Bear Stearns Casualty Leaves Poker Table $22 Million Lighter – By Nancy Kercheval -   Steven Begleiter’s bet on a pair of queens cost the former Bears Stearns Cos. executive $22 million and a chance to win the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.  Begleiter, the Wall Street firm’s head of corporate strategy before it collapsed and was bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2008, was eliminated early today after about 13 hours of play in the Texas Hold ‘Em competition. He finished in sixth place, leaving the table with $1.59 million. – Bloomberg.com

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WATCHING THE USD DROP? LOOK AGAIN. – By: Shishir Nigam – good discussion of US and Japanese economies and trade idea … long USD, short JPY - Young and Invested

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The Cost Of The 60% Market Move; The Benefits Of Free Liquidity – Submitted by Tyler Durden – There is now no question that the sole, undisputed factor driving credit and equity markets is the dollar destructive collusion between the Fed and the major global central banks. As long as the Fed is dead set on inflation, and is willing to throw trillions of free liquidity at any problematic flare up, and is happy to keep interest rates at 0%, liquidity-addicted equities will likely push higher until such time that the incremental hopium “hit” does nothing … – Zero Hedge

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always interesting – Interview: Jim Rogers on gold, bubbles, commodities, equities, and Roubini – Posted by Prieur du Plessis – Investment Postcards from Cape Town 
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Chart du Jour: Baltic Dry Index – Takeaways:  – BDI up 300+% over the past year, but still down 68% from its previous peak. – Plan B Economics

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5 great charts – The Essence of US Macro Trends in 5 Charts $VTI $TLT $UUP $DJP $IYR – by ThomasMcCloud – Glenorchy Capital