I started reading this mighty tome, and I suspect it will take me forever to read it, but so far it is highly entertaining and just the thing after a long day of work.
If anyone knows any good references on convergence vs. number of data points for the largest eigenvector in the singular value decomposition of the sample covariance matrix, you will earn my undying gratitude, especially if it leads to a conference publication.
Jack W. Silverstein, Some limit theorems on the eigenvectors of large dimensional sample covariance matrices, Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Volume 15, Issue 3, December 1984, Pages 295-324.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WK9-4CRMB81-H2/2/2954da6b6e94148939864ccc1835ee3b)