More Financial Turbulence Ahead?

We were in New York a couple of weeks back and have to say were a bit worried by how worried a number of our contacts were about several large banks/finance houses. So we were not surprised at the news overnight that further profit writedowns are pending and that dividends are not going to be that great this year. (Things are so bad that weekend trips and holidays to the Hamptons are being cancelled!!!) Add to this the weakening US dollar and more instability in the Middle East (=jump in oil prices) and we have more serious jitters. Luckily NZ was finished for the week. Maybe cooler heads will prevail here on Monday once a full assessment of the market conditions has been completed over the next 48 hours. We will report further on the international analysis of what is going on.