According to the newspapers, scientists have discovered there are early-morning people and late-evening people. Not exactly a mind-blowing surprise to most of us, but apparently there is now incontrovertible proof being cranky in the mornings is not your fault. I have a feeling my gene pool is somewhat crowded by genes I could do without - the credit-card one, the chocoholic one and the wishing-I-could-be-lying-on-a-beach-all-the-time one all being cases in point, but I don't mind the being-cranky-in-the-morning gene. Especially on Monday mornings. I see no good reason to feel cheerful when I'd rather be tucked under the duvet instead of pouring hot water on the windscreen so that I can see the traffic jam.

Actually I nearly didn't make it in at all last Monday. Not only did I pour the hot water over my feet as well as the windscreen, I also forgot to open the gates to the driveway. So when I eventually got into the car I rolled gently down the drive and into the closed gates - much to the amusement of my neighbour who was also wrestling with kettles of hot water. Also, the car window was frozen solid when I eventually got to work. It was a real struggle to open the car door and slide the card-key into the machine in the car-park and drive into the parking bay.

I don't think it's genetic at all. It's just the way mornings are. Once I have the first cup of coffee inside it's not too bad as my red corpuscles are then equipped to haul themselves around my body. I usually don't speak much until the caffeine kicks in.

It's interesting to see the US coffee company Starbucks is planning to significantly expand its operations in Asia following the opening of its first store in Beijing. Starbucks is pleasantly surprised at the strength of demand for coffee in Asia, despite the contracting economic state of the region generally. I could have told them it would do well. Mornings are mornings everywhere and hot, flavoursome coffee is just the thing to kick-start the day no matter whether you're freezing in Beijing or Dublin.

Anyway the Starbucks share price has been a consistent performer since the beginning of the year, so they obviously have their eye on the caffeine ball.

Following the euro debut - already last week's news - the market turned its attention back to the US. The fall in the unemployment rate reported last Friday has led to calls for accelerated growth in 1999 which would certainly prevent the Fed from cutting rates again. As a result, the early part of the week saw treasuries under the cosh as people decided that they were unlikely to provide the returns they wanted.

But they're not rushing to emerging market debt - not while Brazil is still teetering on the brink. A ripple of horror went through the market as one of the major regional areas announced a moratorium on debt owed to central government while the market continues to be plagued by rumours of other possible defaults. But it's only when we have falls in the markets - as we did mid-week - that people take notice.

Meanwhile, just to keep us on our toes, China's Guangdong International Trust & Investment Company is filing for bankruptcy which will be the biggest liquidation in the country. The creditors now have to go to court to try and get back the $4 billion (#3.48 billion) they're owed. It's the first time the government hasn't bailed out foreign investors in the case of a company failure. Should be a nice legal mess because China hasn't yet passed any bankruptcy laws, using instead codes that have been around since 1986. Presumably the lawyers will get their fees. On another legal note entirely, Bill Clinton provides more headlines to read, if not more actual news. While Clinton himself is trying to get Congress to approve more money for export programmes (something which would interest the market), Senate prosecutors are trying to decide how many witnesses they'll call in his impeachment trial (something the market has no real interest in anymore).

I honestly don't know what more they can expect to hear from witnesses. I would have thought every word that could have been spoken on the subject certainly has been, and if it hasn't, what more can be realistically added? I know we're supposed to be talking about high crimes and misdemeanours here - misdemeanours certainly, but high crimes is, perhaps, taking things a bit far.

I find it amazing that Clinton is managing to carry out any business as the president of the US while his personal life is under such scrutiny. It seems he is able to compartmentalise the different aspects of his life and yet you can't help feeling that one day he'll lose it completely. And what happens then? Bomb something again, I suppose.

Actually the last few months have been a morass of personal and business ethics overlapping. And men and women seem to be on both sides of each issue. The latest addition to the genre has been courtesy of Robin Cook's ex-wife whose book portrays the smiling gnome as a drunk womaniser who abandoned all his left-wing principles to grab power. Her book is entitled A Slight and Delicate Creature and all I can say is, never underestimate slight and delicate creatures! So far Mr Cook's colleagues have rallied around but it will be interesting to see how he copes as Foreign Secretary under the barrage of accusations from Margaret. Mind you, the supportive comments have a horribly familiar ring to them. Gordon Brown said "we have got to set aside the problems of the last few weeks and move forward". Surely Bill Clinton has the copyright on that particular sentence.

Sheila O'Flanagan is a fixed-income specialist at NCB Stockbrokers.