MBIA, however, paid investors back by eliminating its 34-cent-a-share quarterly dividend shortly after the stock market closed for the day, according to TradeTheNews.com.

FORBES: Bond Insurers Get A Break

In Japan, Goldman has taken a 43% share of Tokyo's electronic stock-options market by attaching Hull's complex pricing models to its own know-how.

FORBES: Fear, Greed And Technology

The fund's share price is up nearly 13% on a year ago - a period during which most leading stock market indexes posted sharp losses.

BBC: Buffett: Investors live in 'dream world'

In Asia, Japan restricted investor bets on falling share prices, so-called "short selling, " to try to end a stock market slide that has particularly hit its banking sector.

NPR: Stocks Up On Interest Rate Expectations

Emerging-markets maestro Mark Mobius of Franklin Templeton Investment Management certainly likes Japan -- the only stock market he and share bear Marc "Dr. Doom" Faber picked as a winner this year.

CNN: HE WINDOWS LEAK, PIECES FALL OFF THE FACADE.

Peugeot, a founding member of the main French stock market index, the Cac-40, was demoted last year as a result of its tumbling share price.

BBC: Peugeot writes off 4bn euros as car market worsens