Thirty years ago next month, Jehovah's Witnesses gave up predicting the end of the world after they woke up the morning after their ninth forecast Armageddon to find the sun still shining. Confident that the world began in autumn 4026 BC, the movement – officially known as the Watchtower Society – had calculated the divine cataclysm would arrive exactly 6,000 years later.

These "disconfirmations", as they are known in theological terms, have not stopped others pencilling the end of the world in their diaries. Sitting in their own watchtowers in the financial markets, regulators have become increasingly concerned that the end of the financial world as we know it is just around the corner. A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses said of the latest disconfirmation: "The end is still close, but we just can't put exact numbers on God's word."