Traders' Roundtable

Biggest Increase/Biggest Decrease

Indices: Athens GD +6.27%...Shanghai SHCOMP -2.72%

Emerg. Markets Indices: Argentina MERVAL +3.31%...Turkey XU100 -2.88%

Commodities: Cotton #2 +10.40%...Silver -4.84%

FX-Euro: EUR/CAD +2.34%...EUR/GBP +0.97% (positive)

FX-US Dollar: USD/CAD +0.50%...USD/EUR -1.79%

FX-UK Pound: GBP/CAD +1.36%...GBP/EUR -0.96%

10y Gov. Bonds Yield: Germany +4.26%...Spain -3.53%

and your point is...

It's a quick global markets performance overview

you could probably get paid 250k a year in a bank for writing that !!
If yu also said you think the Dollar will go down this year - but it may go up and the Aud may go up - but then again may go down - youd probably get a 100k bonus to boot !

hahaha, nice one.

as i share completely your feelings re: predictions and have had it myself, with people being paid for suggesting that a market will go up because of the quarterly percentage variance in people's frequency of change of underpants or the correlation between the S&P500 and number of people wearing Burberry at ASDA, I thought I might just post the biggest market movers across markets and countries as a guide for anyone interested, without "professional" comments, just observations.

And if on top of that you lent a lot of money to people without jobs to buy useless consumer goods on very expensive credit (having already lent them money to buy their own overvalued homes) you would be in line to reach the very top echelons.

And if you had a sideline in selling large amounts of unit trusts attracting an up front fee of 5%, a bid offered spread of up to 7%, annual management fees of 2% and a performance which severely lagged its given benchmark, why then you would probably be in line to be made an MD.

I'm not a great believer in modern western capitalism and am no doubt in danger of the serious charge of hypocrisy.

My attention was recently drawn to a wonderful quote from Terry Eagleton's "Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate". While I detest religious fundamentalism (Christian or otherwise) every bit as strongly as Dawkins and find it well nigh impossible to believe in a benevolent deity or the ancient scribblings of a desert tribe, I have to say there are some aspects of thoughtful and tolerant religion I find attractive by comparison to the society we have evolved into:

"One of the best reasons for being a Christian, and for being a socialist, is that you don't like having to work, and reject the fearful idolatry of it so rife in countries.....(like ours). Truly civilised societies do not hold predawn power breakfasts."

AFJ Garner wrote: ...and find it well nigh impossible to believe in a benevolent deity or the ancient scribblings of a desert tribe...

Maybe you could consider taking a long position

Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal that, even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Pascal formulated his suggestion uniquely on the God of Jesus Christ as implied by the greater context of his Pensées, a posthumously published collection of notes made by Pascal in his last years as he worked on a treatise on Christian apologetics. However, some argue that Pascal's Wager also applies to gods of other religions and belief systems.

Best regards, as ever

Yes, Pascal's Wager has long amused and engaged me and regardless of the existence or otherwise of Yahweh, Brahman or the Spaghetti God the moral and ethical code of the New Testament is a fine guideline for life.

In terms of "belief" however I side with Bertrand Russell and his Cosmic Teapot (with which I have no doubt you will also be familiar):

Russell wrote:

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

AFJ Garner wrote:.. Cosmic Teapot (with which I have no doubt you will also be familiar)

I wasn't familiar with the Cosmic Teapot and I appreciate indeed the analogy:it makes me think to the Black Swan.
Just let me close with

Do not confuse the pointing finger with the moon

It is only a finger, not the moon. Only a map, not the territory. This approach if adopted by other religions, can cut at the root of fundamentalism and eliminate acrimony between religions.

Best regards, as ever