For South Koreans, any easing up of the North's bellicosity is a most welcome relief.
Any easing in the fiscal squeeze could easily tip the balance towards a rise.
Indeed, their main response to any easing in congestion is to go and live even further away.
Some analysts said the market had already accounted for the effect of any easing measures, which the presidents of the regional banks had been discussing for weeks.
Any easing in financial conditions, or use of lower interest rates or increased money supply to stimulate activity, will be welcomed by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Still, any easing of sanctions will face strong opposition from lobbying groups and some members of Congress who say democratic changes in Myanmar must come first.
The same commentators report that the possibility of any easing in the government's anti-terror legislation is increasingly remote "regardless of the pressure from the Liberal Democrats".
Any easing of sanctions would be "proportional to what Iran puts on the table," said the senior American official, who added that the Iranians would most likely "disagree about what is proportionate".
To some such as Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, or George Osborne, his British counterpart tough fiscal policy is the cure for excessive debt; and any easing risks betraying a confidence-sapping loss of resolve.
The City is pricing in another rise after that, taking the rate to 6.0% by the end of the year, and there seems little chance of any easing in 2008.Household budgets have already been squeezed hard in recent years by rising taxes and higher inflation.
Any easing of regulations could eventually come with strict controls, for example on local sourcing and levels of investment.
