Those wanting to follow the twists and turns of Guinea's political fortunes as it emerges from a crippling nation-wide strike would do well to consult the prices on "Wall Street".
Not the New York financial nerve-centre, but the rubbish-strewn street that is home to the black market for the Guinean franc - the West African country's currency whose slide has fuelled anger in Conakry's rusting tin-roofed shanties.
Officially called Kaloum 009, the pot-holed avenue's corners are crowded with white-capped Muslim traders clutching ever-thicker bundles of browning bills.
"The currency is falling because of the general strike, it stopped everything," said Ibrahima Ball, thumbing a sheaf of notes. "There aren't many foreigners and no one is buying."
The nine-day strike by Guinea's powerful unions ended on Friday after government concessions on wages and rice prices. But more than 11 people were killed in student riots and anger still simmers at President Lansana Conte's government.
The franc has halved in value against the dollar since it was floated in March 2005 under an IMF plan, fuelling 30 percent inflation. It traded at 5,100 to the dollar on Tuesday. "We had to strike. Life is too expensive," said taxi driver Boubacar Diallo, saying a rise in gasoline prices in May left him struggling to feed his family.
Crushed under post-independence dictator Ahmed Sekou Toure, Guinea's unions emerged in February to lead protests against Conte by convening a strike. Guinea's ethnically divided opposition politicians have little popular support. But with resentment hardening against mismanagement and graft, many fear the former French colony may descend into chaos as the ailing Conte becomes increasingly unable to rule it.
"If the government doesn't keep its promises, we will call a more radical strike," said Boubacar Biro Barry, negotiator for the CNTG union group. "That will be the final strike because they will have shown they are not fit to govern."
With no heir apparent to the diabetic Conte, who has ruled Guinea since 1984 with army support, many observers fear a power struggle in his ruling Susu ethnic clique if he dies. Diplomats say its members are already jockeying for military support.
"Conte's health goes in waves. He survives on coffee, cigarettes and kola nuts," said one Western diplomat. "In a country which has only had two rulers in 40 years, no-one knows what happens next."
Some investors have already quit: "We closed our office in Guinea because we thought things were going to blow up this year," said the regional head of one multinational firm. So far, the strikes have not affected the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, the world's biggest bauxite exporter, controlled by Alcoa and Alcan. CBG brings in much of Guinea's hard currency, propping up the local franc.
"We talked with our workers and persuaded them not to join the strike," said Russell Williams, vice-president of production at Alcoa. "We were very happy production was not hit. If it were, that would be disastrous for the country."
But union leaders say if there were another strike they would call on bauxite workers to cripple the strategic sector.
Unlike its war-scarred neighbours, Guinea has a tradition of peace since it became the first West African state to win independence from France in 1958. But that may be changing. "The spine of Guineans is made of rubber but it is beginning to stiffen," said newspaper editor Souleymane Diallo.
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