Saturday Night Links

• I am not a fan of ETFs.  I don't like a basket of stocks that people don't do any homework on and generate commissions and fees for brokers/securities dealers.  I strongly dislike vehicles that create high correlation between high quality stocks and crap stocks with no value.  Here are some informative thoughts on ETFs I found at FTAlphavile.

• We can still see, currently, seasonal (end of quarter) patterns in repo trades (Remember Jennifer Taub talked about Repo 105, Repo 108 at Baselinescenario blog?? link here) .  Indicating big banks are still trying to hide debts/liabilities from shareholders and the public.  Another of many red flags saying that large banks are still precarious.  From Izabella Kaminska of FTAlphaville

• Shadow bank Liabilities are going down.  Actually I am not sure if this is good news or bad news (I think good news long-term if it continues on down to zero).  But it's a factor which investors should keep track of, and keep an eye on.  From ZeroHedge blog

• I have followed stocks pretty closely in my life, and I don't remember a period outside of roughly the last 2 years, when stocks of varying quality, and stocks of different industries were so highly correlated (the market prices moved up and down together).  I also don't remember FX markets having such a deep impact on the stock market (FX has always affected stocks, but not to this degree).  Here is an informative post from ZeroHedge blog on the high correlations.

• I think it's a good idea to keep an eye on 5-year Credit Default Swaps (5-Year CDS).  Especially in Europe, but also even keep on eye on America's debt risk.  Ireland is starting to look shaky again.  This is from Douglas Borthwick of Faros Trading, and I found it at ZeroHedge blog.

• I don't think the U.S. Dollar will lose its place as the world's reserve currency for some time.  But still it's good to give a sideways glance at the conjecture (here talking about SDRs or Special Drawing Rights).  One never knows the future.  If SDRs seem a little confusing or abstract, you can read more about them here and here.  From jessescrossroadcafe or "Jesse's Cafe Americain"

• Will the illiterate Teabaggers cut their nose off despite their face???  I really don't know, but it's a very entertaining thought.

• Our Female Vision of the Day.  Angie Harmon, here and here.  There may be some pop-up advertisements, sorry, just click through them.  From Askmen.com

          Hope all my readers got some useful info from the links and hope you have a great weekend.