Market Talk

- Hulu not being shy about broadcasting the fact that it’s profitable. “Even if the number isn’t huge, a profit is well worth bragging about, because I can’t think of another Web video company that has claimed on so far,” including YouTube, MediaMemo blogger Peter Kafka says.

- Capital rules alone won’t keep banks honest. “The better solution is the ‘dumber’ one: avoid having banks that are too big (or too complex) to fail in the first place,” Baseline Scenario bloggers Simon Johnson and James Kwak say.

- Naked Capitalism blogger Yves Smith rips Jamie Dimon’s “self-serving” defense of big financial institutions. “One has to wonder whether anyone in a position of influence really believes what he is selling,” she says.

- “Businesses have dramatically tempered the rate of firing but still seem reluctant to aggressively add to their payrolls,” says Miller Tabak’s Peter Boockvar. “That process will seem more gradual in nature assuming the economy can sustain its healing and recovery in the face of reduced government stimulus and the growing likelihood of higher market interest rates.”

- Felix Salmon discusses the economics of Netflix (NFLX).

- “The Fed has a big problem. It acts in secret. That makes it an odd duck in a democracy,” Robert Reich says. “As long as it’s merely setting interest rates, its secrecy and political independence can be justified. But once it departs from that role and begins putting billions of dollars of taxpayer money at risk — choosing winners and losers in the capitalist system — its legitimacy is questionable.”

- Jeff Miller offers his March employment preview. Following the strong ISM manufacturing report, he estimates zero net job growth before factoring in the temporary census jobs, translating into a monthly gain of 130,000. That’s less than the 200,000 gain economists expect.

- 90% of stocks in S&P 500 are trading above their 50-day moving averages. “This is at the top end of the indicator’s range over the last year,” Bespoke says.

- Hedge fund manager pay soared last year. The top 25 earned a collective $25.3B. “We bet on the country’s revival,” says top-ranked David Tepper, who earned $4 billion. “Those who keep their heads while others are panicking usually do well.”

- Give the good ol’ microwave some respect.