On 9 November 1998, a US federal judge ordered 37 brokerage houses to pay $1.03 billion to investors they had cheated on the Nasdaq market, the largest civil settlement in American history at that time. Nasdaq dealers quoted the prices at which they would buy and sell shares, and the gap between the two prices, the spread, was their profit. Academic researchers noticed that quotes almost never ended in odd eighths of a dollar, which kept spreads wide; this pattern suggested dealers were tacitly colluding rather than competing. After investigations by regulators, the market's rules were changed. Prices were later quoted in decimals, which narrowed spreads and cut trading costs for ordinary investors.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.