Germany
Germany’s Responsibility for the Euro Crisis
September 12, 2011
German officials and citizens have assumed the high moral ground since the start of the euro debt crisis in the autumn of 2009. One can easily imagine their ire at learning that governments like Greece not only far exceeded agreed ceilings on fiscal deficits and debt in a chronic way since joining the European Economic […] More
One-Day Dollar Correction Out of Steam
November 9, 2010
The dollar had opened firmer this week on Monday and strengthened further overnight to 1.3824 per euro, but it relapsed subsequently to 1.3951 currently, a net slide of 0.2% since yesterday’s New York closing. The dollar also shows net overnight losses of 0.6% against the Swissy, 0.7% versus the yen, and 0.3% against sterling and […] More
Softer Commodity-Sensitive Currencies and Equities Ahead of U.S. Labor Survey
October 8, 2010
The dollar rose 1.0% and 0.7% against the Australian and New Zealand dollars and shows gains of 0.3% against the euro and 0.2% versus the loonie. The dollar is steady against the yen and sterling but down by 0.3% against the yuan after Chinese markets opened for the first time this week. U.S. Treasury markets […] More
Markets Anticipating Lower Interest Rates
October 6, 2010
Stocks advanced further overnight, bond yields fell, and the dollar remained weak across the board as markets look to more central banks easing as the BOJ did yesterday. The Nikkei advanced 1.8%, and the yield on 10-year JGBs fell eight basis points to 0.84%, lowest since June 2003. However, an unacceptably strong yen, which triggered […] 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
German and Japanese Growing at Vastly Different Speeds
August 9, 2010
Monday has seen Asian and European equities move impressively higher, but the trend was not shared by Japan. While the Nikkei lost 0.7%, stocks advanced 0.9% in Taiwan, 0.7% in India, Indonesia, and China, 0.6% in Australia and Hong Kong and 0.4% in South Korea. The Paris Cac, British Ftse, and German Dax are up […] More
Dollar Marginally Higher Ahead of U.S. Jobs Report
August 6, 2010
The dollar firmed 0.3% against the Swiss franc and posted 0.2% gains against sterling, the yen, the Canadian dollar and the euro. It also edged 0.1% higher versus the yuan and the kiwi. Only the Aussie dollar held steady against the greenback as dealers await U.S. July labor figures at 12:30 GMT. A 60-65K drop […] More
Stocks Up Ahead of ECB and BOE Decisions and U.S. Claims Data
August 5, 2010
Equities overnight rose 1.7% in Japan, 2.1% in Indonesia, 0.9% in Thailand and 0.5% in Australia. In Europe, stocks have traded up 0.9% in France and by 0.4% in Germany and Britain. Some markets bucked the trend: there were losses of 0.9% in China, 0.3% in South Korea and 0.2% in India. A disappointing jump […] More
British and German Growth
May 25, 2010
Global financial markets have been unnerved by concern about the impact of the sovereign debt problems of several countries in Europe. Governments failed to downsize their full-employment deficits when growth was expanding decently in the middle of the last decade, and fiscal deficits shot up as tax revenues plunged during the great recession. Premiums that […] More
Risk Aversion Surges Following Unilateral German Ban on Short-Selling
May 19, 2010
Stocks are plunging in response to yesterday’s unilateral action by German regulators to ban short-selling of euro area government debt and credit default swaps. The ban extends to end-1Q11. German Chancellor Merkel seeks broader Euroland action, endorsing need for a financial transaction tax. Equities tumbled 2.5% in Singapore, 2.7% in India, 3.7% in Indonesia, 1.9% […] More
