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return to M&A's new dealmakers set to take the stand

Investors have begun pulling money out of Asia, dramatically reversing a six-month trend during which inflows to the region surpassed pre-1997 levels.

Forecasts of a soft landing for the global economy are off the mark – disinflation is at an end and interest rates are on the rise. For safe havens investors should look to gold and the euro

Have you ever been convinced that colleagues whose work is just as good as yours earn more than you simply because they are better looking? Or taller? Or slimmer? Michael Owyang, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, examines some of the research on this in a paper written with colleague Kristie Engemann.

Once upon a time, when Australia's rugby union team were world champions, Phil Kearns was a key member of the Wallabies side. But these days his talents are benefiting the South Africans. Last month, the former Aussie captain and hooker joined Investec in Sydney to work as a private banker, using his sporting profile to attract new business. Investec Bank (Australia) chairman Geoff Levy is reported to have wooed Kearns from his position as head of a human resources consultancy firm. It isn't the first time Levy has asked Australian rugby players to sign up with him. In the mid-1990s, he teamed up with Wallabies prop Ross Turnbull, with the partial backing of Australian media mogul Kerry Packer, to establish the short-lived World Rugby Corporation. A rival to Rupert Murdoch's Super League, the corporation tried to sign up Aussie, New Zealand and South African players to broadcasting contracts.

Poor old Philip Purcell is a man besieged on all sides. Last month, London theatregoers heading to the Old Vic to see Kevin Spacey perform in National Anthems, a parable of American materialism, found placard-waving demonstrators demanding a better deal from Morgan Stanley for its office cleaners at Canary Wharf. The cleaners are asking for a minimum wage of £6.70 an hour, 28 days' paid holiday each year, sick pay and a company pension scheme.

Credit relationships are now a crucial factor for clients deciding on a bank to which to award their interest rate and foreign exchange business. US-based consultancy firm Greenwich Associates says that almost two-thirds of FX users and three-quarters of those using interest rate derivatives do business only with banks that lend money.

Economics, not the demands of regulators, will drive the future of research, which will involve investment managers doing more of their own analysis and also a greater integration between equity and credit research.

In the late 1990s, the telecoms business – fixed income, equity, buy side, sell side, or I-banking – was one of the hottest Wall Street profit centres. In 1999, the telecoms research group at Salomon Smith Barney, headed by legendary analyst and dealmaker Jack Grubman, had more than 100 staff. By 2002, telecoms departments looked like ghost towns. Many analysts left Wall Street entirely, turning up in real estate and insurance. Fast forward to 2005, and the telecoms business might have come back to life. Driven by hedge funds recruiting for seasoned talent, a booming distressed debt market of 2003 and 2004 – much of which was telecoms related – and a revival in equity research, telecoms analysts are again in demand.

Euromoney collected data for its 2005 FX survey by polling named individuals at industrial and commercial corporations, financial institutions, institutional investors and state agencies.

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Fast thinking and fancy footwork from Metcash Trading, one of Australia's leading grocery businesses, have helped turn a vulnerable company into an acquisitive one. Chris Leahy reports.