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Only the best will survive

A snowboarder in Utah says we're heading for a global liquidity squeeze: capital will self-destruct and the world financial system will need to reinvent itself, as it did after 1929, 1945 and 1971. He may be wrong. If he's right, what does it mean for the dealers and investors who grew rich and famous on global euphoria? David Shirreff reports.

Outside Japan, Asian investors have become a rare breed in recent months. But they still exist, and the one thing they prize above all else is liquidity. Antony Currie reports on attempts to cultivate a group of investors whose importance can only increase.

Asia may be crumbing, and rumours of losses on several investment banks' proprietary trading desks are beginning to do the rounds, but that doesn't appear to be hampering the desire to splash out on lavish Christmas parties.

Which are Asia's most sophisticated borrowers? This is the question Euromoney put to 16 heads of debt syndication in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. As spreads widen and credit ratings fall, these are lean times for Asian borrowers. Only the best - those who have spent the past few years developing an innovative approach and building up a good name - will be able to get their bonds away. By Nicholas Bradbury.

It is one of the boldest economic plans of the century: China wants to sell or merge its state-owned enterprises - nearly half the country's economy. Jack Lowenstein reports on the difficulties ahead.

Latest modelling techniques mean rocket scientists at banks can finally get to grips with the age-old problem of credit risk. It means a new lease of life for old portfolio theory and even older maths, as Mark Parsley finds out.

Only the best will survive

When the world started to melt

Which are Asia's strongest companies? With the region's corporates facing difficult market conditions, declining stock prices and a credit squeeze, the difference between Asia's many underperformers and its increasingly global star players is likely to grow. Asia's leading analysts gave their views of the best companies by sector and region in Euromoney's annual survey. The results contain a few surprises. In the Indian sub-continent - included this year for the first time - Pakistan's companies are rated higher than their counterparts in India. Research by Rebecca Dobson

Trade unions and opposition parties aren't happy, but Greece's harsh budget may just put the country on course to join the European single currency. Yet, as Robert Minto reports, recent currency volatility and stock-market woes suggest the road ahead may be long and hard

It's not just Asia's leaders that are in a state of denial. So too are the legions of economists and research analysts working at investment banks and brokerages across Asia. You might have expected some would have called the crisis that has crippled the region in the past six months. But whether because of political sensitivities or the sheer lack of talent in their ranks, Asian researchers failed to spot the impending crash. Steven Irvine reports.