yuan
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
July in Figures
July 31, 2010
July was a month of lessening risk aversion in spite of mounting concern about U.S. and Japanese growth prospects and continuing unease over the fiscal austerity that is coming to Europe. The dollar fell across the board, and significant stock market losses in the second quarter were trimmed unevenly. Ten-year sovereign debt yield changes for [...] More
Weak Euro Helping Europe and Hurting the United States
July 23, 2010
In disinflationary or deflationary times, it pays to have a depreciating currency. This lesson was underscored in the Great Depression when Britain went off the gold standard before the United States. The pound fell, and Britain’s economy faired better than America’s. The lines of causation between exchange rate changes and economic fundamentals do not only [...] 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
Stronger Dollar Against Euro, Yen and Swiss Franc
July 9, 2010
The dollar has risen 0.5% against the Swissy, 0.3% versus the yen, euro, and Aussie dollar, and 0.1% relative to the Canadian and New Zealand dollars. The dollar is stable against sterling and the yuan. The U.S. Treasury Department’s 3-month delayed semi-annual foreign exchange report was released yesterday and did not declare China a “currency [...] More
Midyear Reality Check of the Currencies
July 2, 2010
At the very least, the dollar is in a pause. During the week that bridged the second and third quarters, the dollar hit its weakest levels against sterling ($1.5231) and the Swiss franc (1.0581 per USD) since early May. The euro posted a high today of $1.2613, its best level since May 21 and 6.2% [...] More
Cynicism Over Euro Area Debt and Beijing’s Yuan Policy Sends Stocks Lower
June 22, 2010
Equiites fell by 1.2% in Japan and Australia, 0.7% in India, and 0.5% in South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Downward pressure intensified in Europe where stocks so far show losses of 1.8% in Madrid, 1.6% in Paris and and London, and 1.0% in Frankfurt. U.S. futures are lower, too. The yuan trimmed [...] More
Chinese Yuan Price History
June 21, 2010
The yuan depreciated 82.6% from 1.5 renminbi per dollar in 1980 to 8.62 per dollar in 1994 and had recovered 4.1% by 1997 when it was pegged at 8.277. Note that China’s currency carries two interchangeable names, the renminbi and the yuan. The yuan remained frozen against the dollar through the launch of the euro [...] More
China Unpegs Yuan Against Dollar
June 21, 2010
The yuan is 0.4% firmer against the U.S. currency following Saturday’s announcement by the central bank that “it is desirable to proceed further with reform of the renminbi exchange rate regime and increase the renminbi exchange rate flexibility.” The action was taken one week before a summit of G-20 leaders in Toronto and against the [...] More
