KANKOWW FORUM

For most of the session, stocks had traded higher as the US dollar's weakness underpinned shares of natural resources companies, while results from Morgan Stanley and Yahoo Inc added to optimism about corporate profits.

Anybody who did not show up for work on that Monday was considered to be the lottery winner, Walters said. "If you had the flu and didn't show up for work, everyone thought you were the lottery winner. If you took a personal day or a sick day, they thought you had won the lottery."

In a market environment where everyone is looking for scraps of good news, it provided a shot of optimism that the economy may be on the mend.

The multi-level marketing network, running since 2009, had nearly 5,000 members. Each new member was asked to pay between 3,800 yuan (US$600) to 69,800 yuan on the promise of profits and promotions, the court heard.

EADS could have to repay as much as 5.7 billion euros to governments if the project were canceled but it has said that is "very unlikely."