kid Dynamite)

How one trader came to a minimalist trading style.  (bclund)

Another example why you should ignore financial surveys.  (Sober Look)

Personal finance

It’s an RIA world and everyone else just lives in it.  (Josh Brown)

Should I save or invest?  (Aleph Blog)

Money mistakes often compound in importance over time.  (Bucks Blog)

There is not a lot of room in your portfolio for anger.  (I Heart Wall Street)

Companies

How the iPad could “consumerize” the textbook market.  (SplatF, WSJ, AllThingsD)

A look at Netflix ($NFLX) finances.  (Can Turtles Fly?)

The ugly times facing the tanker market.  (Bloomberg)

Eastman Kodak has been lagging for decades.  (Crossing Wall Street)

Finance

The Carlyle Group to public shareholders:  “f*ck off.”  (Dealbreaker also Stone Street Advisors)

A systematically important financial institution is not necessarily too big to fail.  (Economics of Contempt)

Why shareholders should want a break up of the TBTF banks.  (Term Sheet)

Don’t expect a fair shake from the arbitration process.  (Big Picture)

Newly introduced “benefit corporations” aren’t tax-exempt nor nonprofit.  They are something else.  (WSJ)

Funds

Dee Gill, “The Sequoia Fund looks like a Buffett portfolio with more imagination.”  (YCharts Blog)

Will the SEC kill off money market funds?  (Institutional Investor)

The SEC registration deadline for hedge funds is closer than you think.  (Reuters)

Global

Germany has only itself to blame for the Euro mess.  (MarketBeat)

When you think World Bank, do you think Larry Summers?  (Felix Salmon)

Canada is one of the few unthreatened AAA-rated sovereigns.  (Globe and Mail)

Economy

A good example of why you should average recent weekly initial unemployment claims.  (Calculated Risk, EconomPic Data, Bespoke)

More year-end reversals:  a big bounce back in rail traffic.  (ValuePlays)

Shhh…Don’t tell anyone but the federal budget deficit is shrinking.  (Daniel Gross)

Hello, disinflation.  (Pragmatic Capitalism, EconomPic Data)

Deleveraging, US style.  (Free exchange)

Forecasting a recession isn’t about highlighting economic weakness.  (A Dash of Insight)

Is R&D spending really moving overseas?  (The Atlantic)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Ignore politics when investing, until you cannot: the case of solar stocks.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Everybody has pointed to this, but still:  Sh*t New Yorkers say.  (YouTube)

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