The woes of the banking sector have led to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) falling in market cap with BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX: BHP) coming quickly up behind it. BHP is already the world's largest listed miner but may soon be Australia's largest company with a market cap of $107.8 billion at the time of writing, compared to Commonwealth Bank's market cap of $124.8 billion.
On another note, BHP's US-based shale gas operations are in high demand with a list of potential trade buyers queuing up. Initially, the thought was that the assets would be spun off or there would be an initial public offering, but now a sale seems to be on the cards. The assets were bought for around $20 billion during the boom times, but now the sale price is half that at up to $10 billion.
