currencies

German Finance Minister Schaeuble wrote a letter earlier this week to the ECB, IMF and euro zone finance ministers that appears to be putting the proverbial cat among the pigeons. The latter has been leaked to the press. He seems to be…

Dollar, yen and Swiss franc broadly higher; sentiment deteriorates after Bernanke’s speech. Euro trips ahead of $1.47 amid concerns over Greece’s package and soft German IP. Brazil and Poland both expected to hike by 25bps; Brazil’s…

ECB intransigence leaves little alternative to breakup. Europe’s payments-surplus nations are waging financial war against the deficit countries. Without a common union based on mutual support within a mixed economy – one capable of…

The global crisis has brought many countries to their knees, none more so than the small island of Iceland whose losses amount to seven times its GDP. Yet while Iceland’s recovery has in many ways been remarkable, this column argues that…

The US dollar is mostly firmer across the board ahead of NFP; equities and commodities softer. US NFP to determine cyclical tone ahead of quiet week; USD/JPY & USD/CHF likely to decline. UK PMI ebbed, euro zone PMIs revised higher;…

The BELLS are a group of four countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) who in their wisdom decided to adopt and then stick “come hell or high water” to a currency peg with to Euro. Thus was opened one of the more interesting and…

The US dollar is mostly weaker as peripheral sentiment improve. Spanish bond auction went well, and market expects IMF/EU approval of new Greek package. With equity markets largely down today, FX decouples from the slowdown theme for now.

What is driving the increase in the RMB-denominated trade is probably not any preference to transact in RMB but rather speculative demand for RMB. That sounds pretty plausible.

Europe’s monetary union is simply one of the most important experiments of our time. Can the countries whose wars against each other shaped to a large extent the past millennium, if not longer, form a sustainable monetary union without…

US dollar is broadly weaker as market sentiment builds on yesterday’s improvement. Official and unofficial views on Greece are not in short supply, but vary across a wide range. Germany may be stepping back from restructuring talk regarding…