A Winding Down On Wall Street?

One of the best Wall Street reporters in the business is David Weidner. The long-time MarketWatch journalist and analyst now has a regular column in the Wall Street Journal. And today's is a great example.

Weidner looks at the asset levels of the world's largest banks. The column includes a list of top banks by assets, among other things. It also does a good job of putting Wall Street's plight in perspective from a longer-term view. His conclusion: China is a clear winner in the shakeout of financials and that smaller isn't necessarily better in the banking industry.

Although not a purely ETF-type story, for investors focusing on macro views, this might be of interest. You can read it here.

Mass Exit In California's Muni Bond Market?

Sorry to pose back-to-back questions in headlines, but this new short item by the Los Angeles Times' Tom Petruno might be of keen interest to those holding California muni bond ETFs.

The ace financial reporter updates the situation with the state's budget mess and quotes a veteran bond trader as seeing a mass exit for the doors of late in the state's muni market.

You can read the story here.

Know What You're Buying

Don Dion gets around, doesn't he? The money manager/blogger/writer has a piece on TheStreet.com urging investors to find out how leveraged exchange-traded funds work before they jump into them.

Sage advice for sure. You can read the story here.

Government Bond Yields To 4.5% In The U.S.?

That's the prediction by State Street Global Advisors' chief investment officer for asset allocation. Alistair Lowe told Reuters that he believes the U.S. economy is stabilizing and that within the next six-12 months ,yields would settle around 4.5%.

Lowe, who is considered a currency expert, also sees a further decline in the greenback and more investment activity in the Australian and Canadian dollars.

You can read the story here.