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It will go down as one of the most short-lived trading venues ever. It had been in development for months, and its owners claim to have spent $600,000 setting it up. Yet within 24 hours of becoming public knowledge it was killed off. Goodbye, and good riddance, to the Policy Analysis Market (PAM). The brainchild of the Defense Research Projects agency (Darpa), an arm of the US Department of Defense, it aimed to trade futures contracts to enable bets on certain events taking place in the Middle East. Examples included the assassination of Yasir Arafat and the overthrow of Jordan's monarchy. The website even floated the idea of a nuclear attack by that evil Middle Eastern power North Korea.

Was it a disgruntled employee? A computer glitch? Or does google.com have the inside track on the strategic thinking of Ken Lewis, chairman and CEO of Bank of America?

If you thought lawyers were shy and unassuming, happiest drafting opinions in some backroom, think again.

Remember how the technology boom wasn't a bubble at all, because this time things were different? Bankers love telling people how certain events are unique and unprecedented. Most of the time, though, they're wrong.

Motoring broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, who presented Euromoney's awards for excellence last month, kept things hustling along like a Mercedes-Benz S-600 on an autobahn.

It has been a rough roller-coaster ride for the US treasuries market over the past three months, and there are sure to be financial institutions hurting as a result.

Source: www.breakingviews.com is Europe's leading financial commentary service

Source: www.breakingviews.com is Europe's leading financial commentary service

Source: www.breakingviews.com is Europe's leading financial commentary service

US investor demand for instruments that qualify for the new, lowered taxation rate on dividend income could provide major opportunities for foreign issuers of tier 1 capital instruments and possibly a wider universe of non-US capital raisers.

The UK's $3 billion, five-year US dollar Eurobond issue showed what European sovereigns can learn from the UK and vice-versa when it comes to foreign-currency borrowing.

In the awards for excellence in last month's Euromoney, we stated that Privredna Banka was the Croatian subsidiary of KBC. In fact Privredna is owned by Gruppo Intesa. Intesa owns in addition to Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ), Central-European International Bank (CIB) in Hungary and Vseobecna Uverova Banka (VUB) in Slovakia. Intesa has also opened a subsidiary in Moscow as part of its regional expansion.