From the category archives:

exchange rates

The US Dollar has sunk to 2.5 year lows.  This is a significant time frame, as currently, Brent oil futures are also at 2.5 year highs.  Outdoing both of these, gold is at all-time nominal highs, having closed April 2011 at $1563/oz.
Bernanke keeps saying that a strong dollar is in the U.S.’ best interests, and [...]

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You may not have heard of this yuan yet – but the renminbi officially has a new, unofficial nickname – the “redback.” That’s right, it looks and sounds the way you think it’s trying to look and sound.  Not only is the renminbi note red, but it’s got a picture of Mao on the [...]

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Bank of America has decided it will halt all foreclosures in all 50 states going forward.  This means, apparently, millions of folks will be living in homes without paying for it – which means at least temporary losses for banks.  (Don’t get me wrong, it is a good thing for families who can find no [...]

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When you tally up all the pros and cons, on balance it is quite surprising that the US is officially championing the appreciation of the yuan against the USD.  Even when you think about the supposedly increased attractiveness of all those US exports that would ensue, it still doesn’t make a lot of sense on [...]

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With the recent bailout of Greece, markets have not warmed up to Europe’s debt problems, and this has meant that the Euro has continued to weaken against the USD (sort of like a teeter-totter built out of CDO’s).
As of Friday, May 14, 2010, one Euro will buy a whole $1.237 USD.  That means the Euro [...]

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Is Greece triggering the double-dip?  Yesterday’s several-hundred point dive in the stock markets globally was said to be the result of a “fat finger” typo – someone, a really big trader (eg., Citibank), typed in 15 “billion” of futures contracts instead of 15 “million” somewhere.
And is this the new kamikaze capitalism – where you don’t [...]

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On April 27, 2010, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk status – meaning that it is unlikely Greece can pay back its creditors, which means that it is not worth it for the hypothetical investor to invest in Greece.
The same day, the USD spiked and the Euro and other currencies fell a [...]

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