Ground Floor Sheila O'FlanaganAt least the trials and tribulations of Clara Furse hasn't stopped another woman from getting ahead in the world of financial services.
Rachel Lomax, permanent secretary at the British Department of Transport, has been appointed a deputy governor of the Bank of England. She's due to take up the position in July when one of the incumbents, Mervyn King, replaces Sir Eddie George in the top slot.
Gordon Brown has praised her and a number of colleagues who worked with her at the Treasury, as well as the Department for Work and Pensions (lucky she got out of pensions before that particular poisoned chalice caught her).
Everyone thinks she's the woman for the job, though naturally the transport department is sad to lose her after a relatively short time.
One of the issues that the most senior woman in the bank's history will have to grapple with is the inexorable decline of sterling which fell to a four-year low against the euro following comments by Sir Eddie that he "didn't know" why the British currency was so strong against the euro in the past.
Most traders will tell him it's because the markets have more faith in the Bank of England to have some kind of clue about its policies than the European Central Bank, which has implemented a "wait and see" approach that has lasted ever since the introduction of the euro in the first place.
The markets still have more faith in the Bank of England than the ECB, but both sterling and the dollar have suffered more from war-jitter selling than the euro and that's likely to continue in the short term at least. However, sterling wasn't helped either by additional comments from the Bank of England's chief economist, Charles Bean, who told the Treasury Select Committee that Britain's current trade deficit was a bit of a worry which would point to further sterling weakness.
Irish exporters to the UK have been insulated from some of the worst vagaries of the economic downturn by the lacklustre performance of the euro, but prolonged sterling weakness will make life more difficult for them. Meanwhile you should be looking out for a decrease in the prices of imported goods from Britain. I know, I know, it's like looking for a free parking space within 10 miles of the city centre. Rare but we can hope.
In fact, having been in London last week and seen the effect that the congestion charge was having on the traditionally jammed streets, I'd actually back a similar initiative here. But only if it allowed me a way to get across town to visit my mother who lives about eight miles away which doesn't entail having to drive more than 20 miles via the WestLink and then having to queue for 15 minutes to pay the toll fare. Not green. Not efficient.)
Of course with oil prices hitting a 12-year high before subsiding a little, the cost of motoring could ratchet up a notch again. The main factor - just like dollar weakness - is political uncertainty. Iraq supplies about two million barrels of oil a day and clearly a war would interrupt that supply.
Concerns also exist that Kuwait would shut down its 700,000 barrel per day supply during a conflic. There is also a potential for Saddam Hussein to torch his oil fields which has Western nations pretty worried. And there is a possibility that countries who oppose a war could actually embargo oil exports to Western countries.
So it's not entirely surprising that prices are high although many experts feel the rise is overdone.
However, demand has been pretty high too with a cold US winter, declining US oil stocks and supply constraints from countries such as Venezuela which recently underwent a prolonged strike and Nigeria which is a political trouble-spot. Traders will generally mark in as much negative news as they can and that's clearly what's happened here.
On the opposite side of this particular coin, however, is the possibility of a short sharp war with a successful outcome from the American point of view. That would see prices falling back radically to the mid-$20s a barrel range.
I can imagine that traders are having to move fairly nimbly at the moment, not wanting to be caught long at $40 a barrel if there's a chance of a fall but equally concerned not to be left high and dry.
I suppose I'm glad not to have to be trading in current markets conditions but I wish I could remember my celebdaq password so that I could cash in on some recent gains. Unfortunately, though, my account will be wiped out soon because I haven't traded since I opened it.
I selected some long-term celeb stocks and soccer pundits will be glad my holding in Becks has paid off thanks to the dressing-room skirmish that led to that cut above the eye.
I was delighted to see the footballer milking what was a pathetic little injury. My other big winner was Kylie Minogue whose assets were tested by Justin Timberlake at the Brit awards.
All I need now is for Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt to split up and I will be raking it in. I have grown my original investment by more than 400 per cent which is probably miserable in comparison with real celeb watchers but is a damn sight better than anything I've done in financial markets over the last few years.
Anyway, the research is a bit of a laugh and the daily e-mail I get from celebdaq is miles better than anything I ever got from a broker which means I will continue to wrack my brain for that elusive password so that I can stay in the game.
