The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week.  We hope you enjoy this set of long-form links.

Finance

What is the ‘limit order effect‘ and how does it change our thinking about behavioral finance?  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Today is the 99th anniversary of the signing of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. It enshrined into law an idea that stands in total contradiction to the driving force behind the American Revolution and the whole idea of freedom itself.

Japan’s Finance Minister Azumi said that the government will take decisive currency steps if needed and that speculative moves in the currency market are increasing. He and his policy makers can breath a small ‘sigh-of-relief’ after NFP, the market decided to sell the JPY outright! How long is this going to last? These specific market moves are providing better levels to own the currency. Markets have taken the Ministers comments in their stride. Intervention is a rising risk for USD/JPY shorts if the pair falls towards that psychological 75 benchmark.

Speaking before the House Budget Committee in Washington today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. economy appeared to be gaining in strength.

“Fortunately, over the past few months, indicators of spending, production, and job-market activity have shown some signs of improvement,” Bernanke testified. “The outlook remains uncertain, however, and close monitoring of economic developments will remain necessary.”

I did not really "get" the happiness Friday, as not much seemed to be resolved other than some language for more unity and to "hold people accountable" for excessive debt in the Eurozone.  However, the current treaties are supposed to "hold people accountable" for excessive debt, and hasn't done a darn thing.  I guess expectations were just so low, anything would have made the market happy for the day.