The S&P 500 is flat for the past 11+ years.  Where would you have done better?  (Floyd Norris)

Jason Zweig, “People who regard themselves as risk-averse will assemble portfolios of highly similar stocks that all seem to be “safe.” The result, paradoxically, is a risky portfolio with every egg in one basket.” (WSJ)

Are “waves of social mood” the driving factor of both market moves and economic reality?  (Time)

No joke this time.  You really can 50x leverage on stock indices.  (Felix Salmon)

On the attraction dividend payers and MLPs.  (WSJ, ibid)

A Poland ETF is on the drawing board.  (ETF Trends)

Equity sentiment measures at week end.  (Trader’s Narrative, The Technical Take)

Brett Steenbarger, “No psychological techniques eliminate bias and bad trading. The best we can do is learn to shift gears, control risk, stay emotionally intelligent, and play to our strengths.”  (TraderFeed)

What style analysis tell us about the returns at the Galleon Technology hedge fund.  (Zero Hedge)

On the mortgage front the government is increasingly holding the bag.  (NYTimes, Fund My Mutual Fund)

How much influence has Fed purchases had on mortgage rates?  (Calculated Risk)

Roger Ehrenberg, “Separate proprietary trading operations from Wall Street firms.”  (Information Arbitrage)

“(P)ublic shareholders are there just to boost liquidity when Goldman partners sell their shares at their leisure.”  (DailyFinance also Deal Journal, Clusterstock)

Anal_yst, “Now, let me be clear: I fully understand the fear and uncertainty that motivated regulators to act quickly last autumn. But as the adage goes, “haste makes waste,” and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened with AIG.”  (Atlantic Business)

Tim Duy, “Simply put, Bernanke’s choice set is dwindling – either risk losing independence, or step up to the regulatory and policy plate like you intend to hit one out of the park.  If Wall Street is no longer working for Main Street, it is time to side with Main Street.”  (Economist’s View)

Ezra Klein, “The debate worth having right now is whether they [the Fed] should start doing some truly unorthodox things to fight unemployment.”  (WashingtonPost also Free exchange)

The many reasons why “the homebuilding challenge continues.”  (macroblog)

Michael Mauboussin’s Think Twice helps you “refine your decision making.”  (market folly)

Are Americans fat because they eat so quickly?  (Atlantic Business)

Barry Ritholtz to Google, “Get rid of the splogs, and you also dramatically reduce demand for the junk ads.”  (Big Picture)

Rhodes Scholars are increasingly turning to Wall Street as career in contrast to earlier pursuits like academia and public service.  (WashingtonPost)

Howard Lindzon, “The web is deep and vast, but it still does not have to be complicated and all consuming.”  (Howard Lindzon)

Top clicks this week on Abnormal Returns.  (Abnormal Returns)

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