Black Good Friday ?

Has the market hit the top ? Should you, as the old saw has it, "Sell in May and go away" ? Yes, but if Uncle George decides to bomb Iran and we see US$100 a barrel oil which means US$850 an ounce gold ..... ? Just consider this exchange when Condi was on the Tim Russert show March 26th ...

RICE: Well, no one ever takes anything off the table, but I believe we're a long way from, from that...there are a lot of options once you're in the Security Council. .....

RUSSERT: Do you believe if the president chose to embark on military action with Iran, he would go to Congress for authorization first?

RICE: I'm not going to speculate on that. The president is clear that he keeps all of his options on the table.

Time for Pearl Harbour Pt.III ..dirty bomb in the Panama?

At the moment in the real world, yields on 10-year US Treasuries have risen above 5pc for the first time since 2002 on heavy selling by big institutions, sending tremors through the US mortgage and corporate credit markets.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped 17/32 to 95-25/32, with the yield, moving opposite to its price, rising to 5.053 percent, its highest yield since June 2002, from 4.98 percent on Wednesday.

The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond ended off 25/32 at 90-22/32, with the yield at 5.11 percent, its highest yield since August 2004.

Euro zone government debt prices also fell in the global bonds sell-off. Yields on 10-year euro zone bonds jumped to an 18-month high of 3.96 percent.

Crude for May delivery (near month) finished up 1% 1 percent, at US$69.32 a barrel, previous record close was Aug. 30 of $69.81 as the effects of Katrina became apparent. COMEX June delivery gold settled at US$600.10 an ounce, Copper closed up 4.4 cents at $2.8155 a pound, after setting a fresh record of $2.819 a pound. The contract has gained 6.6% on the week. May silver futures closed up 19.2 cents at $12.855 an ounce. It ended last week at $12.07.

May unleaded gasoline in the US climbed 1.68 cents to close at $2.1079 a gallon -- up 6.6% from the end of last week. The US retail gas price has been climbing, with the average price per gallon last at $2.717, up more than 35 cents from a month ago and 20% above the year-ago level, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

In the Far East Taiwan's benchmark TAIEX up 0.69 percent at 6,855.74 to a 2 year high. The index got a boost from tourism and construction shares as Taiwan's government in a surprise move for conciliation with the mainland said it may lift a ban on visits by Chinese tourists to the island.

"We've started seeing a lot of money being repatriated into the Japanese equities market," said Matthew Smith, a manager at Smith Affiliated Capital. J-apanese holdings of foreign bonds has fallen by $70bn so far this year, according to data from Japan's fin-ance ministry.

Analysts said the surge in bond yields may have been accelerated by panic selling of Treasuries by hedge funds and US investment banks.

JP Morgan Chase is forecasting a 13pc fall in Amer-ica's S&P 500 stock index, and 12pc fall in the FTSE 100. "Our big concern is the combination of rising bond yields, sustained high energy prices and weakness in US housing," said Abhijit Chakrabortti, the global equity chief.

Rex Nutting Washington bureau chief at Market Watch pointed out at the end of March

"Profits surge to 40-year high - When will corporations spend some of their hoard?"

"U.S. corporate profits have increased 21.3% in the past year and now account for the largest share of national income in 40 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.Strong productivity gains and subdued wage growth boosted before-tax profits to 11.6% of national income in the fourth quarter of 2005, the biggest share since the summer of 1966.

For all of 2005, before-tax profits totaled $1.35 trillion, up from $1.16 trillion in 2004 and just $767 billion in 2001. Meanwhile, the share of national income going to wage and salary workers has fallen to 56.9%. Except for a brief period in 1997, that's the lowest share for labor income since 1966.

Profits have been so high because almost all of the benefits from productivity improvements are flowing to the owners of capital rather than to the workers. While profits are up 21.3% in the past year, labor compensation is up just 5.5%. After adjusting for inflation, population growth and taxes, real disposable per capita incomes are up just 0.5% in the past year.

Signs of the times ? .. and for a Happy Easter go read Nur al Cubicle