Newschunks

WSJ Marketbeat - "The Fed, Deflation, and the Candyman". For Gary Tanashian fans.

Project Syndicate - "The Narrative Structure of Global Weakening". Robert Shiller obviously reads my blog. Good psychological/narrative-theory explanation for the behaviour of the human herd. It doesn't matter what is - what matters is what our expectations are.

All Star Charts - Retail isn't interested in this rally. Good news, to a contrarian. Problem is, is the contrarian right?

FT Alphaville - Zerohedge's hero Bob Janjuah is a twat and we can ignore him from now on. The blog comments generally seem to be intelligent. An example:

"He was banging the bearish drum at Morgan Stanley in 2001 and them amped it up at Bear Stearns for the net 5 years or so.... he was right in the end, but anyone following his calls would have been blown up so many times that once he was right it wouldn't have mattered. I distinctly remember him calling for an S&P sell off in 2009, 2010 and 2011 - every time it was for a target in the 900 point area. I think he reads the equally ridiculous elliot wave report and spruces it up as his own."

WSJ Marketbeat - "Traders Watch VIX Lows With Wary Eye". However. When the market goes up to a new range, you expect the $VIX to go down to a lower range. Don't you? Well, maybe you don't if you're a moron. Basically, there's no such thing as a "$VIX low" in a rising market.

ETF Trends - didja know there's a wheat ETF? Well, now you can ignore it.

FT Alphaville - solid Spain debt auction. Again, putting off a bailout is better than asking for a bailout! And yes, I personally feel Rajoy is being a genius for refusing to ask for a bailout til he can see ahead of time exactly how much the EU is going to demand he destroy his country. Really, at this point, buying time is the smart move for Spain.

BI - "Australian Deputy PM: The 'Cranks And Crazies' Of The GOP Are The Biggest Threat To America". And when an Aussie calls someone a "crank and crazy", thit's bladdy serious, mite.

Harpers - "A mind dismembered - in search of the magical penis thieves". In case you've forgotten my little thesis about stoooopidity being the default state for humans.