Understanding money is critical to understanding human behaviour, according to Bloomberg Business News editor-in-chief Mr. Matthew Winkler.

"The idea that money provides an opportunity to examine perception and behaviour is radical in most news rooms,'' he said.

Speaking at the Bermuda International Business Association's (BIBA) annual general meeting yesterday, Mr. Winkler cited the US dollar crisis and the Quebec referendum as evidence that there is a link between human behaviour and financial markets.

Bloomberg followed the dollar's historic decline against the yen and tried to explain and examine it through debt and interest rates, stock market activity, gross domestic product compared to other G7 countries, corporate profits and US connections with their largest trading partners, he said.

Evidence from these areas did not support the conclusion that there was a "crisis,'' he said.

And despite polls right up until the vote which said that the Quebec referendum was too close to call, on the morning of referendum, before the results started coming in that night, Canadian currency rallied worldwide and Canadian stock and bond markets rose.

"It showed that the people with the most at stake had already made a judgement about the outcome that had yet to be disclosed,'' he said.

The people with the most at stake decided it would be a "no'' vote, he said.

They were right, but just barely.

This does not mean "markets are capable of divining the ways of the world,'' he said.

But it does mean financial markets are indispensable to understanding events, he said.

Mr. Winkler added that Bloomberg was "a global news information company distinguished by its focus on the subject of money, probably the most important subject for the news profession''. "We aim to live by our wits, that's what takes us forward, we're outmanned and outnumbered (by other news agencies) and we are driven by our own esprit.

"Business and finance are becoming a part of every news groups' agenda,'' he said.

"The story of money is increasingly driving all other stories.'' Since its inception in 1990, Bloomberg has grown to more than 350 editors and reporters in 60 bureaus throughout North America, Europe and the Far East.

It is estimated that there are 200 Bloomberg terminals in Bermuda.

During the 1980s, Mr. Winkler was a senior reporter for the Wall Street Journal and news services of its parent, Dow Jones & Co.

He has also served as European financial correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Europe and the Wall Street Journal in London and helped conceive the Dow Jones Capital Markets Report in 1980.