currency wars

The S&P 500 completes its worst run in a long time returning to levels not last seen since March, when we thought we had to write off the entire Japanese economy as a nuclear wasteland. So, is it all back to square one for the already…

If the Chinese are serious about their anti-US rhetoric, they will have to do a lot more on the currency front. First and foremost, they need to move more aggressively to a basket peg that allows bilateral Yuan currency rates to move as the…

Brazil is reportedly imposing trade barriers on auto parts imports and a variety of other products. Imports of 27 products will reportedly have tighter licensing requirements that can take up to 60 days to approve. These are called…

Win Thin of Brown Brothers Harriman was on Bloomberg talking to Tom Keene and Michael Cloherty, head of U.S. rates strategy for fixed income and currencies at RBC Capital Markets, about the global markets for a good fifteen minutes today.…

Now that the Fed has confirmed it won't raise rates and the dollar is dropping, for me it means that negative real rates will continue and that the currency wars are back on. I have comments on what negative real rates mean for investors. I…

Overall, I would say that the exogenous shocks have added to downside risk. I would expect economic weakness in the second half of 2011. If economic weakness does materialize in the US, I would expect lower long-term interest rates. Many…

By Win Thin Brazil Finance Minister Mantega announced macroprudential measures today, raising the IOF tax on consumer credit by 150 bp from 1.5% to 3% in order to help limit credit growth. So far, measures already taken are not working…

By Win Thin Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced new FX measures at his press conference, but at first blush are quite underwhelming. The 6% IOF tax on local entities was extended for overseas loans with maturities up to 2…

By John Mauldin Loose Monetary Policies and Emerging Markets So far we have focused on the United States and other mature, developed economies that have far too much debt. With Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and…

By Win Thin Local Brazil analysts are saying that new measures to curb currency appreciation are basically ready to go. Finance Minister Mantega has reportedly not decided yet if he is going to release details today or not, and that he is…