History • • • Barings PLC, sometimes referred to as the "Queen's Bank, " has one of the most illustrious and dramatic histories in the banking industry. The company grew to importance during the Napoleonic Wars by financing Britain's military campaigns, and after Napoleon's downfall, Barings helped arrange France's financial recovery. Known as the sixth great European power during the 19 th century, the company was also involved in the American purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803. Barings faced a crisis in 1890 when speculative expansion brought the company's liabilities to more than 21 million pounds sterling, and while the bank was rescued by the Rothschild family and the Bank of England, Barings never again reached the pre-eminent position it once held. The latest dramatic chapter in Barings' history was written in 1995 when investment speculations by a lone manager in the company's Singapore office led to losses of over £ 1 billion, frantic but unsuccessful attempts by the British banking community to save the bank, and ultimately the acquisition of the firm by a Dutch financial services group, ING.
Nikkei 225 • • The Nikkei 225 more commonly called the Nikkei index is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) newspaper since 1950. It is a price-weighted index (the unit is yen), and the components are reviewed once a year. Currently, the Nikkei is the most widely quoted average of Japanese equities, similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In fact, it was known as the "Nikkei Dow Jones Stock Average" from 1975 to 1985. The Nikkei 225 began to be calculated on September 7, 1950, retroactively calculated back to May 16, 1949. Since January 2010 the index is updated every 15 seconds during trading sessions. The Nikkei 225 Futures, introduced at Singapore Exchange (SGX) in 1986, the Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) in 1988, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in 1990, is now an internationally recognized futures index. The Nikkei average has deviated sharply from the textbook model of stock averages which grow at a steady exponential rate. The average hit its all-time high on December 29, 1989, during the peak of the Japanese asset price bubble, when it reached an intraday high of 38, 957. 44 before closing at 38, 915. 87, having grown sixfold during the decade. Subsequently, it lost nearly all these gains, closing at 7, 054. 98 on March 10, 2009— 81. 9% below its peak twenty years earlier. http: //finance. yahoo. com/q/hp? s=%5 EN 225&a=00&b=4&c=1984&d=02&e=26&f=2009 &g=m&z=66&y=198
