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The top tier’s winning streak finally came to an end after seven days of gains. The FTSE 100 gave up 31.3 points to 5,407.8 as it was dragged down by uncertainty surrounding the banks as well as pressure on the miners. IG Index sales trader Will Hedden said the fall of the blue chips “marked the end of summer,” adding that after taking a fresh look at the state of the markets “traders have clearly elected to start booking profits”.

The miners opened badly following news from Australia that the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, had managed to form a government, paving the way for the controversial resource tax to go ahead.

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New construction is down on both of Florida’s once-booming coasts. On the east coast, though, counties are reporting 30 percent declines from the boom, while every county between Manatee and Lee has recorded at least a 74 percent drop in the value of new construction.

In Sarasota and Lee counties, the decline has been more than 90 percent.

The new figures, based on a Herald-Tribune analysis of reports from the state’s 67 county property appraisers, come as no surprise to Bill Dooley, chief executive of DooleyMack Constructors Inc., a Lakewood Ranch-based contractor with five offices around the state.

“I certainly think it’s down 80 percent on this coast,” Dooley said.

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It’s not just the online bookies who have seen their clients gamble on a Coalition win in the drawn out federal election, the Australian stock market seems to taking the same punt.

Gresham Advisory Partners has flagged the rise of domestic-focused miners – up 20 per cent in market value in the past month – as a market signal that that Mineral Resources Rent Tax unlikely to become law any time soon.

Given the MRRT is a Labor proposal and that their parliamentary ally, the Greens, want to see an even tougher tax regime for miners, it seems that share market investors are leaning towards Tony Abbott being installed as Australia’s next Prime Minister.

The would put the market in line with Centrebet which has Mr Abbott on $1.50 to become Prime Minister, shorter odds that Labor’s Julia Gillard on $2.50.

To further highlight that view, Centrebet has Bill Shorten as more likely to be Labor’s leader at the next federal election.

The Gresham view was published today in its review for August of its Group 150, the top 150 ASX listed resources companies, excluding oil and gas, by market capitalisation for the month to the end of August.

“While the outcome is yet to be determined, we expect that the market is increasingly assuming that the MRRT, as presently conceived, is unlikely to see the light of day, at least for the next term of parliament,” Gresham said.

The MRRT was announced in early July by Ms Gillard, replacing the heavier taxation burden of the Resources Super Profits Tax proposed in early May by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The MRRT was limited to coal and iron ore while onshore gas projects were to be embraced by the existing petroleum tax regime.

“The average market value of domestic focussed companies since the proposed MRRT was announced has increased 20 per cent (15.4 per cent July).”

“International focused companies increased 14.1 per cent (7.6 per cent in July).”

The return of Asil Nadir, saying he wants justice at last, takes us back to the corporate villains and scandals of an earlier era: that of Maxwell, Peter Clowes, BCCI and Guinness. Those days are long gone: a series of accounting reforms were put in place, but the scandals of yesteryear have been eclipsed by the cataclysmic losses of the credit crunch. Even Nadir’s would-be nemesis, the Serious Fraud Office, had pretty much forgotten about the fugitive, and his case files were gathering cobwebs.

The SFO, and the government, might wish they had continued to do so. His return at this juncture is bad timing from the Conservatives’ point of view, reminding people as it does of his ties with the Major administration.

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PROVIDENCE – R.I. General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio said Tuesday he is attempting to block the state’s $75 million loan guarantee promised to Curt Schilling’s video game company, urging the rating agencies reviewing the deal to hold off until a new administration is in office.

Caprio, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said he voiced concerns about the loan guarantee to Moody’s Investors Service on Monday and to Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday morning. Both agencies have been commissioned by the state and Schilling’s 38 Studios to issue bond ratings on the deal for institutional investors.

He also raised questions in an article Tuesday in a bond industry publication The Bond Buyer. Caprio said

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