Now here's a business model you have to admire: take a hanky-sized piece of cloth, tack on the price tag of a tent, and sell it to feckless youth who want to stand out by fitting in.

Billabong, the Australian beachwear manufacturer, knows its oats. The company has tapped the outdoor youth market and its brand covers everything from surfboards to string bikinis. It has at least 12 stores in the UAE, which, lets face it, has more beach than you can shake a pair of boardshorts at.

ASX-listed Billabong said today it will acquire Swell.com, a small US online beachwear company. With most analysts predicting tepid holiday retail sales in the US, the Aussie company is surely positioning itself for sunnier days ahead.

Billabong closed 0.69 per cent down in Sydney, today, finishing at Au$10,171 (Dh34).
Cowabunga, dudes!

In a room full of investors, it used to be easy to spot the gold bull.  
He would be the guy in the corner wearing a tinfoil hat with a copy of  
'The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy (and how to end it)'  
under his arm.

If you found yourself standing next to him, you would want to cough,  
look at your mobile, and recall an urgent appointment that required  
you to be elsewhere.

Today gold set a new record high of $1,164 an an ounce. And  
significantly, the gold bug is now wearing Armani, and when he talks  
it's not in response to voices in his head.

The latest suit to join the rush is John Paulson, the US-based hedge  
fund manager, who has just set up a gold fund that will include  
$250 million from his personal piggy bank. Mr Paulson's combined gold  
and gold-related investments make up about half of his firm Paulson &  
Co's holdings, the New York Times reports.

His portfolio includes AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Kinross  
Gold; the first two are South African-based companies with cross listings in New  
York. Kinross is a Canadian miner, also listed on the NYSE.

So its a happy day for the guilty everywhere to see the old favourites courting each other. Hershey's, Kraft and Ferraro Rocher are all named as suitors for Cadbury. The latest is that Hershey's might put in a $17 billion bid that would consist of more cash for Cadbury shareholders than the hostile offer Kraft made a couple of weeks ago, worth roughly $16.3 billion in shares and cash, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.

The product of the cocoa bean has long been regarded as recession-proof. The worse people feel, the more they will spend on a cheap fix.
Cadbury reported more than 30 per cent net profit in February. Its October Q3 results were an equally rosy 11,9 per cent underlying profit gain.
 
Of course, if the Americans do take over this most British of brands, we are left with one extremely important question: will they mess with the Crunchie?

Is silver the next platinum? As Amran points out in his comment to the earlier gold post, low global supplies, and more industrial usage, mean silver may eventually do even better than bullion.

For years, platinum enjoyed a second-class although respectable status as "white gold". Throughought the 60s and well into the 70s, platinum languished well below $200 an ounce, according to <i>Gold Miners Research</b>. Much of what was then produced was used for jewellery.

But by 1980 motor manufacturers had discovered a cool use for the metal: it helped convert toxic emissions to less harmful gases. Now, almost any car that rolls off a production line uses a platinum converter. By last year, it had reached an average price of $1, 573 an ounce.

Silver, which is trading today at around $18.26, could go the same way. It is now an important component of silver-zinc batteries, a principal component for electronic devices and, increasingly, electric cars.

Analysts say inventories are being depleted and manufacturers are having to pay more to ensure supplies.

So hang on to that ugly teapot Granny left you in her will: it could be worth its weight in gold, some day.

Everyone wants the Chinese to revalue their currency. As the dollar drops, so does the Chinese renminbi. Like Bonnie and Clyde, they go everywhere together, sometimes with horrible results for those who get in the way.

It means no matter how far the American peso falls, Chinese labourers can still turn out a pair of trousers for less than most anyone else.

Gold likes to climb a wall of worry, they say, so right now it must be beside itself with anxiety.
Gold bugs - as rabid a group of conspiracy theorists as there ever were - like to think their beloved metal is the victim of lurking central bankers and the Illuminati (although anyone who believes world affairs can be controlled by a few old men clearly has never seen a committee in action).

Recent events, though, suggest it is greed, and not fear, driving the price. Bullion rose to $1,140 an ounce yesterday, before slipping back. Its trading at about $1,129 about now.
India's decision to pay US$6.7 billion for 200 metric tons of gold is as much a vote of confidence the metal has had ever since the US abandoned it as a peg for the dollar in the 1930's.

India, the world's largest jewellery market, also has a reputation as being one of the savviest gold players. When the smartest guy in the room puts his money on black, you don't go red. So it's likely this rally has a way to go yet.