From the curmudgeon department: “July 31 (Bloomberg) — Jeremy Grantham, the money manager who oversees $150 billion as chairman of Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, said a credit crisis may force as many as half of hedge funds worldwide to close in the next five years.

The loss of investors’ appetite for risk also may cause at least one global bank and `one or two’ of the largest private- equity firms to go out of business, Grantham, known for his pessimistic outlook, said in a July 30 interview from his Boston office. The 68-year-old investor said he’s still bullish on emerging-markets stocks.”

While we’re on the subject of curmudgeons (takes one to know one), at Financial Times Alphaville: Marc Faber discusses Hindenburgs and the technical condition of the market. Hint: Not bullish.

And of course, you’ve been taking your weekly dose of Hussman, haven’t you?: “One of the best indications of the speculative willingness of investors is the “uniformity” of positive market action across a broad range of internals. Probably the most important aspect of last week’s decline was the decisive negative shift in these measures.”