In Case You Missed Them - Some Links of Interest (7/29/09)

Below are some links of interest, just in case you missed them. Some may have already been posted to Twitter.

• Economic calendar for Wednesday, July 29th (Briefing.com Economic); Durable Orders at 8:30 AM EST, Crude Inventories at 10:30 AM EST, and Fed's Beige Book at 2:00 PM EST.
  
• Earnings calendar for Wednesday, July 29th (Briefing.com Earnings)

• Small investors in the UK are turning to absolute return funds as they attempt to protect themselves against another downturn (UK Daily Mail).
• Betting on positive GDP. Intrade odds for positive Q3 GDP growth are at 73% (Carpe Diem). On the other hand, even though some are optimistic on positive GDP, those betting on whether a Government run health care plan with a public option will be signed into law by the end of the year is down to 25% (Bespoke Investment Group).
• The recession may be close to being "technically" over, but does that matter? (The Pragmatic Capitalist)
• Don't fool yourself, earnings are in their worst decline in history (Trader's Narrative).
• This seems to be an interesting "recovery" given that all the usual economic/sector suspects are missing in action (Financial Armageddon).
  
• Sam Zell gives his thoughts on real estate (Calculated Risk). CNBC interview with Sam Zell below (CNBC Video).
  
  
• The Nasdaq vs S&P 500 trend-following strategy (MarketSci Blog).
• PIMCO takes its bond prowess into active management with the PIMCO 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund (TUZ). (ETF Trends)
• Microsoft and Yahoo! may be near a new search deal (WSJ). Does anyone care anymore?
  
• Alpha/beta separation does not actually require separating anything (AllAboutAlpha.com).
  
• A negative divergence between energy stocks and the S&P 500 (The Financial Ninja). Energy stocks take a slide on lower consumer confidence numbers (WSJ).
  
• Don't over think light volume rallies (The Big Picture).
• How are SPXU and UPRO being traded? Bill Luby at VIX and More provides some insight.
• SEC issues new rules on short-selling (WSJ).
• CFTC Chairman Gensler considers enacting limits on traders who place bets on energy contracts (WSJ). In other CFTC news, previous reports which had the CFTC blaming speculators instead of supply and demand for the crude oil run-up in 2008 may have been premature.
• Wilber Ross sounds off on FDIC regulations and Tier 1 capital rule requirements, and whether anyone will buy banks again (CNBC Video).