Indeed, Barnes and Noble is often referred to as the perfect partner for Waterstone's, and has been expected to make a bid for the group in the past few years.
When the Fed did indeed announce its QE3 program, it was widely expected that commodity prices, including oil prices, would surge higher as they did after QE2 and Operation Twist.
Indeed, one reason why Japan's real output has grown more strongly than expected this year is that prices as measured in the national accounts have fallen faster, turning a fall in nominal spending into a significant increase in real terms.