Switzerland's central bank now owns more publicly-traded shares in Facebook than Mark Zuckerberg. The tech giant's founder and CEO has other non-publically traded share classes that he controls the company through, but this example illustrates just how the Swiss National Bank has become a multi-billion-dollar equity investor due to its campaign to hold down the Swiss franc and all bought by its ability to print money from nothing and then use it to buy everyday real companies. It is now the world's eighth-biggest public investor, data from the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum show.

Of the original 40 AIM-China companies we identified as our ShareProphets Filthy Forty, the steady attrition has seen that number whittled down to just 17 companies. The period either side of the reporting deadline for calendar 2015 numbers (30 June) saw further departures, but last year’s interims deadline saw a queue for AIM’s Death Row develop. How are we looking this time?

Aussie poltroon Slater & Gordon (SGH) has finally woken up to the fact that the Quindell businesses it bought for £647 million last year were worthless frauds and as such it has today said it is taking legal action against Watchstone (WTG), the renamed Quenron corporate entity. I fear the Aussies are merely throwing a Hail Mary pass and that its case is doomed. Its shares are not 95% down since the deal at just 40 cents for no reason.

Sirius Minerals (SXX) has made good progress with its polyhalite fertiliser project so far and ultimately it will also be of benefit to the UK economy, but I struggle to see the share price going much higher in the shorter term.

Hello Share Hammerers. I cashed in my British Airways shares before the price of aviation fuel crashed. This timing error cost me a lot of money. And you probably agree with me that selling just before a share price leap is probably the nastiest feeling a share shifter can experience.

Gold has been showing signs of weakness but I am yet to be convinced that this is justified and I think the market has over-reacted, which means that there are some good opportunities around for gold bulls.

Hat tip to reader G for fisking the horseshit RNS from Avanti Communications (AVN) on Friday which should be read as a tacit admission that the game is over. This remains a slam dunk sell and almost certain zero. Here's why.

On 16 September, AIM Cesspit posterboy Gable (GAH) run by William "Piggy" Dewsall, made the following announcement:

In today's podcast, recorded before my father in law hogs the TV room to watch Songs of Praise, I look at what the Krispy Kreme IPO in Londron means, at signs of the mother of all crashes in China and what the CV of destruction from lyin' Chris of African Potash (AFPO) exposed HERE earlier - means. Am I a hypocrite on this matter. Er...no.

A few years ago when listed high street retailers were going down like ninepins they would invariably have the decency to inform shareholders that their equity was worthless shortly before implosion. “Little or no value” was the usual phrase.

This is a tad frustrating. Good news on the 2nd about an investment it has made. Then on September 5 came results for the year to March 31 for Vela Technologies (VELA). half way through September the numbers were pretty meaningless.

In the curious world of ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Taihua (TAIH) we have now had the result of the Open Offer which was announced in order to raise funds to pay for a share buy-back. I’ve got a great idea to get Jeremy Corbyn elected into Downing Street: let’s raise the basic rate of income tax in order to fund a cut in the basic rate of tax. I digress….This is, of course, all from a company which saw its Auditor issue a going concern emphasis of matter and a qualified opinion on its FY15 accounts in relation to trade receivables.

The news has been good but the shares have slid. Conclusion? Average down at 0.46p to buy. First to the news from 5 September, an operational update. We will get another next month.

Management is critical to any company. So how good is lyin' Chris Cleverley of the fraud African Potash (AFPO) and, until last week, Blenheim Natural Resources (BNR). Supporters say that he is a whizz kid. So let's look at all those companies where he also sites on the board. As at December 2015 he numbered five other current posts and 18 others within the prior five years. a busy chap. But what value did Chris create? This will utterly horrify you. 

Earler this week, I had an appointment with the Home Office in beautiful Croydon to determine if I may stay in the country. Tom immediately set out a call to readers to convince Amber Rudd that I should be deported immediately.

Thom Calandra has learned with age that trying to predict where the world economy will go is often very difficult. The purchasing power of gold and real estate against paper currencies is a possible indicator. There is a compression of paper currency everywhere, and it’s difficult to see where the US dollar is going when it’s only trading against other paper. His ultimate insurance is to have plenty of metal stashed away. Against that background...

Commenting on fund manager Ashmore (ASHM) recently, I noted the “dirty little secret” that investors often do better by investing in the financial sector directly, rather than by using the financial sector’s products. In this regard, I mentioned “fund management companies – and the very occasional spread betting company”. At the back of my mind, I was certainly thinking of my old favourite, spread betting giant IG Group (IGG).

A week on Monday sees ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Origo Partners (OPP) put a series of proposals to its shareholders which it hopes will finally draw to an end the ongoing dispute with Brooks Macdonald in relation to the non-redemption of a tranche of its zeros dividend convertible preference shares. The last effort at this ended up with shareholders defeating proposals aimed at a resolution, but perhaps this time – with the threat of an orderly wind-up under the watchful eye of the Isle of Man Court in mind – perhaps it will be different this time. But the shares remain a bargepole in my view.

Reach4Entertainment (R4E) has announced results for the first half of 2016, noting “we are pleased to report a strong first six months”, though that “the second half is expected to be more challenging”.

I sensed that those close to the fraud African Potash (AFPO) were getting skittish and now I can reveal that the first adviser has indeed handed in its notice. And I am not surprised as to who it is that has shown that it puts morality ahead of money.