Iraq's Bull Market

Not every stock market is a pit of human despair: The Times of London reports that Baghdad's stock market is poised to experience a “Big Bang” as it computerizes. Currently open two hours a day, three days a week, the Baghdad stock market is already up 30 percent this year, and automation, which will reduce the time trades take from two weeks to a few minutes, is expected to boost sales. The market's cheapest stock is one-half a dinar, a fraction of a penny, and its most expensive is 100 dinars, or 9 cents. The chief executive of the Iraqi stock exchange hopes to increase trading from six hours a week to 24 hours a day.