What John Cleese's divorce tells us about markets

Want to know when this stock market rally is going to end? Look out for a rising divorce rate.

Markets on both sides of the Atlantic took a wobble this week. Most commentators seemed to think it was a nasty American consumer confidence report that did the damage. But it wasn't the blame lies with John Cleese.

The Minister of Silly Walks was hit with a savage divorce settlement this week. And I bet it sent a chill through the City. The US courts decreed that the former Mrs Cleese, Faye Eichelberger, was entitled to half his earnings, half the value of his nine houses and a monthly allowance of £57,000. Fair enough, you say they were married for 17 years. But the total £12.5m payout also leaves Cleese poorer than his wife. "If we both died today," he grumbled from the court steps, "her children would get much more money than mine."

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