1.The power of the three big US rating agencies, Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, remains unbroken. By awarding high ratings to junk securities, they fueled financial market excesses. Now they are taking countermeasures by brutally downgrading securities. In doing so, they are making the crisis even worse.The Power of Rating Agencies

2. The U.S. government’s long-awaited “stress-test” results have found that 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks need a total of about US$75 billion in new capital to withstand losses if the recession worsened.Stress tests find banks need US$75B more

3. Society at a Glance reveals evolving social trends in OECD countries -The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend longer at work and commuting than they do indulging in leisure activities.

4.GRAEME Wood started hotel site Wotif.com just as the dotcom bubble burst, but that didn’t stop it becoming a success story. Making money while you sleep

5.US policymakers have already braced themselves for a bout of deflation, and many corporations are quaking at the prospect of price declines. Some are wondering, though, how bad can it really get? – FEAR FACTOR