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A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading this morning on the World Wide Web.

There's always been a bit of an "Emperor's New Clothes" vibe around hedge funds, a sector that Alphaville's Dan McCrum once brilliantly described as "a fee schedule masquerading as an asset class." Hedge fund investors can bask in the ego boosting descriptor "sophisticated investor" while oftentimes enriching the manager at the expense of their own portfolio performance.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPers), a mammoth $300-billion (U.S.) pension fund, may have just played the role of the little boy who pointed out the emperor's nudity. The fund's management team announced a decision to end sub-manager relationships with all hedge funds Tuesday, providing a terrifying precedent for alternative asset managers across the globe.

All large investors will be motivated to reassess their hedge fund exposure. In light of the fact that 2013 marked the fifth year in a row that the average hedge fund trailed the S&P 500, they are unlikely to like what they find.

"Calpers ditches hedge funds" – FT Alphaville (registration but not subscription)

"Calpers, nation's biggest pension fund, to end hedge fund investments " – New York Times Dealbook

"Hedge funds trail stocks for fifth year with 7.4 per cent return" – Bloomberg (January 8, 2014)

Canada's system of oligopies has never been very consumer friendly. The feds are trying to mitigate this trend by forcing cable companies to provide a la carte channel selection to help consumers avoid paying for channels they're never going to watch.

Inevitably, the cable industry is scaremongering with threats of job cuts but I have little sympathy. Unemployed cable company workers is regrettable, but if consumers can cut their monthly bills in half with no drop in entertainment value, they will be able to spend it elsewhere and create new employment opportunities.

Admittedly, I could be biased. If the NFL Sunday Ticket package becomes available through streaming, I'm cancelling cable service immediately. Netflix, Apple TV and patience will do just fine.

"Rogers says pick-and-pay hurts business" – Globe and Mail

"Bell warns pick-and-pay options will result in higher costs to consumer" – Globe and Mail

What if China held a foreign investor party and no one showed up? Reuters reports that while the government has vowed to end restrictions on foreign investment in Chinese equity markets (a policy I described as cynical), Foreign Domestic Investment under existing rules has fallen to a two-and-a-half year low.

"China August FDI at 2-1/2-year low as factory investments slow" – Reuters

Cullen Roche of the Pragmatic Capitalism blog is forecasting the death of U.S. commodity exchange traded funds. Mr. Roche writes, " It makes perfect sense that commodities aren't good long-term performers because they're huge cost inputs in the capital structure. So they tend to have a very high correlation with inflation."

"Commodity ETFs are dying and that's a good thing" – Roche, Pragmatic Capitalism/Seeking Alpha

Tweet of the Day: "@JoshTANoble "Old Bose headphones were made in China. New Bose headphones were made in Mexico. Globalisation [sic] works both ways! pic.twitter.com/T9Qnj02hUo"

Diversion: "Watch, skip, or binge: Your definitive guide to fall TV " Wired

Follow Scott Barlow on Twitter @SBarlow_ROB

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