Malcolm Surry

GOLD is finally having its day in the sun. Some believers thought they might be carried into the cemetery before they saw it rise again. This columnist regularly harangued readers on the merits of the metal, before he too threw in the towel.

IT can be hard yakka making money in the stock market these days. One way has been to buy the shares of a company that has recently installed a feisty chief executive.

QANTAS boss Geoff Dixon boldly put into words what some business leaders are privately thinking when he launched a stinging attack on the modus operandi of Allan Fels.

THE Aussie dollar jumped through US54 cents when nobody was looking, and optimists are now predicting a Viagra-style performance in the coming months.

A DIRECTOR of a public company recently asked me when China might become a member of the WTO. Try last November, chum. Taiwan was admitted in January. While few businessmen are as out of touch as our friend, some might be a tad slow.

DEVOTEES of William Shakespeare will recall this line from Hamlet: “Neither a borrower, nor a lender be, for a loan oft loses both itself and friend”. This raises the question … is it appropriate for small investors to buy shares with borrowed money?

CRIES of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” rang around the stock market following news of the eye-popping 4 per cent growth numbers that left prominent economists with egg dripping from their chins.

I TELEPHONED a large company the other day to make inquiries about a story I proposed to write publicising its activities far and wide. I got voicemail. Fiona was not available.

IT might be wise to pour yourself a stiff whisky before we ponder the parlous plight of Japan. The Japanese banking system is broke. Bad debts on the books are conservatively put at 43 trillion yen, or $640 billion in our money.