Reuters (July 1)
“Japan spent a record 11.7 trillion yen ($72 billion) intervening in foreign exchange markets between late April and early May. But the brief boost to the yen was quickly wiped out…. It slumped to a 40-year low of 162.66 per dollar on Tuesday.” The Ministry of Finance is reportedly changing tactics. “Japanese officials are abandoning their habit of telegraphing intervention risks, instead signalling a more targeted campaign to squeeze speculators and raise the cost of betting against the battered yen.”
Tags: $72 billion, Battered yen, Cost, Forex, Intervening, Intervention risks, Japan, Markets, MoF, Officials, Record, Slumped, Speculators, Squeeze, Tactics, Telegraphing, Wiped out
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“Natural gas stocks are alarmingly low around the world, and prices in most places have never been higher after surging to new records…. Demand has jumped as economies have bounced back from pandemic shutdowns, and the squeeze has caught traders, shipowners and energy executives off guard.” Nations that “have wound down coal-fired plants and become more dependent on gas” are particularly vulnerable and, in some cases, restarting mothballed power plants despite higher GHG emissions.
Tags: Coal, Demand, Economies, Energy, GHG emissions, Natural gas, Pandemic, Prices, Records, Shipowners, Shutdowns, Squeeze, Stocks, Surging, Traders, Vulnerable
Financial Times (June 24)
“It is too early to say, but with the credit intensity of China’s slowing economic growth surging back this year to levels last seen in the 2009 credit boom, a severe credit squeeze could precipitate a big drop in investment, accentuate the downturn in growth and lead to financial and banking sector instability.”
Tags: Banking, Boom, China, Credit, Downturn, Economic growth, Instability, Investment, Squeeze
