On 3 August Sotheby's (BID) reported its best ever quarterly profit of $127 million with record sales of $3.4 billion for the first half of 2011. Yesterday Sotheby's shares plunged 20% showing the publicly-traded auction house wasn't exempt from the recent market drop triggered by the US debt ceiling crisis and credit downgrade. With concerns about the state of the art market on the rise, eyes will be on Sotheby's September 13 auction of classical Chinese painting.
Image: an electronic board showing stock market information in Wuhan, China
