Dollar Falls on Speculation Jobs Report Will Spur Fed Rate Cut
By Lukanyo Mnyanda and Stanley White
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell against the yen and the euro on speculation a government report will show the U.S. economy lost the most jobs since 2003, bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
The U.S. currency also declined versus the British pound as ... for the full story please follow this link:
Courtesy: Convert Currency UK | Bloomberg
Obama win cements need for strong dollar policy
Reuters, Wednesday November 5 2008
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - With Democratic Senator Barack Obama headed to the White House, the U.S. dollar looks poised to continue its four-month rally over the coming months, especially if the new administration embraces a strong currency policy to help attract much-needed capital inflows.
Under Obama, the United States will have to sell a raft of new debt to maintain funding for two wars, pay for a massive bailout package aimed at unlocking tight credit markets and fund a potential second stimulus plan.
Attracting investors to new U.S. debt will be a top priority, and a strong dollar will be crucial in luring fresh cash into the United States.
To read the full story please follow this link:
Courtesy: Online Currency Exchange | guardian.co.uk | reuters
Dollar Gains Against Euro After Obama Victory in U.S. Election
By Stanley White
Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar gained against the euro on speculation Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election and Democrat gains in Congress will accelerate policies aimed at overcoming a recession.
The currency also rose against the British pound and the Australian dollar as television networks projected 338 electoral votes for Obama to 156 for Republican rival John McCain, who conceded defeat. To read the full story, please follow this link:
Courtesy: Euro Currency News | Bloomberg.com
The Fed as a central bank to the world– Jacqueline Thorpe, Financial Post Published: Sunday, November 02, 2008
The U.S. dollar's status as the main currency of international and central bank business has barely been tarnished by the whole sorry credit crisis.
Nicolas Sarkozy may be pushing for a new financial order but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have beaten him to it.
While the French President dreams of global economic cooperation ahead of the G20 summit in Washington, the Fed is quietly becoming central bank to the world, backed by the full might of the U.S. Treasury and a teflon-coated greenback.
Last week saw a new program added ... to read the full article, please visit this link:
News Courtesy: Euros | financialpost.com
Dollar's uptrend against rivals has dark side
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:00 a.m. EST Nov. 2, 2008
It was only July 15 that the euro hit a new record high of $1.6036 -- its loftiest level since the single European currency began trading in January 1999. Since then, it's dropped to trade at levels below $1.300.
In October alone, the euro as well as the British pound sterling fell more than 9% against the dollar, and the Australian dollar plunged more than 16% against the greenback. The Canadian dollar lost over 14%. As credit conditions tightened, equities sold off and fears of global recession rose, the resulting flight-to-safety flows favored the dollar over all but the even lower-yielding Japanese yen.
Cheaper imported goods - and therefore less inflation - may be good news for consumers here, but the resurgent greenback has a dark side, too. As worldwide economic growth slows, the stronger dollar makes exported American goods more expensive in overseas markets, and can hurt companies' global market share at a time when they can least afford to lose it.
The stronger currency also will discourage buyers holding other currencies from snapping up bargains at fire-sale prices, which is bad news for lenders hoping to unload all those foreclosed vacation homes.
"Europeans will no longer be looking at the U.S. housing market as a value. Now that the dollar is strong, it will sap foreign demand for U.S. goods which could slow the U.S. economy even further," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT.
"An overly strong dollar at a time when growth is weak should be very concerning for the U.S. Treasury. They did not complain about the prior weakness in the dollar because they knew that a softer currency was needed to avert a deeper slowdown," she said.
To read the full article, please follow the link:
Courtesy: UK Currency Broker | marketwatch.com
By Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves fell below the $500 billion mark for the first time in eight months, data showed on Thursday, suggesting the Kremlin's cash is starting to flow into the economy.
The central bank data showed reserves fell $31 billion in the week to Oct. 24 to stand at $484.7 billion. Traders told Reuters the central bank spent only $13 billion propping up the rouble during the last week.
"A stunning one-week drop, more than twice the fall in the previous weeks," said Anna Zadornova from Goldman Sachs.
The rating agencies are closely watching Russia's reserves, which are dwindling as the central bank burns foreign currency in daily market interventions. Many analysts say such policy is unsustainable and Russia will soon devalue the rouble.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's, which cut Russia's outlook to negative from stable last week, warning of the costs of bailing out troubled banks and a rising risk of a budget deficit, declined to comment.
"The drop in reserves corresponds to a potential drop in the total foreign debt, so I do not see a drama there," said Yevgeny Nadorshin, analyst at Trust Bank.
The euro, which accounts for about 40 percent of Russia's reserves, weakened by 6 percent against the dollar, which accounts for about 49 percent. Sterling, which makes up about 10 percent of reserves, also weakened versus the U.S. unit.
That also contributed to the fall of reserves, whose total value is calculated in dollars.
UNDER ATTACK FROM POPULATION
Russia also plans to use $50 billion of its reserves to help corporations redeem their foreign debt. United Company RUSAL, owned by Russia's richest man Oleg Deripaska, on Wednesday became the first beneficiary, securing a $4.5 billion loan.
The government has also disbursed around $3 billion to billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group and state oil major Rosneft to help refinance their foreign debts.
The central bank plans to transfer the cash in small tranches to state-owned VEB bank, also known as Development Bank, tasked with administering the package. Reuters sources said VEB's board approved loans worth a total of $7.9 billion.
The central bank has spent tens of billions of dollars of its reserves since August to prevent the rouble from weakening beyond the 30.41 level against a euro-dollar basket.
Several of the western banks investing in Russia said last week they expect the central bank at some stage to allow the rouble to depreciate.
"We expect the central bank to continue to support the currency in the near term by defending the rouble in an effort to calm the population's fears ... and because it perceives itself to be under speculative attack from the markets," Goldman's Zadornova said.
From last week, the bank introduced daily limits on currency swap operations in a further bid to deter speculators from betting on a fall in the rouble. On Thursday, the day's swap limit was set at zero for the first time.
The central bank also told commercial banks to keep a lid on growth in their foreign currency denominated assets in a bid to stop currency speculation and a flight from rouble deposits, which accelerated sharply in October.
The central bank warned it will monitor the banks' compliance with the instruction and make decisions to grant individual banks collateral-free loans based on the results of the monitoring.
"We believe the currency is mainly under attack by the Russian population," said Zadornova.
The rouble gained four kopecks versus the currency basket to trade at 30.34 by 1255 GMT, possibly drawing some cheer from this week's resurgence on Moscow's bourses. (Additional reporting by Toni Vorobyova and Yelena Fabrichnaya) (Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Andy Bruce)
Courtesy: Currency Conversions Online | Reuters | guardian.co.uk
Australian dollar survives wild week
By Stephen Johnson | November 02, 2008
WATCHING the Australian dollar last week was like being on a rollercoaster ride after lunch.
The currency, known in foreign exchange markets as the "Aussie'', dropped to a five-and-a-half year low on Tuesday as fears of a global recession spooked traders.
But two days later the resilient Aussie battler, the world's fourth most traded currency, had staged a 15 per cent comeback.
Optimistic market strategists say the Australian dollar is undervalued and could test US80c again by Christmas as a recovery in commodity prices and a renewed confidence in financial markets makes risk-sentiment currencies more attractive.
Conversely, a London-based currency strategist says that in a worse-case scenario the Australian dollar could sink to US40c, a level below the all-time low of US47.78c touched in April 2001.
To read the full story, please follow this link:
Courtesy: Online Currency | theaustralian.news.com.au
BOJ keeps hand out of currency jar
Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 |
October despite the yen leaping to its strongest level in more than 13 years against the dollar, the Finance Ministry said.
The ministry did not conduct currency intervention via the Bank of Japan from Sept. 29 to Oct. 29, and hasn't done so since March 17, 2004.
On Oct. 24, the dollar briefly entered the upper ¥90 range in London for the first time in 13 years and two months as prospects darkened for the global economy.
The Group of Seven economies expressed concern about the yen's rapid appreciation versus the U.S. dollar and other major currencies in an emergency statement released Monday — at the request of the BOJ.
Currency policy is controlled by the Finance Ministry, with the Bank of Japan acting as its agent.
Tokyo conducted sales of more than ¥35 trillion in the 15 months from January 2003 through March 2004 to stem the yen's sharp rise against the dollar. A stronger yen hurts exports, the main engine of Japan's economic growth.
Courtesy: search.japantimes.co.jp | Currency Abroad
NT dollar enjoys biggest weekly gain since March
FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Although the NT dollar on Friday pared its solid advance for the week, it contributed to regional currency strength, an IDEAglobal analyst said
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 10
The New Taiwan dollar had the biggest weekly gain against the greenback in eight months on speculation governments around the world will provide further support measures to stem the deepening global economic slump.
The NT dollar gained 1.2 percent this week after the IMF said it has sufficient money available to meet current demand for loans from member nations. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled he’s ready to cut the benchmark interest rate to the lowest level on record, after a half-point reduction to 1 percent.
To read the full story, please follow this link:
Courtesy: Exchanging Money Abroad | Bloomberg | taipeitimes.com
