Quote of the day

Charles Kirk, “Trading successfully, unfortunately, is not a skill you can acquire by being a passive learner.”  (Kirk Report)

Chart of the day

Where are the Fed Funds rate hikes?  (Scott Barber)

Markets

Markets don’t like it when QE3 comes off the table.  (Global Macro Monitor)

A look at small caps consolidating over time.  (All Star Charts)

For everyone who thinks only easy money gets the market going.  (Money Game)

Richard Bernstein says that credit bubbles rarely reinflate, ergo risk-off.  (FT)

Strategy

What it looks like to combine value and momentum strategies in a portfolio.  (World Beta)

Sometimes markets don’t mean revert.  (Systematic Relative Strength)

Three biases that every investor needs to become aware of.  (Big Picture)

What it’s like trading on tilt.  (bclund)

SumZero reports matter to the markets.  (Enterprising Investor via Turnkey Analyst)

Berkshire and more

How Berkshire’s approach to acquisitions has changed over time.  (Aleph Blog)

An alternative look at Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKA) performance…it’s actual stock price.  (Covestor Blog)

Do any mutual funds follow a true Ben Graham style of investing?  (Geoff Gannon)

Companies

Matt Rosoff, “Even if the old “personal computer” is dying, the basics of personal computing are going to be everywhere.”
(SAI)

Farhad Majoo, “Microsoft’s new version of Windows is fantastic, jarring, and risky at the same time.”  (Slate)

What does David Einhorn see in Xerox ($XRX)?  (Capital Observer)

Finance

Banks are lending again.  (WSJ)

Where the Justice Dept. Libor probe stands.  (Reuters)

Why banker bonuses are so sticky.  (Marketplace)

How Josh became a reformed broker.  (Businessweek)

How Gordon Ramsey can help fix your practice.  (Registered Rep)

Private equity

Private equity is never going to win a popularity contest.  (Term Sheet)

The private equity industry is morphing into something altogether different.  (peHUB)

A deal too far.  What is the end game for the troubled and deeply indebted Energy Future Holdings?  (Dealbook)

ETFs

A nice review of commodity index ETFs.  (Morningstar)

AUM expectations are high for the Pimco Total Return ETF ($TRXT).  (IndexUniverse, ibid also Institutional Investor)

When every basis point counts.  (Capital Spectator)

For everyone in search of a CMBS ETF your wait is over.  (ETFolution)

Is $TVIX distorting the VIX future curve?  (Condor Options)

Not every $VIX ETP is a hit, the case of the ETRACS.  (VIX and More)

Global

There is a mess of emerging market elections this year.  (FT Alphaville)

Shocking the Greek default has just gotten messier.  (Felix Salmon)

Why Greece should hike its cigarette taxes.  (Bloomberg)

Globally extreme poverty has been cut in half since 1990.  (Real Time Economics)

Economy

The Chicago PMI points towards a booming economy.  (Money Game)

Q4 GDP gets revised up slightly.  (Bloomberg, WSJ, EconomPic Data)

Are consumers done deleveraging?  (Big Picture)

Trucking volume took a hit in January.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

How the Fed using the Great Recession to bring down trend inflation expectations.  (Economist’s View)

Keystone “Light” is happening.  (Econbrowser)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

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

Wall Street was never on your side, but you can still take advantage of recent advances.  (Abnormal Returns)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.