- Don’t dismiss the notion that retail spending is being partly driven by homeowners strategically defaulting on mortgages, even though it’s hard to quantify exactly hoe many people are “spending the mortgage,” Paul Jackson writes at HousingWire.
- Small businesses, which have led job creation in previous recoveries, may be finally contributing to job growth now as the economy rebounds, Atlanta Fed’s macroblog says.
- “The Squid has been living for years off the simple fact that, like the fabled IBM of yore, no-one ever got fired (or sued) for picking Goldman Sachs,” the Epicurean Dealmaker notes. “That calculus has been changed,” and everyone knows it.
- Google’s (GOOG) recent acquisition of secretive early-stage start-up Agnilux ranks as the “most curious” deal in its history, Digital Daily blogger John Paczkowski says.
- Picking apart Apple’s (AAPL) blowout earnings, Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer says Apple’s iPhone business is growing much faster internationally than it is in the US.
- Lots of merger chatter swirling swirling around UAL Corp’s (UAUA) United Airlines. And while a deal might make sense for operational reasons, Footnoted’s Theo Francis notes the company has made it “substantially more attractive” for its top executives to seal a deal.
- Facebook’s launching an ambitious plan to essentially take over the Internet.
- Looks like Adobe (ADBE has finally given up on getting Flash on the iPhone. “We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5,” Mike Chambers, Adobe’s principal product manager for the Flash platform, writes on his blog. “However, we are currently not planning any additional investments in that feature.”
- Investors take note: A stock-market indicator with a good long-term record has flashed a buy signal.
- The grudge match over your 401(k)
