Korea

by Marc Chandler At the end of last week, the US and Korea appeared to reach the basis of agreement that will also resuscitate the moribund free-trade effort. In essence it appears that slowing down the liberalization in the auto sector…

by Win Thin The won has been one of the worst performers so far today due to developments in the Korean peninsula.  Clearly, North Korea is trying to make a statement to the West with its recent saber-rattling, and reports of the…

Highlights The US dollar is higher as the markets seek safe haven after North Korea fired artillery shells at South Korea and the euro zone jitters continue. With the upcoming US holiday dampening volume the euro continued its choppy…

Bloomberg notes: South Korea may revive a 14 percent tax on domestic Treasury and central bank bonds held by foreigners as early as January to curb foreign-exchange volatility, a ruling party lawmaker said. “If we don’t do it right now…

Gross says that Pimco is looking to high growth economies for both bond and equity plays. The key for them is not to play the liquidity seeking return trade (like 100-year Mexican paper). Rather they want to find low volatility, high return…

No big surprise from Brazil’s decision to boost the IOF tax on fixed income foreign investment to 4% from 2% previously. This is a pretty strong statement from the authorities that 1.70 is the line in the sand, and if USD/BRL continues to…

Highlights US dollar was mostly softer vs. the majors, with EUR/USD trading above 1.20 briefly before falling back late in the day on US equity weakness.  Bounces remain hard to sustain, so once this period of consolidation ends, we…

While I am markedly more upbeat of late about economic matters, I still harbor some deep concerns about the direction of both the global economy and resultant political stability. The Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum has summed…