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The European Central Bank's intervention on Friday, 22 September in support of the falling euro, acting in cooperation with the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve, briefly evoked memories of the 1985 Plaza accord which successfully drove down the dollar. But the time when world central banks could dictate exchange rates to the markets have passed.

I'm sitting on the 86th floor of the world's tallest hotel and its third-highest building, sipping a $5 bottle of Tsingtao beer, and I don't feel welcome. Even though I'm a guest, the waiting staff have glanced with obvious disapproval at my jeans and at the fake designer polo shirt I picked up for next to nothing in Beijing, and frogmarched me towards an uncomfortable high-backed stool in a quiet and poorly lit corner of the bar.

When the euro was first launched in January 1999, the consensus was that a strong central bank, a huge trade surplus and low inflation would drive the new currency upwards from its opening level of $1.17. I had little confidence in that view.

Why would anyone want to murder a portfolio manager? Well it seems there is so much professional jealousy on Wall Street that former fund manager Cliff Cavanaugh runs a detective agency just to nail those cads who pick off stockpickers.

At last month's IMF/World Bank meeting, amid the rococo splendour of Prague's Kaunicky Palace, Padraic Fallon, chairman of Euromoney Institutional Investor, presented the annual finance minister of the year award to Slovakia's Brigita Schmögnerová and the central bank governor of the year award to Turkey's Gazi Ercel.

Want to find out who the financial markets think will be the next US president but don't have the time to pore through a forest's worth of research? Take a look at the futures exchange dedicated to tracking just that.

On the evening before violent protesters disrupted this year's IMF/World Bank meeting in Prague, Jim Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank joined a panel discussing globalization with some untypical guests: Hong Kong trade union leader Elizabeth Tang and Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2.

Not only western governments are worried by the oil price. Oil wealth has left Arabian Gulf countries ill-equipped to develop dynamic economies that can cope with the needs of growing populations. Abu Dhabi is aware of the dangers of this inertia but Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah is the man doing most to change attitudes and structures. Michael Field reports

Leading Dutch telecommunications provider KPN faces an uncertain future following the failure of its attempt to link up with Telefonica in Spain. Analysts see an obvious solution to its small home base: it must move into new markets and expand its subscriber numbers in order to survive. The company has been trying to do exactly this. But it has strained its finances and its credit rating in the attempt. Andrew Rosenbaum reports

The recent mergers of CSFB with DLJ and JP Morgan with Chase signal a new desperation among those near bulge bracket firms to amass the scale, capital strength and full product capability they consider crucial if they are ever to gain entry to the very top ranks of global investment banking. In recent years, Wall Street firms have busily allied with retail distributors and acquired specialist boutique firms. But such full-blown mergers of large investment banks are something quite new. For these deals to succeed, profound misgivings will have to be overcome among many senior managers at DLJ and JP Morgan: firms that have traditionally stayed aloof from Wall Street alliances and have strong cultures. Although it's not clear these mergers will help firms leap ahead, it's quite certain the merging firms' rivals will take advantage of any discontent. Antony Currie reports

The news last month that Optimark has failed in its bid to change the dynamics of US equities trading stands as a timely reminder of the difficulties e-commerce start-ups face.

One of the longest-running sagas in asset management is finally set to come to a head - well, in another year's time at least.