Yen
Emergency Bank of Japan Meeting Has Louder Bark Than Bite
August 30, 2010
The dollar fell overnight by 0.9% against the Canadian dollar, 0.6% versus sterling, 0.4% against the yen, and 0.1% relative to the Swiss franc. The dollar firmed 0.4% against the kiwi, 0.2% against the euro and 0.1% relative to the Australian dollar and Chinese yuan. Japan’s Nikkei-225 equity index closed 1.8% higher but had climbed [...] More
Now and Yen
August 26, 2010
Official concern about yen strength is palpable and mounting by the day. Not since the last intervention in March 2004 has the possibility of government sales of yen been considered so carefully and so publicly. This week the yen touched a record high of 105.44 per euro, and the currency’s high of 83.59 per dollar [...] More
Japan’s Finance Minister Elevates Yen Warning
August 25, 2010
The yen is 0.5% lower after Finance Minister Noda warned of “appropriate action” against strengthening yen. Overnight yen highs were at 83.88 per dollar and 105.86 per euro prior to the remark. The dollar otherwise is unchanged against the euro, Canadian dollar and sterling, off 0.1% relative to the Swiss franc and Australian dollar and [...] More
Market Squeezing Japan
August 24, 2010
The Nikkei-225 closed at 8,995, the first sub-9000 closing since May 6, 2009. The daily drop of 1.3% brought the cumulative decline since April 5, 2010 to 20.7%, thus qualifying as an official bear market. The yen advanced 0.9% against the dollar, touching a 15-year high of 84.15. The yen also hit a 9-year high [...] More
Few Feeling Confident or Lucky on This Friday the Thirteenth
August 13, 2010
A mid-August Friday afternoon and Friday the thirteenth no less would be a precarious place for currency traders to sit in the best of circumstances, and these are certainly not that. Trouble lurks wherever one peers, and the market reaction is risk aversion. Start with the U.S. economy because that is where perceptions have been [...] More
An Unscheduled Press Conference in Japan
August 12, 2010
There’s been lots of attention on the yen after such touched a 15-year high of 84.75/USD on Wednesday. A Bank of Japan official confirmed the central bank had been checking market yen rates earlier today and warned that disorderly movements could hurt Japan’s economy. At an unscheduled press conference, Finance Minister Noda stuck to the [...] More
Third Anniversary
August 6, 2010
The world financial crisis began on August 8, 2007. The third anniversary finds a very heterogeneous world business cycle. Growth in global real GDP is again above 4.0%, something almost nobody foresaw a year ago. Many emerging economies in Latin America and Asia, a far wider spectrum than just India and China, are experiencing very [...] More
Beware of August
July 30, 2010
The upcoming third anniversary of the financial crisis finds advanced economies deeper in debt, struggling to maintain traction, and without a consensus over policy priorities. Confusion also exists over the next direction of major currencies. The dollar lost value against most currencies during July in a pattern that persisted into the final days of the [...] More
A Lack of Confidence in Just about Everything
July 16, 2010
Investors have turned skittish. One sees this in wildly volatile stock prices – perhaps a sign of the summer season – but also in a sub-0.60% two-year Treasury yield and a 1.10% ten-year JGB yield. The resurgence of risk aversion ought to lend the dollar support, but the currency instead experienced a difficult week. That [...] More
Currencies More Sensitive to Global Growth Than Growth in Particular Economies
July 9, 2010
A more resilient euro has coincided with better-than-expected European data, but the rise from $1.1878 in early June doesn’t reflect strong confidence the short-term to medium-term economic outlook for the region. Industrial production during May recorded monthly advances of 2.6% in Germany, 1.7% in France, 1.0% in Italy, 2.6% in Sweden and 0.7% in Britain. [...] More
