Larry's Blog
Blame Game Undermines Economic Confidence Too
March 10, 2009
Dreams of a bipartisan effort to fix the U.S. and global financial and economic problems are slip-sliding away. Little common ground can be found over the causes of the mess or what should be done to fix it. The Wall Street Journal, a former critic of Fed policy, has shifted its main wrath to the […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Distressing Economic Data
March 10, 2009
The week is still young, but economic data have been strikingly poor. Germany and Japan reported further sharp declines in exports. German shipments fell 18.1% in the three months between October and January, an annualized decline of 55%. For Japan the drop was 40.7% between October and January or 87.5% annualized. British industrial production in […] More
Bonds and Stocks
Big Stock Market Rallies in a Bear Market
March 10, 2009
At mid-day in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shows a gain of 5% since the open. We are possibly on our way to the tenth daily increase of at least 4% since a record closing high of 14165 in October 2007. Daily moves of as much as 4% are usually very uncommon. There […] More
Awaiting a New Zealand Rate Cut
March 10, 2009
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to cut its cash rate by 50-100 basis points to 2.5-3.0%. The announcement of this sixth rate of of the cycle will be made at 20:GMT today (09:00 locally on Wednesday). Estimates of the size of the cut range from 50 basis points to a full percentage […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Dollar Lower and Stocks Higher
March 10, 2009
The dollar dropped 1.5% against the Australian dollar, 1.2% versus the kiwi, 0.8% against the Canadian dollar and euro, 0.6% relative to sterling, 0.5% against the yen and 0.3% against the Swiss franc. East European currencies recovered some further ground. The Dax, Cac40 and Ftse are trading higher by 1.1%, 0.7% and 0.3%. While stocks […] More
