Quote of the day

Carl Richards, “The unavoidable reality we face is that few financial decisions are set in stone. At some point, we’ll need to recalibrate, to take into account new circumstances that change our decisions.”  (Bucks Blog)

Chart of the day

Is it finally time to short Treasury bonds?  (MarketBeat)

Markets

The one risk muni bond investors should be focusing on.  (research puzzle pix)

Equity volume has slowed dramatically.  (Bloomberg)

In defense of the bears.  (MarketBeat)

What happens when you take the worst case scenario off the table.  (Humble Student of the Markets)

Strategy

Twenty common sense investing rules.  (The Reformed Broker)

Another way to use Google Search in investing.  (Sober Look)

Want to be a billionaire?  Stay in school.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Companies

Apple ($AAPL) needs to provide users with more App Store info.  (Money Note)

At what price could BP ($BP) put the Gulf disaster behind it?  (The Source)

Google’s ($GOOG) core business is facing weakness.  Management would like you to point you elsewhere.  (Eric Jackson)

Low natural gas prices are taking a toll on producers like Chesapeake Energy ($CHK).  (MarketBeat also WSJ)

Finance

Safe assets are not what they used to be.  (FT Alphaville)

Employee-ownership is overrated.  (Economist, Tim Harford)

The increasing use of financial engineering has made private equity suspect in many eyes.  (New Yorker)

Suze Orman can’t avoid conflicts with her growing empire.  (Felix Salmon also Total Return)

Point, counterpoint

Steve Randy Waldman, “Diversification and maturity transformation can protect us from idiosyncratic shocks, and Murphy is right to point that out. But they cannot protect us from systematic misfortunes.”   (Interfluidity)

Why should we expect finance to be any more transparent than any other societal functions?  (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

Asset management

The asset management industry has lost its tailwinds.  (Bloomberg)

Selecting good hedge fund managers is tougher than it looks.  (Big Picture)

Two thirds of hedge funds are reportedly below their high water marks.  (FT)

Goldman Sachs ($GS) doesn’t always win.  An investment in Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund has been a loser to-date.  (WSJ)

ETFs

Synthetic ETPs raise more questions for investors looking for pure market exposure.  (All About Alpha)

In praise of the biggest ETFs.  (Felix Salmon)

Global

On the next phase of the emerging market age.  (NYTimes)

How much would it really take to fix the Euro mess once and for all?  (FT Alphaville)

It is hard to believe Europe can exit the crisis without adjusting its debt levels.  (Simon Johnson)

Just how bad will the Chinese housing crash be?  (Fortune)

Economy

An FOMC meeting preview.  (Calculated Risk)

Is a more open Fed a better Fed?  (Gavyn Davies)

Don’t discount the USA just yet.  (Daniel Drezner)

Is the manufacturing revival real?  (Time)

Why the Keystone pipeline project is a no-brainer.  (Econbrowser)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What should we make of the rise of fictional finance?  (Abnormal Returns)

An excerpt from Joe Terranova’s new book Buy High, Sell Higher.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Men spend more money when women are scarce.  (Boston Globe)

A study in randomness. Why are so few getting the flu this season? (Newsweek)

Do people really become more conservative as they age?  (Discovery)

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