Must-knows for the weekend: Bill Gross, Derek Jeter, Starboard loves Yahoo, and more

Here’s (at least part of) what every serious investor and trader needs to know this weekend. Bill Gross Leaving Pimco for Janus: Bill Gross leaving Pimco is pretty big news in the Wall Street world. First thought is why doesn’t Bill just retire? He’s 70 years old and worth, literally, billions. Isn’t there more to life? Second, I’m sure nobody will ever discuss it really, but I wonder if the investigation into his bond-fund pricing mechanisms by the SEC made this decision easier for him. Bill Gross exit weighs on Treasury market: You’ve got to be kidding me that traders and investors in bonds actually base their buy and sell decisions on where Bill Gross is hanging his hat? That’s not a sustainable way to make money in the markets. Starboard is pushing Yahoo to join forces with AOL: I want to short Yahoo (YHOO), as I can hardly believe their lack of revenue growth during the last five years as mobile-ad growth has exploded and online ads have grown steadily. Maybe another few days of rally like this, and I might finally step in by buying some longer-dated Yahoo puts Derek Jeter’s unbelievable closing act at Yankee Stadium and Understatement of the year: ”OK. Thursday I posted I was taking the afternoon off to watch Derek Jeter’s last home game and that it better be worth it. Was that the understatement of the year? Thank you, #Derek, for the last 20 years. Couldn’t write a better ending. OK. Back to work now for the rest of us.” Talk about a winning trade. Watching Jeter instead of a collapsing market. Buoyant Dollar Recovers Its Luster, Underlining Rebound in U.S. Economy: Anybody else ever wonder if the seemingly insanely huge advances in productivity our economy has gained from apps, smartphones, tablets, PCs, Internet, etc., is what has enabled the Fed to play these games much longer and has likewise enabled the Federal government’s debt/low-rates addiction to grow much larger than they would have been able to in other times? China’s ‘Hard Landing’ Approaches: Which leads to the next question – Does the U.S. have to have a hard landing if/when all rates go up on all that debt upon which interest has to be paid? Could this version of a 1%-3% slow-growth GDP economy be a self-fulfilling dynamic whereupon destructive policies will always suck out anything above that, but never more than that?