'I'm so busy I can't even see straight' - Bill Beise, a trader at Wessels, Arnold & Henderson in Minneapolis, as more shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday than any day since its founding in 1792. 'It could be the biggest PC market in the world' - Microsoft chairman Bill Gates of potential demand for computers in China during a trip to Hong Kong. 'Hopefully people will actually pay for the software as well.' 'Since they are accusing me of lying, they ought to issue writs today and let the court decide who is telling the truth' - Richard Branson, British entrepreneur and Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman, after going on television earlier in the week to claim that Guy Snowdon, chief executive of the world's largest lottery company GTECH, had offered him bribes in exchange for Virgin withdrawing its bid for the British National Lottery. 'There are several aspects to a possible downside [for Hong Kong] after 1997. One if various ministries or departments all wanting to interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong. The second is if the then administration in Hong Kong bends over backwards to accommodate their wishes.' - Citic Pacific chairman Larry Yung Chi-kin, warning the territory would be 'dead' if mainlanders meddle with its free-market economy. 'Hong Kong has complete autonomy in monetary, financial and fiscal matters. That is not only a promise. That is enshrined in the Basic Law' - Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, warning China not to try meddling with Hong Kong's 1996 budget. 'Who was it that said 'lies damned lies, statistics and national income accounts?' Wise man. Wiser man still who buys the Hong Kong market' - Jim Walker, chief economist at Credit Lyonnais Securities (Asia), warning that the territory would face a tough time in 1996. 'The fish bone is [stuck] in their throat' - Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's international trade minister, on Japan's reluctance to support the East Asia Economic Caucus. 'This is more Apple Daily versus the cartel rather than it is everyone versus everyone else' - a media analyst, after C.K. Ma's Oriental Daily News launched a cover price war in the Chinese language press. 'In retrospect, I think it has been a very disappointing investment' - Percy Weatherall, managing director of Hongkong Land (Holdings), whose company was forced to take a US$156 million deficit on its 1995 profit and loss account following massive losses at its associate Trafalgar House.
