U.S. Trade: the Good and the Bad
May 15, 2008
The U.S. trade deficit was only 0.1% wider in 1Q08 than in 1Q07. As a percentage of nominal GDP, the shortfall was 5.0%, down from 5.3% in 1Q07. In order to stabilize the dollar size of the deficit, it was necessary for exports (+15.5% y/y) to advance twice as fast as imports (+7.9%). That would […] More
Currency Markets in the News
German and Euroland Inflation
May 15, 2008
In April, consumer prices in Euroland went up 0.3%, with energy rising 1.0% but both non-energy and core, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, edging up just 0.2%. The twelve-month rate of CPI climb settled back to Feb’s 3.3% from 3.6% in March. On-year German inflation of 2.4% was down from 3.1% in March and […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Euroland Growth Powered Euro's Advance
May 15, 2008
Euroland officials have called euro strength against the dollar excessive and persuaded their G7 colleagues to escalate attention to the problem in last month’s joint statement. Between mid-2007 and the end of March, a three-quarter interval, EUR/USD had climbed 16.6% or 22.7% at an annual rate. During that period, real GDP expanded 1.1% saar in […] More
Larry's Blog
Misinformation
May 15, 2008
Market participants are bombarded with a never-ending flow of information, much of which can not only be useless but downright harmful to the search for understanding the future. Looking back, one tends to see more misinformation than information. Misinformation comes in many varieties. The information may be incomplete or subject to meaningful revision. Data may […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Developments Abroad
May 15, 2008
The dollar is mixed, with drops of 0.2% against the euro and C-dollar and of 0.1% relative to the A$, but rises of 0.6% against the kiwi and 0.1% versus sterling. Yen and Swissy are unchanged. The Nikkei climbed 0.9% to a 4-month high, but China’s CSI 300 (-0.7) and the Hang Seng (-0.1%) fell. […] More
