This is the end...

This is the end...



An excuse to show some video from Apocalypse Now and play the Doors' "The End" but the news that the BBC report:

"Four of Britain's biggest banks will ask for up to £40bn of taxpayers' money as capital to boost their balance sheets, the BBC has learned.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays are in talks with the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority.

An announcement is planned before the markets open on Monday, according to BBC business editor Robert Peston."

leaves me with a very bad taste in the mouth. I imagine that when I awake tomorrow the Nikkei will have fallen 10% or more. I foresee the FTSE doing something similar when it opens later on.

Later in the morning I will be taking some drastic financial action of my own, more details to follow...


UPDATE:
I forgot that the Nikkei is closed this Monday for "health-sports day". Oddly the Dow Jones also has a day off today, for Columbus Day. Maybe this break will stop the feedback loop that seems to have been operating over the last few weeks. The Hang Sen is up just over 1% at the moment, I still see the FTSE moving down rather than up though...

UPDATE 2:
Although it is Columbus Day, the Dow Jones is open...