Wednesday links: housing abyss

02Jul08

I think we are required by law to link to any story that mentions “hedge fund” and “roach motel” in the same sentence. (WSJ.com)

An investment strategy based on buying after really bad months. (World Beta)

“Unconventional thinking is more likely to be found on a lonely path than on a crowded committee.” (TheStreet.com)

Portfolio allocation is becoming “more fun” for individuals seeking diversification. (Random Roger)

Why is the public gloomier than the pundits? (Big Picture)

“In the end, a company is worth only what someone will pay for it.” (Deal Journal)

The market is making it difficult to invest for the long term in China and India. (Barrons.com)

“Remember, a back-test is just one tool used in evaluating a strategy.” (ETF Trends)

“Absolute return could play an increasingly important role in portfolio construction because of how poorly domestic index investing has done in this decade.” (TheStreet.com)

Getting long a stock (at a discount) synthetically. (Daily Options Report)

An introduction to timber as an asset class. (IndexUniverse.com)

“Paying for growth in a no-growth environment is probably a losing bet. ” (WSJ.com)

“Money is tight” for small hedge fund managers. (DealBreaker.com)

“Venture capital is not in crisis. It is a cyclical, bubble-driven business, and it is between bubbles.”(Infectious Greed)

“Defragging” the CDS market. (Market Movers)

CDO managers are trying to re-purpose themselves as experts in distressed mortgage assets. (naked capitalism)

There is no defense for indefensible ratings. (NakedShorts)

“My feeling is that it’s very hard for a blog entry from an unknown writer to move the market unless it touches some kind of a nerve and has at least an element of truth to it.” (Market Movers)

How many more magazine covers will it take to form a bottom in the housing market? (Big Picture)

Please make the MicroHoo story go away… (WSJ.com, Market Movers)

“There have been lots of large spikes in commodity markets during the last 150 years. All of them probably seemed like the end of history to the people who lived through them, but none of the spikes lasted. This one won’t last either.” (EconLog)

Absent an PhD in Economics we will never be the head of a central bank. (Free exchange)

Excerpts from Predictably Irrational including, “Rationality is very hard work.” (CXO Advisory Group)

Predicting the Beijing Olympics medal count using GDP. (Real Time Economics)

Better rated movies do better at the box office. (Slate.com)

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