Soaring cost of living tops United Kingdom worry index

Britain is becoming a nation of worriers, according to a new survey, with the financial crisis giving people ever more reason to fret about their lives.

The average Briton now spends 2-1/4 hours of everyday worrying—six and half years of the average life span —a figure up 30 minutes a day from last year, according to the worry index compiled by reallyworried.com,asupportgroup.

Young adults—those aged between 16 and 24—worry the most, and women worry substantially more than men, according to the survey of 1,400 people nationwide. The top five concerns in 2008 were: the cost of living,energy prices, personal health, outgoings and income, and personal debt. Job security, which last year didn’t figure in the top 25 worries, shot up to number 7 in the rankings, one notch below recession and a bigger concern than crime.

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When falling Sensex becomes a butt of joke

Everything about the financial crisis need not be depressing. People are finding humour in the middle of the stocks meltdown, although punters who have burnt their fingers and much more would find it rude.

Mobile phones are abuzz with funny SMSs doing the rounds about the financial storm and the stocks crash.

Consider this SMS that goes: “Markets are set to regain 20,000 mark... (But only if) Sensex, Nikkei and Hang Seng are put together at 5,000 points each, NYSE Composite at 1,000 points, Dow Jones Industrial Average at 3,500 and Nasdaq at 500 points.” In the real world, Sensex is still above 10,000-point mark, but has nearly halved from its record high level seen early this year, DJIA has dipped to near 8,450, Nikkei is trading near its 20-year low at over 8,000 points.

There are also jokes online like “Black Mondays used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Now they are coming along more regularly than Delhi Metro trains.” Another SMS doing the rounds says: “Respected Sensex Sir passed away on October 10, 2008 after not keeping well for nine months.

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Sensex plunges 506 points: rupee breaches 47 a dollar

The rupee slipped below 47 to a dollar-a two-year low and the BSE Sensex plunged to its lowest level in two months, closing out at 12,595.75, as Indian markets fell in tandem with their Asian and European peers on Monday. FIIs pulled out $149.8 million in equities from domestic markets.

Real estate and banking stocks led the rout with ICICI Bank dropping 12% to its lowest in more than two years. IT stocks also plunged on fears that the global financial crisis will reduce software spends.

The Sensex fell 506.43 points, or 3.9%, to 12,595.75, the steepest since July 29. All but one of the 30 stocks in the benchmark index declined as it touched a one and a half year low of 12,402.84 points during the session.The S&P CNX Nifty of the NSE slid 135.20 points, or 3.4%,to 3,850.05.

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