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It's always helpful to find a scapegoat when things go wrong. Scapegoat hunters in Thailand think they have found one - or rather two. A pair of ceremonial wooden elephants were installed outside the ministry of finance, only a few weeks before the country was rocked by the resignation of two finance ministers and the collapse of the baht. Coincidence? Not according to those who remember that they used to be there, until they were removed in 1990 because of their allegedly inauspicious influence. Can we expect more violence to the baht until whoever put them there has the good sense to remove them? RM

Why tinker with international currency speculation by throwing sand in its wheels, when you can block its path completely with a big boulder? That's the view of Paul Davidson, professor of political economy at the University of Tennessee. A 1% round-trip Tobin tax (after Nobel laureate James Tobin) discourages only the small-time short-term speculators. It needs a radical overhaul of the relationship between currencies and economies to end damaging medium-term attacks, Davidson says.

The recent news that Cherokee, an entertainment company, was listing on Ofex - which stands for off-exchange - was greeted in the City of London with smirks and raised eyebrows.

Following recent devaluations in the Philippines peso, Thai baht, Czech koruna and, latest, the Indonesian rupiah, international bond investors are asking themselves, where next? A report by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell points to the mounting pressure on such currencies as the Malaysian ringgit, Brazilian real and Greek drachma.

Aside from the odd foray into the yen market, Fannie Mae has always been a devout US dollar issuer. But, since the start of 1997, something has changed. Of the 11 international bonds the US agency has issued this year, only three have been in its home currency. Does this signal a definite shift in Fannie Mae's borrowing strategy?

In their quest for a broader investor base, Pfandbrief issuers are venturing out of the Deutschmark. Some deals did well, some not so well. And the cost is high. But diversification is the key in the run-up to the euro. By Antony Currie.

Next time your lawyer puts the deal on hold, refrain from calling him uncommercial. By Christopher Stoakes.

Emu will revolutionize European bond markets. New sectors will emerge - high-yield bonds, for instance - and the whole structure of credit ratings will need to be reconsidered. By Randy Sandstrom.

"We don't like the word 'war', we prefer to call it 'competition'," says Jörg Franke, board member of Deutsche Börse, the holding company for the German futures exchange (Deutsche Terminbörse - DTB). He's referring to a belligerent comment back in March by Liffe chairman Daniel Hodson about the rivalry between the London financial futures exchange and its German counterpart.

French prime minister Lionel Jospin wants to increase government spending. But the Bundesbank won't let France into Emu if its budget deficit rises. Unless one gives way, Emu is off. By David Roche.

The "irrevocably fixed" exchange rates that come into effect in January 1 1999 may not be quite as fixed as Emu proponents claim. Peter Garber explains how the set-up of Target will leave the system open to attack from speculators.

Whether we like it or not, whether it arrives on time or not at all, the euro is already a factor in financial markets. Laws have been made about it, and adapted to it. Government, companies and banks are spending millions, to be prepared for the Big Bang on January 4 1999. That preparation requires rigorous practicality and fantasy, because none of this has been seen before, let alone road-tested. Euromoney here makes a leap of foresight and fantasy. We asked writers and experts from all areas of the market to explore the issues as they see them - the dangers, the unresolved snags, the legal wrangles and the risks that all institutions are being forced to take. The intention is to offer an unbiased collection of the very latest ideas, remembering that the euro is a moving target.