Even as Obama vowed not to bail out any bad boys in future and threatened to veto any bill that doesn’t police derivatives, movie box-office futures were cleared by CFTC despite one commissioner calling it “popcorn prediction,” and in Europe one Centaur Galileo fund announced plans to launch a sports betting fund. The only conclusion one can draw is that US and UK aren’t about to get off the poker table. 2+2=3 was the graphic headline of a Swedish daily last week after the govt revised a figure from +2.4 to –2.2 (billion kronors). In US, it should be 1+2=12 and it applies not only to economic recovery related stats but also to what the St keeps telling all to collect money.

Habitual of treating natural disasters as localized events having local impact, humanity was jolted last week as a relatively small volcanic eruption in tiny Iceland is making airlines lose over $200 mn a day.

US trade deficit and imports of consumer goods have stopped declining and surplus in technology products too has started losing steam. US Fortune500 slashed 821K jobs last year as sales plunged 8.7%, even as profits zoomed 200%. NBER (US) has to determine the date on which recession ended, for posterity. It is dilly-dallying because some members aren’t sure if it is really over.

China reported a stunning 11.9% growth for Q1 when industrial output rose over 18%, car sales zoomed 76%, and urban investment rose 26.4%, though China also registered a trade deficit. Besides mining companies, China is also stepping up purchases of farmland in countries such as Australia. The real estate boom, however, is now being seen as possibly a real bubble. New measures have been announced to cool property market, including higher margins and interest rates.

Japan’s GDP shrank 5.2% last year. A third of workers are now part-time, contract or freelance, and every fourth Japanese is over 65. Vietnam has firmed plans for a $56 bn high speed bullet train project with Japanese technology. After a record trade surplus of $17 bn last year, Argentina is offering to settle part of the $95 bn of debt it defaulted in 2001, and India, worried by persistent inflation, is being assured by Wal-Mart that if it is allowed to come in, it would cut inflation by two percentage points.

Twitter created some waves last week by announcing intent to carry ads, Google’s long term prospects are beginning to be questioned by analysts, and doubts about iPad persist. However, PC shipments rose 27% to nearly 85 mn units last year, suggesting the tech sector is live and kicking.

Citic of China is planning a JV with Credit Agricole of France, AIG has sold 53 passenger jets to Macquarie of Australia for $2 bn in cash, and Morgan Stanley’s real estate business is set to lose $8.8 bn. Since 1991 it has bought property worth $174 bn, raising the money from pension funds and universities endowments in several cases. As banks continue to fail (50 this year) in US, troubled assets continue to be lapped by the cash rich playing for the long haul, like Starwood Capital. Dubai World is offering 1% interest to its lenders against 5% they demand.

Taizinai (yoghurt, China) never sold anything contaminated but has collapsed because the organized dairy sector has lost trust of consumers in China. Nestle was approached but declined. EBX of Brazil says it will go for an IPO only after the group is valued at $100 bn or more. BP is to shift solar panels manufacturing from US to China/India.

Apple says iPad has sold better than expected in US, forcing it to delay overseas shipments, though Israel has started asking visitors not to carry iPad because its technology interferes with frequencies. Straddled with massive inventories of unsold smartphones, Palm is looking for a buyer and Huawei of China has shown some interest.

Lufthansa says it isn’t insured against losses from the Iceland volcano, and Carrefour is buying back 6% of its shares and plans to seek acquisitions in Brazil, China and Spain. Mattel sales rose 12% to $880 mn last quarter when Sony’s PlayStation3 also jumped 44%. HP’s former CEO Carly Fiorina is facing flak for bribes HP paid for a contract in Russia during her tenure, and BP’s CEO is facing flak for a 41% hike in pay as earnings fell 22% in 2009.

Schools in southern US states are being accused of continuing segregation in a back-handed way by concentrating white students in some classes. Americans, Indians and Italians have been identified as those who lose temper at sporting events when their kids don’t achieve.

Larry King it seems has been far more sophisticated than Tiger Woods – he has filed for his eighth divorce from his seventh wife; he remarried one after divorce and then divorced her again. The moral is why have an affair if you can do it legally.

Clothes that can trim torsos are being hawked by somebody in partnership with a former investment banker and Somali pirates are acquiring the latest technologies, per some reports. Effectiveness of individual drugs is to be measured under a program that is a part of Obama’s healthcare plan, which some say would virtually pave the way for rating drugs. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama seems to be succeeding in persuading food firms to cut sugar and salt in their products; the lofty objective is to cut obesity in one generation. US continues to account for more than a fourth of all drugs sold worldwide.

If Goldman Sachs can short and hawk a financial product (Abacus) at the same time and Deutsche can persuade a French municipality to speculate on dollar-SFr rates until 2042, where does one go? Learn from former Lehman broker Stone, who went to prison a decade ago for a penny stock scam, set up his own firm after that and is now running Wakabayashi Fund in Japan. Says what’s wrong in sending emails recommending a stock?

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