Well, another week when "value" continued to vanish "like sna' aff a dyke" (see WICS of 11th December 2005 for a translation). "Billions wiped off UK workers' pension schemes" was one headline, referring to updated valuations carried out by AON Consulting. The Daily Express seemingly has closed its final salary scheme to new entrants - it's amazing that any company still has such a scheme on offer. And of course it's not just "value" that is disappearing - jobs too are becoming ever - scarcer commodities. American Express has just announced it's shedding 7000 positions - but none are likely to be from their "bad debt recovery" department methinks.

Mention was made in last weekend's ramblings, that the IMF might have a bit of a job on its hands when it comes to bailing out the "last to join the queue" - and that particular queue is getting longer by the day. Hungary has just tapped the IMF for rather a lot. The really scary thing is that seemingly the IMF has only $250bn at its disposal - pocket change, quite frankly. No wonder the Broon one is agitating for China and the Gulf States to divvy up and chuck a few quid into the begging bowl - after all, he doesn't want the IMF wallet to be empty when it's HIS turn to hold out his cap on behalf of UK Plc.....but China has its own problems to deal with - factories are closing down everywhere and unemployment is soaring - so far in 2008, estimates suggest that around 67000 companies have folded - and not all are small. Smart Union (a major toymaker) collapsed last week and 7000 employees lost their jobs.

In Japan, interest rates were reduced from their currently stupidly low 0.5% to just 0.3%. Why "stupidly low"? Because as so often mentioned here, it's way too late for low interest rates to do any more than punish savers - and you may be sure that the Bank of England and the ECB will follow suit at any moment. Japanese interest rates in fact spent a fair while at NIL percent yet the deflationary recession that began in 1989, is still on the go. Property prices there are about 40% lower than in 1989 and seemingly (according to the Bank of Japan) they are still falling. Russia ain't looking too good either....maybe they won't be able to afford the purchase of Iceland after all.

Speaking of Iceland - they hiked interest rates there the other day, from a measly 12% to 18%. Desperation methinks. Hey - I have just had a brilliant idea! Why not borrow a zillion Yen at 0.3% and deposit it in Icelandic Crowns at 18%? What a no - brainer, eh? I think I'll call the scheme a "carry trade"............seriously, there are hedge funds (according to my spies) that are actually considering starting once again to play that incredibly dangerous game! Hard to believe after all that has happened and all the losses that have been racked up by the world of finance.

In fact the BOE seems to have calculated that the total cost of losses to the world's financial institutions will be $2.8trn - it's great that they have been able to put together so accurate a figure. We can all sleep soundly again, knowing the amount has finally been quantified. Oops - was that TRILLION? So that's a bit more than the IMF's total bank balance then? In any case methinks the BOE is just guessing. My Really Scary Granny's crystal ball might be a bit cloudy at the moment but it is definitely suggesting a figure that's an awful lot bigger than that.

Anyway, onward - and well done to Barclays for having meantime escaped the clutches of the Broon one. £7bn from the Middle East eh? Nae bad for a morning's work. HBOS directors didn't do so well though......and all the talking heads and politicos are getting in a lather about RBS bonuses that are going to be paid despite the huge handout from the UK taxpayer. This kind of thing has already been mentioned in these ramblings so you'll know that IW is not in the least bit surprised. But don't forget (my goodness, it's not even Christmas and IW is being slightly charitable about bankers - whatever next?) that SOME bank staff actually made a PROFIT (scary, eh?) for their company over the year, so why on earth should they NOT be rewarded for that? Lest you think I'm going soft in my dotage, anyone who contributed to the LOSSES ought to receive their P45 and nothing else other than a good tongue lashing. Mind you (still being kind, Williams?) at least bankers make no claims that their greed, stupidity and crookedness is for the "good of society" - unlike your average politician......

Moving on, not all businesses are doing badly - Provident Financial is charging (up to) a measly 222.7% interest (on behalf of Argos) for purchases made via the latter's store card. Hmm - might that perhaps qualify for top prize in the "festive season exploitation" category?

Moving along to a few snippets that caught the IW attention during the week - the Broon one suggested (in a speech at Imperial College) that "Borrowing more is responsible" - he was referring to his plans to cope with the UK recession. Gordon - change the wording just a wee bit, to read "....will be responsible for an even bigger mess" and you'll be nearer the truth. Unlike the Norwegians, successive British governments squirreled away absolutely nothing from North Sea oil revenues that might have helped in hard times. Gordon in particular just borrowed like there was no tomorrow and that's the true reason why the UK is now in such a particularly deep hole. There have been earlier references to "where has all the money gone?" in these ramblings - you may find one or two by using the search engine. Try December 4th 2005 for starters. It's the same of course in the USA - borrowing and spending like mad instead of using some common sense. In the words of The Tractors: "I'd like to ask the Congress, I'd like to ask the President.......can you tell me where all the money went?" And these are words from an album published in 1994!

Next, according to one of you (thanks John) who works in the motor industry, Volvo Trucks sold just under 42000 vehicles in Europe during the third quarter of 2007. The figure for the same period this year, is............155. You don't need to be a genius to establish that that must be more than a little worrying to truck manufacturers everywhere - not to mention Volvo employees. And we all know about the near total collapse of the USA's Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler). GM and Chrysler may well merge - if the latter gets a "bung" of $10bn from the US taxpayer, but all three could well go down the pan in due course.

Still, it's not all bad news - Einstein's estate still earns $18m a year from ongoing royalty payments after all these years - so he wasn't just a physics genius!

British American Tobacco is seemingly a "world leader" in something called "Corporate Social Responsibility" - who the heck dreams up stuff like that? And military spending is on the increase - absolutely no surprises there, sadly. (How is it that 700 new light armoured vehicles for the Brits, are to cost £700m? Another "exploitation" award? Or the "bribery and corruption" award perhaps?)

The new Westfield shopping thingie has just opened in Shepherd's Bush to much trumpeting that it will be a "huge success" The first word is accurate enough, but the second.....? The thing is, it seemingly employs 7000 people. How many times will the tills have to ring to pay the total wage bill, never mind the rent/property taxes/electricity/phone bills etc? Where will the sales come from? Will they be "new" sales, or will they come at the expense of shops elsewhere in London? And is Shepherd's Bush on the main London tourist circuit? You get my drift I guess. These will not be a "net" new 7000 jobs - more or less the same number will be lost elsewhere IF Westfield actually works. But it won't. It will become a hoodie - infested monument to "sameness" and useless architects/planners in no time at all.

It seems John Lewis' sales are still falling - a few weeks ago they blamed the "good weather." This week's excuse is the "school mid term". Do me a favour!

And British cops may be getting electric patrol cars, so they'll be able to feel good about their environmental credentials while they pursue bank robbers. The Italian cops have just taken delivery of a new Lamborghini Gallardo......colour coded of course, to match their Armani uniforms.

You'll have read about the Welsh road sign that said "No entry for HGVs" in English, and "I'm out of the office" in Welsh - another waste of money - every little bit adds up, as my "other Granny" used to say....

And finally before we look at a couple of charts - yet another reinforcement of why I would NEVER "internet bank" came with the revelation that a recent "Trojan" has nicked the details of at least 500000 bank accounts. Banks will totally deny that there are ongoing problems - but they will NEVER persuade this fella to use their internet facilities!

OK - on to the charts and first tonight just a (not so pretty) picture of BT. It's here only to reinforce the TTEW philosophy that "Buy and Hold" just makes no sense at all. Not everyone would agree - especially not "financial advisers" but there you go - you can't please everybody. Next, we'll see that after a very serious drop earlier last month, National Grid is once again heading towards previously strong dynamic (rolling) resistance against its most recent trendline. Might a "probe and retrace" offer a buy trade? Then we'll see that Marks & Sparks is in a real mess - is there a triangle forming in the ongoing downtrend? Is there support on 200? Does it really matter?

On that note, the afternoon sun still has a couple of hours to go before it hides behind the mountains, and it's all looking rather lovely with last week's snow still on the tops, so no prizes for guessing where IW is now headed - that's right - off with a wee drinkie to visit the elves under the walnut tree with a "wish list" list for Santa - gosh, don't you just hate references like that so early in the season? - sorry about that! Anyway, all the best until next weekend.

Ian.

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.