Bloomberg (April 24)
“European Union leaders have been unequivocal in their insistence that Greece has been ring-fenced, and that the common-currency project can survive the departure of its weakest member. They may be right; but we won’t know for sure whether contagion is alive or dead unless and until Greece bows out.”
Tags: Contagion, Currency, EU, Greece, Ring-fenced
Institutional Investor (April 20)
“Like an old couple that can’t seem to stop fighting, Greece and its European Union partners are wondering if it’s time to head for divorce court.” The long-running saga has “been threatening to undermine the single currency for more than five years. Yet the Greek crisis appears to be entering a new, and potentially fatal, phase as exhaustion and mutual recriminations push both sides to the brink of an irrevocable rupture.”
Bloomberg (January 2)
“Venezuela had a banner year in 2014: the world’s highest misery index (inflation plus unemployment), a fresh recession, and a currency whose black-market value plunged faster than even the Russian ruble…. Unfortunately, President Nicolas Maduro doesn’t seem to have any good ideas — any ideas at all, really — for improving things.”
Tags: Black-market value, Currency, Inflation, Misery index, Nicolas Maduro, Recession, Ruble, Russia, Unemployment, Venezuela
Financial Times (August 31)
“The story of Abenomics is far from over–but the typical Japanese household could be forgiven for thinking that all the Bank of Japan had achieved, in pushing down the currency and importing inflation, was another hit to household living standards. Japanese real wages have been falling for most of this year.”
Tags: Abenomics, BOJ, Currency, Household, Inflation, Japan, Living standards, Real wages
Forbes (August 22)
Steve Forbes urges India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi to first create a “sound and stable currency” through disciplined monetary policy that initially includes a dollar or euro peg. Among his other tips: “Simplify the tax code with a low-rate flat tax” and “Be extremely cautious in attacking subsidies, especially those that benefit the poor, until the economy is in a true boom.”
Tags: Currency, Dollar, Economy, euro, Flat tax, India, Monetary policy, Narendra Modi, Peg, Poor, Steve Forbes, Subsidies, Tax code
The Atlantic (February 4, 2014)
“Lehman conditioned us to always look for the next domino. But sometimes a falling currency is just a falling currency.” Since last May when then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned tapering, “emerging market currencies have been in a world of pain.” But fundamentals are much stronger than before the Asian Currency Crisis so this needn’t be a repeat of 1997. “The danger isn’t slumping currencies. The danger is overreacting to slumping currencies.”
Tags: 1997, Asian Currency Crisis, Ben Bernanke, Currency, Emerging markets, Fed, Fundamentals, Lehman, Overreacting, Tapering
Financial Times (December 21, 2013)
The UK is set to adopt “funny money,” abandoning paper currency for polymer. In 2016 the Bank of England “will begin introducing plastic notes that can be wiped clean and are difficult to tear. These are expected to last two-and-a-half times as long as the cotton and linen variety, which can quickly become ragged and soiled.” The UK will be following Australia, where paper currency was eliminated in 1996, resulting in a significant decrease in counterfeiting.
Tags: Australia, Bank of England, Counterfeiting, Currency, Paper, Plastic, UK
The Wall Street Journal (November 28, 2013)
“Investors are piling into bets against the yen.” Based on data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), “wagers that the Japanese currency will slide against the U.S. dollar have surged to the highest amount this year and are within striking distance of levels not seen since 2007.” With the Fed poised to taper and the Bank of Japan set to maintain and possibly expand its already aggressive monetary easing program, some expect the exchange rate to move to 110 yen versus the dollar.
Tags: Bank of Japan, CFTC, Currency, Dollar, Exchange rate, Fed, Investors, Monetary easing, Taper, U.S., Yen
Bloomberg (October 28)
“Foreign investors have boosted South Korean stock holdings for a record 41 straight days, lured by the nation’s current-account surplus, strengthening currency and fastest growth in almost two years.”
Institutional Investor (February Issue)
“Talk of currency wars is once again in the air, making foreign exchange potentially a major component of investment returns.” Last year, “the dollar underperformed all major currencies except the yen.” In 2013, the Norwegian krone, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar are likely to benefit if the dollar’s slide continues.
Tags: Australia, Currency, Dollar, Forex, Investment, Krone, New Zealand, Norway, U.S., Yen
