The good thing about not following the herd, is that in the long run, it delivers you opportunities that no one else can take advantage of. Warren Buffett, largely seen as one of the world’s top investors, spent most of the credit boom sitting on his hands.

“It’s one of those days where nothing much seems to be happening,” I said as I sat down at our morning meeting. Boy was I wrong!

Now the days are not only longer but finally starting to warm, what happened in the financial world this week? Well, on Monday Mervyn King stepped up to the plate and offered a deal for UK banks. They could swap assets of unknown worth mortgage-backed securities for those of known worth government bonds .

Big Gordon Brown ‘had a word’ with the chiefs of Britain’s biggest banks yesterday. “Pass on the Bank of England interest rate cut, boys!” I imagine he menaced. Today we’re presented with clear evidence of Brown’s skills as a persuader.

More ‘bad’ news for the housing market yesterday. Surveyors are writing smaller numbers on the top of their housing valuation reports.

Fear and greed. That financial markets are driven by these two instinctive sentiments is news to no one with at least a passing interest in the subject. But it’s one thing to register the truism another to appreciate the potency.

As markets from equities to commodities succumb to ever-wilder mood swings, many private and institutional investors are, quite sensibly, hoarding cash.