Monday links: rational economic actors

20Apr09

The stock market is now the most overbought it has been in 23 years, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. (Quantifiable Edges)

The stock market rally has now reached the “real garbage” stocks. (Clusterstock)

Quants are having a poor 2009. Should we be worried? (Zero Hedge also Clusterstock)

Because leveraged ETFs get rebalanced on the close (and have amassed a significant amount of assets) the markets are facing unforeseen risks. (Daily Options Report, Infectious Greed)

An interview with “The Ivy Portfolio” author Mebane Faber. (Hard Assets Investor also Random Roger)

Doug Kass has a model portfolio. (TheStreet.com)

Jim Rogers still likes China and commodities. (Barrons.com)

Jim Rogers has been badmouthing portfolio diversification. Fair? (Capital Spectator)

Sun Microsystems (JAVA) is worth more as a software company than box maker. (MarketBeat)

Local conditions matter. Research indicates there is a “predictable local component” to equity returns. (SSRN.com)

Investor sentiment, both local and global, serve as a contrarian indicator of future returns. (SSRN.com)

“No one [Goldman Sachs] seems to ever learn: If you want to close a critical site down, you ignore — you don’t sue them. (Big Picture)

The “weird world” of bank accounting allows for some counterintuitive results. (Curious Capitalist)

Bank lending is still dropping, while the convertible bond issuance is making a comeback. (WSJ.com, ibid also FT Alphaville)

A great deal of chatter on whether the bank stress tests have been leaked (or not). (The Market Ticker, Zero Hedge)

Will converting TARP funds into common equity actually help? (NYTimes.com, Baseline Scenario, 24/7 Wall St., Clusterstock, Dealbreaker, Felix Salmon)

How much of the TARP could the government lose? (BusinessWeek.com)

On the prospects for a turn in the economy, “For every green shoot of hope that pokes up through the soil, there will be other businesses pushing up daisies.” (The Big Money also Economist.com)

“Pirates are rational economic actors and that piracy is an occupational choice.” (Freakonomics)

Why are there so few German bloggers? (Felix Salmon, Market Movers)

StockTwits gets all bloggy. “I don’t believe 140 characters is enough to run a financial site.” (Howard Lindzon)

Congratulations to Calculated Risk which is, by one measure, the “undisputed champion” of the econoblogosphere. (Real Property Alpha)

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