The new rules on stock quotations get at the ability of investors to get in the middle of the spread between the bid and ask prices quoted by market- makers.

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And prices that are being quoted are extremely wide in terms of bid and offer spread.

CNN: Money & Investing

"I am convinced that the conflict will not spread to other countries in the region, " Reuters quoted Aznar as saying.

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We focus on the percentage of issues in the index currently quoted at distressed levels. (We define distressed as a spread over Treasuries of 10 percentage points or more.) Distressed companies historically have defaulted at a rate of nearly 25% per year, while the rate for non-distressed companies is only 1%.

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Since he replaced Pope John Paul II, Benedict has made repeated calls for religious tolerance and freedom in Islamic countries - most notably in his 2006 speech at Regensberg where he quoted a Byzantine emperor from the Middle Ages criticizing Islam for seeking to spread its message by the sword.

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According to Reuters, the two-year U.S. interest rate swap spread--a gauge of financial system stress--was quoted at a record high 166.5 basis points in Asia, suggesting that concern about defaults among banking counterparties were worsening.

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However, unnamed hospital sources quoted by El Mundo said the severity of his injuries, and speed with which the fire had spread, suggested his action had been deliberate.

BBC: Spain Malaga: Jobless man 'burns himself to death'