Today's market commentary is included here.
On the news that JP Morgan bankers will be splitting a $10 billion bonus pool, the Robin Hood Tax campaign said it was "outrageous" that JP Morgan Chase's investment bankers are to receive an average payout of $369,651 (£233,000) for 2010. The group, which supports a global tax on banks' financial transactions, said the size of the payments were "a slap in the face to ordinary people".
"If banks can afford to pay billions in bonuses, they can clearly afford to be taxed a great deal more. A £20bn Robin Hood tax in the UK would help avoid the worst of the cuts and show we are all in this together," said David Hillman, spokesman for the Robin Hood Tax campaign.
"While bankers wallow in cash, the general public are suffering unemployment and cuts to public services," Hillman added.
The financial media news are beside themselves with the after hours news that British Petroleum and the Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft will be swapping spit and taking long walks in the park, with potential consequences yet to come. BP is nominally a private company, but Her Majesty's government still owns a 'golden share' which it uses to make suggestions to a number of her subjects and especially former children, as do most developed nations. Or so I have been somewhat reliably informed.
After all, the Yanks have called dibs on the Mideast. Someone has to grab the Arctic while it is still melting.
It appears to some like a pre-emptive strategic move by the Brits who have been concerned about rumours of a joint economic deal developing between Germany and Russia involving engineering expertise and energy products such as natural gas.
The couples seem to be pairing off, but the evening is still early, and the band is just warming up.
