1 - The Big Picture | Open Thread: Bill Gross Quote

It’s a sad testament to think the Fed has to cut interest rates eight days in front of a meeting to salvage the equity markets. The U.S. economy is in a rather sad state of affairs in that it depends on housing and stock prices to keep going. -Bill Gross

(tags: pimco bearish markets)

2 - Bespoke Investment Group: Large Down Gaps in SPY

Below we highlight the largest down gaps in the S&P 500 tracking SPY ETF since 1994. As shown, when gapping down 2.5% or more, the ETF has traded higher 8 out of 9 times for an average gain of 2.69%.

(tags: bearish bullish markets)

3 - TraderFeed: Historic Five-Day Declines in U.S. Stocks: What Happens Next

To give an idea of how rare it is for stocks to drop more than 10% in a five-day period, we’ve only had 11 such instances since 1960. On 10 of those 11 occasions, the S&P 500 Index was higher 10 days later by a very large average of 5.62%.

(tags: bullish bearish markets)

4 - High Probability Trading: -31k, Goodbye

Why we’re always preaching asset allocation: “Good Bye………I hope you all have a nice life. I need to be to work in 2 hours, and I can’t manage this position, I have to sell out. About 40k in 2 days,,,,,,,,,,,,gone. Speechless. One bad trade, is all i

(tags: bearish trading futures allocation asset)

5 - VIX and More: Brunhilde Day Today?

Today could turn out to be one of those days that imprints the value of the VIX deeply into the psyche of many traders.

(tags: volatility vix)

6 - A Painful History - ChronicleReview.com

“As today’s debates about waterboarding and the like make clear, torture can deeply divide a society. It is past time for Americans to start building a democracy without torture.”

(tags: democracy us torture)

7 - Information Arbitrage: Who REALLY Benefits from Volatility

There is going to be a lot of money made in the next 12-18 months by a precious few, at precisely the time when most are getting brutally hammered. Long live volatility! If you can take advantage of it…

(tags: value berkshire insurance bond mortgage volatility)