| Rock rescue explained
At the end of the year, the bank has £105. Where did the extra £5 come from? Only from a further bank loan, or from a loan from somebody else who has gone into debt. Sooner or later this system has to be 'adjusted', either by inflation( which effectively cancels debt) or by borrowers going bankrupt (the debt is cancelled as unpayable), or by the bank going the same way( too many unpayable debts counted as assets). Can the estimable Robert Peston please tell me if i have this right? .
In close race, U.S. Democrats brace for the long haul
For those voters who consider Obama as a glamorous IPO with the high-flying potential like another Google, they jump onto the bandwagon in fear that they might miss the chance to get rich quick. Who knows what eventually could turn out, just like so many fancy stocks during the dotcom craze days eventually turned into dogs and lemons in the aftermath of the dotcom meltdown. Obama might just become another Crispy Cream, which had so much anticipation and later so mcuh disappointment. .
Asian shares mixed at close
The Nikkei average rose 0.67 per cent on Thursday as property stocks such as Mitsubishi Estate rose on land price data and Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc. climbed on higher profits. But bank shares rang up losses, with Mizuho Financial Co hitting its lowest since October 2005 at one point amid profit worries and global credit concern. The Nikkei ended 113.13 points higher at 16,984.11, recouping all of its earlier losses. The broader Topix index eked out a 0.03 per cent gain to finish at 1,669.33. KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed 0.50 per cent lower on Thursday after a volatile session amid lingering worries over possible global ramifications from the fallout in US credit markets, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 6.21 points at 1,333.28, off a low of 1,323.76 and a high of 1,357.65.
Slouching towards Petroeurostan
Now more than ever, it may also signal a geoeconomic earthquake, a potentially shattering blow to US dollar hegemony.
The Iranian oil bourse - the first oil, gas and petrochemical exchange in the Islamic Republic, and the first within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - was launched on Sunday by Irans Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari, flanked by Minister of Economy and Financial Affairs Davoud Danesh Jafari, the man who will head the exchange.
Officially called the Iranian International Petroleum Exchange
(IIPE), it is widely known in Iran and the Persian Gulf as the Kish bourse, named after Kish island, a free zone (declared by the shah) in an ideal laissez faire setting: lots of condos and duty-free malls, no Khomeini mega-portraits and hordes of young honeymooners shopping for made-in-Europe home appliances.
London Gold Market Report
Pegged at $924.8 this morning as crude oil slipped back from $100 per barrel and world stock markets fell yet again, the Gold Price also recorded a new all-time London Fix for British investors at £475.57 per ounce. The Pound Sterling meantime fell towards an 11-month low on the currency markets, driven down by news that the Bank of England is set to continue cutting interest rates despite forecasting "sharply higher" inflation ahead. Asian-Pacific equities averaged a 2% loss for the session while Europe's 300 largest blue-chip stocks stood 1.3% lower by lunchtime in Frankfurt, led down by financial stocks after the Financial Times reported that private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has deferred "billions of dollars" in payments to creditors of its listed KKR affiliate, first due last Friday.
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