Morning Money Links: Apple shares flirt with new high; Credit Suisse spreads pain of bonus tax; betting big on mortgage bonds, again

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--- Apple shares surge on tablet computer fever: The company’s announcement Monday of a media event on Jan. 27 sends the bulls stampeding again today. The shares traded as high as $214.59 this morning, up from $205.93 on Friday and nearing the record intraday high of $215.59 reached Jan. 5.

--- Bankers versus the world: Credit Suisse is cutting its overall bonus pool by 5%, forcing all employees to share the pain of Britain’s new 50% tax on banker payouts. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs delays its bonus announcement.

--- Loading up on mortgage bonds -- with borrowed money: Hedge funds and other big investors once again are borrowing heavily from Wall Street banks to buy mortgage-backed securities. Sound familiar? “I’ve got to be honest, leverage coming back this quickly is a little frightening,” said one money manager. “You can’t assume everybody is going to do stuff rationally.” Amen.

--- Still beating a path to our door: Foreign investors overall continued to snap up U.S. bonds and stocks in November, the government’s latest data show. But China again trimmed its holdings of Treasury securities.

-- Tom Petruno