Think about it this way: At $100 a barrel, the oil exporting countries are sitting on total proven reserves of about $104,000 billion. This means they are worth $104,000,000,000,000.

The Financial Times puts the rise in art sales down to the boom in oil and other commodities — money-laden oil barons, it seems, love nothing more than spending ludicrous amounts of cash on old paintings.

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City share index continues to be a leader this year. Once it led on the way up, this year it’s been leading global markets on the charge down. The index fell on every trading day in May and in early June as well. It’s now down by 60 per cent since the beginning of the year.