Hot Links: Tune Up

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning…

Morgan Stanley: Stop with the taper talk already!  (BusinessInsider)

BlackRock’s big 2014 Outlook piece is up, loaded with interesting info.  (BlackRock)

Alibaba is pushing back its IPO.  (Reuters)

Bond Kings Bill Gross and Dan Fuss are blowing out of their long-term debt holdings ahead of the taper.  (Bloomberg)

Citi: “The business of hedge funds is caught between rising costs and falling management fees, holding little profit for managers who don’t perform.”  (WSJ)

JPMorgan just filed a patent for its own crypto-currency. God, I hope they call them Dimondollars or Whale Bucks.  (FT)

By the way, 927 people own half of all the Bitcoins in the world.  (BusinessInsider)

Wall Street strategists are always missing it by this much.  (AboveTheMarket)

…see also Barry’s ‘Why Do Forecasters Keep Forecasting?’  (BloombergView)

Okay seriously – is there any hope for emerging market stocks within our lifetime?  (Morningstar)

Mark Hulbert: Portfolio tune-up for 2014.  (MarketWatch)

Cullen Roche: The balance sheet recession is over.  (PragCap)

Charlie Gasparino on the five year anniversary of the Madoff bust.  (NYP)

The Most Important Economic Stories of 2013 (I’m in this one)  (TheAtltantic)

These were the hottest new ETF launches of 2013.  (ETFdb)

Human beings operate based on the line of least resistance.  (Smashing)

The Year in Babes (yes, of course the Blurred Lines girl is number one) .  (GQ)