Dividends fell off a cliff in 2009.  Can we expect a bounce in 2010?  (Floyd Norris)

Dividend policies shouldn’t matter.  But they do.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

By this measure the market stands right at fair value.  (Trader’s Narrative)

Is the VIX now worthless as an indicator?  (24/7 Wall St.)

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

Historically has it mattered when the S&P 500 was up the first five trading days of the year?  (Bespoke)

Hedge funds are the hot, new mutual funds.  (NYTimes)

Jason Zweig, “That’s why, even after the crazy swings of the past decade, index funds still make the most sense for most investors. The market may be inefficient, but it remains close to invincible.”  (WSJ)

Is Warren Buffett being hypocritical in his criticism of a certain stock-swap deal?  (Barron’s)

Are there investable seasonality effects on equity sectors?  (MarketSci Blog)

Let the controversy begin.  Wall Street bonus season is nigh.  (NYTimes also Clusterstock)

Tim Geithner will last…until the midterm elections.  (Clusterstock also Deal Journal)

UPS (UPS) is a poster child for the jobless recovery.  (Deal Journal)

Commercial real estate is a “slow motion wreck.”  How long can banks continue to “extend and pretend”?  (Time, Baseline Scenario)

Megan McArdle, “Though the commercial real estate bubble was smaller in scope than the residential one, it was characterized by essentially the same pathologies:  rising prices, stupid banks, and stupid borrowers.”  (Atlantic Business also EconLog)

ECRI is painting a Goldilocks Economy scenario.  (The Pragmatic Capitalist)

What say the Taylor Rule now for monetary policy?  (Accrued Interest, Money Supply)

Where is the TCW Funds board of directors in all this mess?  (Fundmastery)

Should Apple (AAPL) return some of its huge cash hoard to shareholders?  (ROI)

On the power of so-called experts to sway our decision making.  (SmartMoney)

Dan Ariely, “For better or for worse, Google’s obsession with collecting and refining data has given us a window into each other’s fascinating and telling curiosities.”  (Predictably Irrational)

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