Hot Links: A Stupid Trap

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning…

Goldman Sachs heroically crushes earnings, with next to no help from regulators, relaxed accounting standards or 20 central banks around the world who are actively blowing bubbles in stocks, real estate and bond issuance. Take a bow.  (BusinessInsider)

Multi-national JNJ beats earnings despite currency pressure and reconfirms guidance for 2013.  (247WallStreet)

Enis Taner: “In the past 2 months, we have experienced 2 of the largest percentage moves in the VIX in the product’s history.”  (RiskReversal)

Five reasons to load up on Japanese equities (besides the awesomeness of samurai swords and Godzilla).  (TheTell)

John Paulson down a quick billion on gold’s drop.  (Bloomberg)

And you thought the mining stocks sucked already…Citi has a surprise for you.  (FTAlphaville)

Mining the latest opinions on gold.  (Barrons)

Cullen: Misunderstanding the monetary system is dangerous to your portfolio.  (PragCap)

Credit Suisse lays a trap to see how stupid you are – how about an exchange-traded note that sells covered calls against a physical silver position, capping your upside while leaving your downside potential fully intact. Back up the fucking truck.  (IndexUniverse)

Jonathan Kim on the value of social sentiment for stock market participants.  (TheTell)

Cardiff Garcia, one of the top bloggers in finance, on what we do and where we’re going.  (FTAlphaville)

Robin Williams remembers early influence Jonathan Winters.  (NYT)

Don’t miss The Takeaway, my daily linkfest for financial advisors (InvestmentNews)