Filed under: 2nd Amendment, Amero, anti gun, Canada, canadian dollar, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, DHS, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, global economy, Globalism, Great Depression, Greenback, Gun Control, Homeland Security, Inflation, loonie, North American Union, Real ID, single currency, Stock Market, US Constitution, US Economy | Tags: common currency, rick mercer, toronto dominian bank
Rick Mercer Reports on the Amero Currency
REAL ID – A very real threat to gun rights
http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/07/rea..at-to-gun-rights.html
CBC Airs NAU Propaganda Mini Series
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/04/04/cbc-airs-nau-propaganda-mini-series/
What is the ‘North American Union’?
North American Union Archive
Filed under: Benazir Bhutto, Big Banks, Britain, Canada, canadian dollar, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Europe, Federal Reserve, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cuts, job market, loonie, Musharraf, Pakistan, platinum, pound, rate cut, Stock Market, US Economy, Yen
Gold nears record-high on dollar, Pakistan turmoil
Reuters
December 30, 2007
Gold rallied to a 7-week high on Monday and close to a record high of $850 on speculative buying driven by a weak U.S. dollar and tensions in Pakistan following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
But thin trading in Asia ahead of the New Year holidays meant gold and other precious metals were prone to sharp fluctuations. Platinum dropped but held near last week’s record high of $1,542 an ounce.
Spot gold hit an intraday high of $842.90 an ounce before dipping to $842.00/842.80. This was still higher than $837.80/838.50 late in New York on Friday.
“There’s still a potential for further unrest in Pakistan following Bhutto’s assassination. I guess there’s a potential for us to push higher and test the highs around $847 at least,” said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
“I think $847 will be the initial technical point to breach. When London comes in, more stops get taken out,” he said.
Gold hit a record high at $850 January 1980 on high inflation linked to high oil prices, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the effects of the Iranian revolution. After adjusting for inflation, that level was equal to $2,079 at 2006 prices.
Gold has risen more than 30 percent this year — the biggest annual gain since 1979 — as a number of factors, including a weak U.S. dollar, record-high crude prices, credit market turmoil and falling U.S. rates, boosted its safe-haven appeal.
The latest safe-haven buying was sparked by Bhutto’s killing last week, which plunged Pakistan into crisis. Electoral officials hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide whether to go ahead with a January election that is aimed at shifting the country from military to civilian rule.
Bhutto’s killing in a suicide attack on Thursday triggered bloodshed across the country and rage against President Pervez Musharraf, casting doubts on nuclear-armed Pakistan’s stability and its transition to civilian rule.
“I think it’s possible to touch $850 in the near term. It moved in a massive range already in the past 24 hours,” said David Moore, a commodity analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
“It’s possible it might go higher in the near term. It’s obviously been supported by a number factors but probably the thin trading conditions are sort of exacerbating the movements in the gold price at the moment,” he said.
Dollar Heads for Annual Declines Against Euro, Yen on Fed Cuts
Bloomberg
December 31, 2007
The dollar fell for a second year against the euro and declined against the yen, snapping two years of gains, as traders raised bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again to bolster the slowing economy.
The dollar traded at a two-week low versus the euro and yen, after weakening against 14 of the 16 most active currencies this year, as the Fed reduced borrowing costs three times to temper the worst housing slump in 16 years. A U.S. report today may show sales of existing homes held at the lowest since the National Association of Realtors began keeping records in 1999.
“Going into the end of the year, clearly markets have taken another bounce of dollar negativity on board,” said Jeremy Stretch, senior market strategist in London at Rabobank Groep, the third-biggest Dutch bank. “The slowdown in the U.S. economy is clearly going to happen.”
The dollar fell to $1.4712 per euro as of 9:48 a.m. in London from $1.4723 in New York on Dec. 28. It has lost 11.4 percent this year, and reached $1.4967 on Nov. 23, the weakest since the euro began trading in 1999. The dollar slipped to 112.11 yen, from 112.28 on Dec. 28 and 119.05 at the end of 2006.
The British pound headed for a second annual gain versus the U.S. currency, rising 2 percent to $1.9986. The Canadian dollar was poised for its biggest yearly advance since 2003, climbing 16 percent to 97.91 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar.
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14582431
Fed Increases Lending To Banks
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/…oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Sudanese Central Bank Switches To Euro
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8TQI9O00.htm
Unemployment May Rise, Factories Slow: U.S. Economy Preview
http://www.bloomberg.com/ap..=a7jgWmHo3ol8&refer=home
Euro Gains On USD In Official Reserves
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e72dfbf…l?nclick_check=1
New Home Sales Plunge 9%
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200712…TNkbItDuhv24cA
Gas Could Be $3.75 By Spring
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/…ory?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
Wars Cost $15 Billion a Month, GOP Senator Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn…=moreheadlines
Gold rises above $830 over Pakistan
Oil steady near $97 on lower US stocks, Bhutto
Forex – Dollar falls continue on weak US data; Euro at record high vs pound
Paul Krugman talks to Google on the Recession
Dollar Strategists Predict End of Bear Market in 2008
Wage Slavery For Elderly People
Chrysler CEO: We Are Operationally Bankrupt
US braces for baby boom retirement wave
Bank’s Face Financial Turmoil
Credit Loss Could Hit $1 Trillion
Oil Rises On Inventory Shortfalls
Growing Credit Card Debt In US Prompting Warnings Of Worse To Come
October Home Prices Post Record Decline
No Trial, No Conviction: FBI Steals Millions of Dollars Worth of Gold
China’s New Oil World Order
Denmark Bank predicts Ron Paul presidency and U.S. depression
Saudi Arabia fatwa against the dollar
Goodbye to the $2 pound in 2008
Fed promises as much money as the banks want
Ethanol Blamed For Food Price Hikes
7 economic warning signs: Could a small shock push the economy over the edge?
Zimbabwe Woe As Banks Stay Shut
People & Power – Death of the dollar
Growing number of Americans expect recession: poll
Gold climbs above $800 in London as dollar drops; silver gains
Northern Rock Rescue Cost $100B
US Inflation Soars – Largest Rise in Producer Prices Since 1973!
US foreclosure filings up 68 pct in Nov.
U.S. Dollar’s Credibility Being `Stretched,’ UBS Economist Says
US Federal Reserve’s subprime regulations shield Wall Street banks
Economy teeters on brink, says Resler
GAO Says Government Failed Yet Another Financial Audit
One in Five Americans Must Borrow to Heat Homes This Winter
Morgan Stanley secures $5bn from China
CNN: Ron Paul Says U.S. Going Broke
ECB Offers Banks Unlimited Funds
Overstock.com CEO warns of depression
Filed under: Amero, Canada, canadian dollar, Euro, european union, Globalism, Greenback, loonie, North American Union, Warren Buffett
Billionare To Canada: We Need An Amero
World Net Daily
November 27, 2007
Stephen Jarislowsky, a billionaire money manager and investor the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail bills as the Canadian Warren Buffet, has told a parliamentary committee Canada and the United States both should abandon their national dollar currencies and move to a regional North American currency as soon as possible.
“I think we have to really seriously start thinking of the model of a continental currency just like Europe,” Jarislowsky told the Canadian House of Commons’ finance committee, according to the Globe and Mail in Toronto.
Jarislowsky’s call for immediate action belied an article published in the Boston Globe on Sundaythat said the call for the amero to become the new North American regional currency was “purely theoretical.”
Consider a Continental Currency, Jarislowsky says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl…%22Steven%2BChase%22
What is the ‘North American Union’?
Filed under: Australia, Bank of England, Canada, canadian dollar, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, engineered recession, Europe, Federal Reserve, food prices, George Bush, global economy, global elite, Globalism, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, Joseph Stiglitz, loonie, Northern Rock, Oil, OPEC, Paulson, Saudi Arabia, Stock Market, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, World Bank, yale
Economic Expert Says Global Crash Imminent
Echoes former world bank leader with prediction of global recession
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
November 20, 2007
A leading economic expert has warned that a global crash and recession is imminent on the back of record highs in real estate, stocks and energy, combined with a devaluation of the dollar and continued “speculative bubble thinking”.
Robert Shiller, the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics at Yale University told an audience at the annual Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Week that a sharp downward correction is due in the global markets.
Shiller stated:
“Perhaps we have gotten a little too confident in the global economic growth,” said Shiller. “The problem is high oil, stock and real estate prices. I believe that a substantial part is speculative bubble thinking. We have gotten too confident of the prices in these markets,”.
“The unwinding of these markets is the most serious risk facing these markets today,” Shiller added.
With the effects of the credit crunch hitting more and more lower level lenders, it is clear to see that the fallout is spreading and propagating a general decline. We are seeing the unfolding of an overall meltdown that represents a gutting of the United States by neo-mercantilist institutions bent on the formation of a new global monopoly.
Shiller also pointed to the futures market, such as that of the CME in Chicago, which now predicts a major, ongoing decline over the coming four years.
We are witnessing the unfolding of a crash exactly as predicted by Former World Bank Vice President, Chief Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz last year.
Stiglitz agreed that the process of hijacking and looting key infrastructure on the part of the IMF and World Bank, as an offshoot of predatory globalization, has now moved from the third world to Europe, the United States and Canada.
Stiglitz warned that the signs were there with plummeting real estate prices in the U.S., stating that a global economic depression could only be avoided if a correction was made.
But no correction will be made because the World Bank/IMF/Globalist doctrine betrays a focused agenda to deliberately foment economic turmoil, riots, and then enforced bondage to eternal debt. We have witnessed this time and time again, their own documents even confirm this as the chosen method of social control.
The shareholders of Federal Reserve, part of the same group of elite families that owns the bank of England, created the IMF and World bank to siphon government funds. Then they effectively steal the real assets of the third world countries that take their loans in some cases at 42% interest. These global loan sharks secure the water, power and roads which are then handed over to private, piratical, letter of mark companies.
China Voices Alarm at Dollar Weakness
Financial Times
November 19, 2007
China on Monday expressed concern at the decline in the dollar, joining a growing chorus of global policymakers alarmed by the weakness in the world’s main reserve currency.
Premier Wen Jiabao told a business audience in Singapore it was becoming difficult to manage China’s $1,430bn foreign exchange reserves, saying that their value was under unprecedented pressure.
“We have never been experiencing such big pressure,” Mr Wen said, according to Reuters. “We are worried about how to preserve the value of our reserves.”
China keeps the currency composition of its reserves a state secret, but some analysts believe that more than two-thirds are probably still held in dollars.
Mr Wen’s comments came as top international economic officials spoke out in support of a strong dollar in the aftermath of the weekend’s Group of 20 summit in South Africa and Opec meeting in Riyadh.
Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, told reporters in Ghana: “A strong dollar is in our nation’s interest.”
He said the US economy had its “ups and downs” but he believed that “our long-term economic strength will be reflected in currency markets”.
Mr Paulson and other top US officials, including President George W. Bush, have become increasingly vocal on the dollar in recent days in an apparent effort to signal that they are not indifferent to its fate.
Zhou Xiaochuan, China’s central bank chief, said Beijing wanted a strong dollar because it would help to ensure an orderly resolution of the recent market instability caused by US mortgage lending problems.
“So in this sense, actually we hope to see a strong dollar,” Reuters quoted Mr Zhou as saying. “We support a strong dollar.”
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European central bank, told reporters that Mr Zhou’s remarks “echoed what has been said by the monetary authorities of the US”.
“What we are witnessing is unco-ordinated verbal intervention,” said Stephen Jen, head of currency research at Morgan Stanley. “This is useful as in the absence of it, investors and speculators would have interpreted it as the authorities condoning what was going on in the currency markets.”
The Japanese yen rallied against a range of currencies on Monday, notably commodity-based rivals such as the Canadian and Australian dollars. The prospect of China allowing its currency to appreciate against the dollar drove sentiment, traders said.
The dollar was largely unchanged in early US trading. The US currency has shown some tentative signs of stabilisation in the past few days, but many analysts remain bearish.
Global crash imminent, warns expert
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/50…inent-warns-expert
As dollar weakens, Gulf nations look at currency pegs
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/19/bloomberg/bxatm.php
Food pantries struggle to meet increasing demand
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200711…ood_pantries_shortage
Loonie shouldering heavier share of greenback’s decline: IMF
http://www.canada.com/nation….5a&k=90145
Asian Leaders Sign Regional Economic Pact
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/w…html?hp
Saudi Riyal Touches 21-Year High
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6&s….=Business
Central bank governor says China supports strong dollar
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/19/business/yuan.php
$38B In Wall Street Bonuses As Stocks Decline
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new….worldwide
Goldman Sachs Behind Sky-High Oil Prices?
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com….h-oil.html
The Crash of 2008
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23465
Taxpayers to foot the Northern Rock bill
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/….e2903877.ece
Global Gold Stocks May Beat Bullion, Baker Steel Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news….2k&refer=europe
Weak Dollar Wrecks American’s Dreams
http://www.reuters.com/article/lif…142820071119
OPEC Interested in Non-Dollar Currency
http://ap.google.com/articl….D8T0AC6G0
Saudi minister warns of dollar collapse
http://www.telegraph.co.uk…17/cndollar117.xml
Chávez sees oil at $200 if Iran invaded
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e346fdc-923f-11dc-8981-0000779fd2ac.html
Dow Down 200 Amid Banking Concerns
US September net foreign capital flows -14.7 bln usd
The Discipline Of the Dollar
Dollar Decline “Irreversible”
Goldman Sees Subprime Cutting $2 Trillion in Lending
Opec unites behind higher prices
Oil rises over $95 on weak dollar
Oil rises ‘Kill the cable, kill the cable,’ Oil leaders’ private debate televised by mistake
Opec nations clash over weak dollar
OPEC agrees to dollar talks after forex basket proposal
‘Greener, reliable’ OPEC wraps up politically-charged summit
Chavez starts OPEC summit with 200-dollar oil warning
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, Australia, canadian dollar, canadian economy, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, George Bush, george soros, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, loonie, Oil, Petrol, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy
Gold hits fresh peaks near $850, Oil hits $98 a barrel
Forbes
November 7, 2007
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Gold raced to a series of fresh 28-year highs and is currently just 1 pct below its historic peak as the dollar sank against major currencies and record oil prices stoked inflation jitters.
The precious metal moves in the opposite direction to the dollar as gold is seen as an alternative asset and moves in line with high oil prices as investors hedge against energy-led inflation.
The weak dollar, which hit yet another low against the euro this morning, spurred buying as it made commodities denominated in the greenback cheaper for those trading in other currencies.
At 10.16 am, spot gold was trading at 839.38 usd an ounce, against 821.30 usd in late New York trade yesterday, having earlier hit 845.58 usd, its fresh peak in almost 30 years.
Analysts are now calling for the metal to hit and even surpass 850 usd, the all time high set in January 1980.
‘With this weaker dollar we will see it (gold) push through 850 usd and even 860 usd today,’ said Ben Coleman, commodities trader at Trade Index. ‘Currency is having a big call on what’s going on with gold, oil and metals,’ he said.
Meanwhile, risk aversion in the equity markets, as fears the US subprime debacle will mean slower growth going ahead, sparked a rush towards safer assets like gold.
‘As long as the financial markets remain fragile and investors risk averse, gold prices will be a beneficiary in our view,’ said HSBC (nyse: HBC – news – people ) analyst James Steel.
Looking ahead, oil is expected to top 100 usd a barrel in the very near future. Today, markets will see if US crude stocks are shown to have fallen last week, as expected, in a weekly report due out at 3.30 pm London time.
New York’s WTI benchmark hit a record of 98.43 usd a barrel this morning, sparking already intense fears inflation is going to impact markets.
‘The flood of speculative cash pouring into oil has resulted in a breach of 100 usd a barrel very much on the cards for today,’ said Bank of Ireland (nyse: IRE – news – people ) analyst, Paul Harris (nyse: HRS – news – people ).
Gold has gained over 30 pct since January, oil’s price has almost doubled and the dollar has lost over 10 pct of its value against the euro since the start of this year.
With the yellow metal near its all time record, not many participants are calling a price top.
‘If we see a sell-off it will be aggressive,’ said Coleman at Trade Index. ‘(But) levels here mean it’s hard to pick a top.’
Elsewhere, other precious metals surged, following in gold’s footsteps and as they garnered strength from the dollar’s weakness.
Silver is now comfortably over 15 usd, previously seen as key resistance level, platinum hit a record high and palladium hit its highest price since April.
Silver was trading at 15.86 usd an ounce against 15.32 usd in New York yesterday, having hit 16.18 usd — its highest price since April last year.
Platinum was steady at 1,471 usd an ounce from 1,472 usd, having earlier set a historic peak at 1489.50 usd. Palladium rose to 376 usd from 375 usd, after striking its highest price of the year of 384.50 usd.
Dollar Slumps to Record on China’s Plans to Diversify Reserves
Bloomberg
November 7, 2007
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — The dollar fell the most since September against the currencies of its six biggest trading partners after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation’s $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.
The dollar fell against all 16 of the most-active currencies, declining to the weakest versus the Canadian dollar since the end of a fixed exchange rate in 1950, a 26-year low against the pound and a 23-year low versus the Australian dollar. The New York Board of Trade’s dollar index dropped to 75.21 today, the lowest since the gauge started in March 1973.
“Further weakening of the dollar is very likely,” said Teis Knuthsen, the Copenhagen-based head of foreign-exchange, fixed-income and derivative research at Danske Bank A/S, the Nordic region’s second-biggest lender. China may “diversify out of dollar holdings.”
The U.S. currency slumped to $1.4704 per euro, the lowest since the 13-nation currency debuted in January 1999, before trading at $1.4671 as of 7:15 a.m. in New York, from $1.4557 late yesterday. The dollar dropped the most in two months against the yen, trading as low as 112.87 yen. The euro fell against the yen to 165.84, from 166.99 yesterday.
The U.S. dollar index may be due for a reversal, according to a technical indicator. Its 14-day relative-strength measure fell to 21.38 today, below the 30 mark, which may signal the currency’s decline has bottomed out.
In technical analysis, investors and analysts study charts of trading patterns and prices to forecast changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.
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FIAT EMPIRE – Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution
Relative of Merrill Lynch Founder Predicts Stock Market Crash
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CDS traders warn of ‘blood on streets’
Central banks flooded the world with cheap money for years, helping the rich get richer. Now inflation is on the horizon, threatening to make the poor even poorer.
The Fed digs us a deeper hole
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Latest Exec Departure: Citigroup CEO Charles Prince To Resign Following Subprime Crisis
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U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Canada, canadian dollar, canadian economy, central bank, Charles Prince, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Deutsche Bank, Draft, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, foreclosures, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, loonie, Merrill Lynch, Oil, peak oil, Petrol, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taiwan, UBS, US Economy
Relative of Merrill Lynch Founder Predicts Stock Market Crash
Kerri Panchuk
DSNews
October 30, 2007
In a market where fears over the subprime shakedown are spreading pessimism nationwide, Charles Merrill, the cousin of the man who founded Merrill Lynch & Co., is predicting a stock market crash that will put the 1929 crash to shame.
Merrill, in an exclusive interview with a financial author, said, “There is going to be a major stock market crash, so protect your assets. Buy physical gold and hide it.”
Merrill also discussed all the changes at Merrill Lynch that indicate a potential market crises—even alluding to the company’s chief executive officer, who stepped down this week.
“Merrill Lynch is crashing, due to the ineptness of the CEO,” Merrill said. “No matter who is running Merrill Lynch & Co., it’s going to need a regimen of restraint and recuperation after getting badly bruised by the global credit market shakedown. I predict a house of dominos, and the whole stock market is going to crash.”
Lynch’s less-than-encouraging remarks were part of an interview with writer Michael Grace, who is writing a book called, “The Final Great Depression.”
During the interview, Merrill concluded, “There is so much wealth in Palm Springs … from inherited to funny money, and I’m advising my friends to buy gold. Grace’s book on the ‘final depression’ sounds like a novel or fantasy but unfortunately it is a picture of our horrible future here in America. My cousin Charlie must be turning over in his grave.”
Oil Crisis in Summer ’09: War in Iran. Gasoline rationing. A military draft. A Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Double-digit inflation and unemployment
Herald Tribune
November 2, 2007
WASHINGTON: War in Iran. Gasoline rationing. A military draft. A Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Double-digit inflation and unemployment. The draining of the strategic petroleum reserve.
This is where current energy policy is going in the United States, according to a nightmare scenario played out as a policy-making exercise on Thursday by a group of former top government officials.
Two bipartisan business-supported groups sponsored an elaborately staged role-playing game called Oil ShockWave that tried to dramatize the effect of American dependence on oil imported from unstable and unfriendly parts of the world.
The organizers have an agenda: They hope to prompt Congress to act on energy legislation and to push the issue into the presidential campaign.
CDS traders warn of ‘blood on streets’
BBC
October 27, 2007
The mood in credit derivatives markets turned ugly on Thursday, with the cost of insuring corporate debt hitting multi-week highs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Speculation was rife that leading major investment banks were facing additional losses linked to complex mortgage-backed securities, while worries mounted over the health of major financial guarantors.
“It’s scary out there — there’s blood on the streets,” a trader at a US brokerage said. “It’s a real mess.”
In the US, the perceived risk of owning corporate debt jumped to a seven-week high, with the cost to insure a $10m portfolio of investment-grade debt reaching $67,000, data from Phoenix Partners Group showed.
Confidence in Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, as measured by their credit default swaps, slumped to lows not seen since the height of the credit squeeze in August.
Five-year credit default swaps tied to Citigroup widened to 60 basis points, meaning it cost $60,000 annually to insure Citigroup’s debt against default for five years. A couple of weeks ago, that figure stood at $27,000.
Contracts on Merrill Lynch, which last week posted the largest quarterly loss in its 93-year history, rose $18,000 to $103,000. CDS on UBS rose 10bp to 51bp, Deutsche Bank said. The contracts stood at about 6bp in May. Contracts on Credit Suisse rose 4bp to 52bp from 10bp in June.
Bond insurers, or monolines, were also hit hard.
“[These triple-A rated companies are] exposed to the crumbling housing market,” said Gavan Nolan, an analyst at derivatives data provider Markit. “Investors in monolines will be waiting for the coming months of housing data with trepidation,” Mr Nolan said.
CDS on MBIA Insurance rocketed to a four-year high, of 345bp, CMA Datavision said.
Last week the insurer posted $36.6m net loss and halted its share buy-back programme.
Contracts on the bond insurance unit of Ambac Financial climbed to a five-year high of 310bp.
Gimme Credit, an independent research term, downgraded both MBIA and Ambac this week.
In Europe, the iTraxx Crossover index of 50 mostly high-yield companies widened by 18 bp to 338bp, the biggest rise since August, according to Deutsche Bank data.
The iTraxx Europe index, which tracks 125 investment-grade companies, rose 3.75bp to 41bp. It was the biggest one-day jump since early September.
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Filed under: Canada, canadian dollar, canadian economy, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, gas prices, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Kurdish, loonie, Mexico, Oil, Petrol, Turkey, US Economy, Wall Street
Oil strikes record near $94
Matthew Robinson
Reuters
October 29, 2007
Oil jumped to a record high near $94 a barrel on Monday as stormy weather disrupted supplies from giant exporter Mexico and the dollar wallowed near record lows.
Mexican state oil company Pemex has shut a fifth of the nation’s crude production and halted the bulk of exports as storms kept ships bottled at ports across the country, a top U.S. supplier.
U.S. crude settled up $1.67 at $93.53 a barrel after striking a record $93.80 earlier. London Brent settled $1.63 higher at $90.32 a barrel.
Oil prices have soared by more than a third since mid-August as a stand-off between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, dollar weakness, easing interest rates and winter supply fears have lured a fresh wave of investment capital.
“Every new bullish factor pushes U.S. crude irrationally closer to $100 barrel,” said SGCIB, adding: “Prices will fall if the FOMC does nothing.”
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meets on October 30-31, and Wall Street is betting on another rate cut as the U.S. housing downturn deepens.
Expectations of a cut have helped push the dollar to record lows against a basket of currencies and boosted the price of dollar-denominated commodities.
Canadian Dollar Hits 47-Year High
AFP
October 29, 2007
The Canadian dollar reached on Monday a 47-year high versus the US greenback, gaining on the US currency’s recent weakness, as well as soaring demand for oil and other natural resources.
At 1500 GMT, the American dollar was worth only 95.47 Canadian dollars, while the loonie, a sobriquet given to the Canadian dollar, was being traded for 1.0474 US dollars.
According to the Bank of Canada, the loonie had last seen such heights in March 1960.
Analysts noted that all major currencies were increasing in value against the US dollar in anticipation of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
Most observers expect the Fed to cut its key lending rate by 25 percentage points, bringing it in line with Canada’s rate of 4.50 percent.
As well, demand for oil, gold and other natural resources, of which Canada is a major exporter, has given the Canadian dollar a big boost of late.
Since the beginning of this year, the Canadian dollar has increased 20 percent, and jumped 69 percent since 2002, when it was trading at a historic low of 61.70 US cents.
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Filed under: Canada, canadian dollar, canadian economy, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, loonie, US Economy
Strong loonie may lead Canadian economy to collapse
Pravda Russia
October 29, 2007
Cross-border shoppers will rob the Canadian economy of billions of dollars in economic growth, an economic think-tank is warning.
The surge in cross-border shopping due to the strong dollar, not to mention the slump in exports, could knock nearly three-quarters of a percentage point off growth in the Canadian economy, says Action Economics, an online economic research firm.
However, the U.S. economy could get a much needed boost from the rise in cross-border shopping, as well as an increase in exports and drop in imports resulting from the relative weakness of its currency against the loonie, the report adds.
“Overall, the rapid rise in the Canadian dollar should resonate through both the Canadian and U.S. economies well into next year,” it said, as the loonie traded near a 33-year high of more than $1.03 US.
“Canadian dollar strength adds to the downside risk for Canada’s domestic economy via deflection of consumer spending, and will likely exacerbate an already difficult environment for some Canadian exporters,” it said. “In contrast, the U.S. economy stands to benefit via increased retail sales and export demand, which would provide a timely offset to what is shaping up to be a sizable drag from residential investment.”
Filed under: Australia, Canada, canadian dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cuts, loonie, Oil, Petrol, US Economy
Dollar plumbs fresh lows as Fed cut anticipated
Toni Vorobyova
Reuters
October 29, 2007
The dollar slid to a record low against a basket of major currencies on Monday, weighed down by expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week and perhaps another move by the end of the year.
The dollar’s woes helped to drive oil prices to a new record peak above $93 a barrel and sent gold to a 28-year high above $794 an ounce, boosting the Australian dollar to its highest levels in 23 years and the Canadian dollar to a 33-year peak.
The Fed is widely forecast to cut rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.5 percent on Wednesday, while expectations are building for a follow-up cut in December to limit economic damage from the housing market’s downturn.
The likelihood of lower U.S. rates sent investors away from U.S. assets and into other currencies, particularly European currencies and those of commodity producers such as the Australian and Canadian dollars.
“It’s all about the Fed, of course. We are not surprised that we are trading around these levels,” said John Hydeskov, senior analyst at Danske Bank in Copenhagen.
“Our models based on oil, stocks, stock volatility and rates suggest that we could see much higher levels, around $1.47. But to the extent that we’ve taken a really, really long rally now, we would not be surprised if we see some profit taking around $1.45,” he added.
Danske, which entered a long euro/dollar trade on October 10 at $1.4115, raised the target on its position for the third time on Monday, to $1.4510.
IMF: USD Due For Disorganized Fall
Political Affairs
October 29, 2007
Washington, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) IMF (International Monetary Fund) director, Rodrigo Rato, forecast that the dollar is due for a disorganized and pronounced fall.
In declarations to the press, Rato said that the greenback may continue to fall rapidly, which, he added, would complicate the credit crisis in the United States.
Rato said there was a possibility of a worldwide recession in 2008 but this would not be his most important forecast.
“There is another scenario. A lesser economic growth in the United States, which would have an impact on Europe and Japan,” maintained Rato who is soon to leave his post in the IMF.
He also indicated that there is danger of a growing inflation as a result of the high oil prices, but also the hike in food product prices.
World markets suffered strong turmoil during the past two months from the mortgage risk in the United States.
“All these dangers come at a time when the world economy now confronts risks, unbalances, protectionism and high oil prices,” Rato concluded.
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U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, California, Canada, canadian dollar, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, european union, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, G7, GMAC, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, Japan, liquidation, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street
Friction over weak dollar expected at G-7 meeting
Mcclatchy
October 17, 2007
WASHINGTON — When the finance ministers of six leading developed nations come to Washington later this week, they’ll bend Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s ear about the weak dollar and gripe that it’s hurting their exports.
They won’t find much sympathy.
Paulson will be in no mood to talk up the dollar, which has nose-dived against many leading currencies, because the weak greenback has sent U.S. exports soaring by almost 13 percent year over year through August. And that’s offsetting some of the economic pain from the crumbling U.S. housing sector.
What’s been good for U.S. exporters of airplanes, car parts and farm products hasn’t been so hot for rivals in Canada, Europe and parts of Asia, who now find their goods more expensive on the global market than U.S-made and U.S.-grown goods.
Group of Seven (G-7) ministers from Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada and Japan are expected to press Paulson on Friday to talk up the dollar in hopes that it will slow the dollar’s slide. The dollar has lost more than 8.1 percent of its value so far this year against the euro, the currency of 12 European Union nations, and that’s on top of last year’s drop of 8.2 percent.
For the first time in three decades, the U.S. and Canadian dollars are virtually on par. For Canadian energy companies and mining giants, whose commodities are priced globally in U.S. dollars, that means they earn less for their products when measured by their own currency. And although Canada’s online pharmacies still offer bargains to American prescription-drug consumers because of differing industry cost structures, dollar parity has hurt them, too.
“It has affected business negatively … the perception has decreased sales, for sure,” said Alan Flowers, a spokesman for Candrugstore.com in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Paulson has said repeatedly that a strong dollar is in the U.S. interest, but financial markets determine the value of freely traded currencies. The U.S. dollar’s value has eroded relative to other currencies because of the U.S. economic slowdown, the Federal Reserve’s recent half-point cut in lending rates and strong economic growth in Europe.
“I think Paulson may have to talk nice, but he won’t be forced to do anything more than that,” said Adam Posen, the deputy director of the Petersen Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington.
In fact, behind the scenes, Paulson is likely to tell the Europeans to look east, not west, to resolve their trade problems. European powers did little to help Washington make its case that China’s fixed exchange rate makes its products artificially cheap. Now Europeans are shouldering the brunt of the dollar-euro realignment while China’s exchange rate remains pegged to the dollar, so China doesn’t suffer.
“I think, if anything, he’s going to be sort of smirking and saying, ‘You guys could have gotten on board and helped us pressure the Chinese,'” Posen said. “I think the game is not going to be about coordinating or making any promises, but getting together to confront the Chinese.”
This year’s G-7 meeting in Washington stands out from past gatherings because finance ministers won’t be focused much on the outside world.
“For the first time, much of the agenda and problems come from inside the G-7, rather than outside,” said John Kirton, a lecturer at Canada’s University of Toronto and director of the G8 Research Center there.
Finance ministers will focus on problems in the U.S. credit and mortgage markets, he said, which have spilled across the Atlantic to banks in France and Germany and north to Canada, forcing central bankers to intervene with cash to keep markets functioning properly.
“It may have started in the U.S., but it’s a collective G-7 problem,” Kirton said.
Japan and China lead flight from the dollar
“Data from the US Treasury showed outflows of $163bn (£80bn) from all forms of US investments. “These numbers are absolutely stunning,” said Marc Ostwald, an economist at Insinger de Beaufort.”
Telegraph
October 18, 2007
Japan and China led a record withdrawl of foreign funds from the United States in August, heightening fears of a fresh slide in the dollar and a spike in US bond yields.
Data from the US Treasury showed outflows of $163bn (£80bn) from all forms of US investments. “These numbers are absolutely stunning,” said Marc Ostwald, an economist at Insinger de Beaufort.
Asian investors dumped $52bn worth of US Treasury bonds alone, led by Japan ($23bn), China ($14.2bn) and Taiwan ($5bn). It is the first time since 1998 that foreigners have, on balance, sold Treasuries.
Mr Ostwald warned that US bond yields could start to rise again unless the outflows reverse quickly. “Woe betide US Treasuries if inflation does not remain benign,” he said.
The release comes a day after the IMF warned that the dollar was still overvalued and likely to face “some depreciation in the medium term”.
The dollar’s short-lived rally over recent days stopped abruptly on the data, increasing pressure on US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to shore up Washington’s “strong dollar” rhetoric at the G7 summit this week.
The Greenback has already fallen below parity against the Canadian Loonie for the first time since 1976 and has touched record lows against a global basket. It closed at $2.032 against the pound.
David Woo, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said Washington was happy to see the dollar slide. “They don’t care so long as the fall is not disorderly. They see it as a way of correcting the deficit. ” he said.
Mr Woo said a chunk of the August outflows may have come from foreigners borrowing in the US during the liquidity crunch to meet needs in euros. “We think it may be a one-off,” he said.
The US requires $70bn a month in capital inflows to cover its current account deficit, but the key sources of finance are drying up one by one.
BNP Paribas said America has relied on “hot money” from abroad to cover 25pc to 30pc of the US short-term credit and commercial paper market over the last two years.
This flow is now in danger after the seizure in parts of the market over the summer and after the Federal Reserve’s half point rate cut, which has shaved the US yield advantage over other countries.
Ian Stannard, a Paribas currency analyst, said the data was “extremely negative” for the dollar. “It exceeds the worst fears. It is not just foreigners who are selling US assets. Americans are turning their back as well,” he said.
Central banks in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam have all begun to cut purchases of US bonds, or signalled an intent to do so. In effect, they are giving up trying to hold down their currencies because the policy is starting to set off inflation.
The Treasury data would have been even worse if it had not been for $60bn of inflows from hedge funds based in Britain and the Caymans, which needed to cover US positions at the height of the credit crunch.
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Filed under: bernanke, canadian dollar, central bank, credit card, Credit Crisis, DEBT, ECB, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, George Bush, gold, Greenback, henry paulson, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Ron Paul, subprime, US Economy, Yen
Strong silence from U.S. on dollar’s weakness
Herald Tribune
October 10, 2007
The U.S. dollar is slumping near all-time lows against the euro and has weakened considerably against several other major currencies, but officials in Washington are reacting with almost contented silence.
Less than two weeks before finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries meet to discuss economic policy, European officials are grumbling about the weakened dollar because it makes U.S. exports cheaper in world markets.
Jean Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, reiterated Monday that he was paying “great attention” – a week ago he spoke of his “extreme attention” – to U.S. statements in support of a “strong dollar.”
But while the official mantra of the Bush administration remains that a “strong dollar is in our nation’s interest,” this formulation has not changed during the past five years as the dollar gradually lost about a third of its value against the euro.
On Wednesday, the dollar was trading at about 1.408 against the euro – slightly off its all-time low earlier this month. In January 2002, the dollar was worth about 0.89 per euro.
Indeed, when the dollar’s slide accelerated after the U.S. Federal Reserve Baord lowered interest rates on Sept. 18, U.S. officials barely even repeated the mantra.
“They don’t really care what the dollar does, at least within a fairly wide range,” said Adam Posen, deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “What the U.S. government cares about above all is that the changes are orderly.”
Since the most recent decline began three weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, has mentioned the strong dollar only once.
That was on Sept. 21, during a trip to Canada, just as the U.S. dollar was dropping to parity against the Canadian dollar for the first time in three decades.
“I feel very strongly that a strong dollar is in our nation’s interest,” Paulson said back then, “and we believe that currency values should be set in a competitive marketplace based on underlying economic fundamentals.”
In practice, analysts said, the administration’s position has been, effectively, that a “strong” dollar is whatever value the foreign-exchange markets settle on.
By contrast, Paulson has repeatedly expressed satisfaction that U.S. exports have climbed by about 15 percent over the past year – a trend that has been helped by the weaker dollar.
Analysts see little mystery in the U.S. position: At the moment, a weaker dollar offers more benefits than a stronger one.
The cheaper dollar offers a lift to American exporters by making their products more competitive in many parts of the world. And while a weak dollar usually makes imports more expensive, import prices have climbed far less than the other currencies so far because foreign producers have kept prices low in order to preserve market share in the United States.
“Implicitly, Paulson and the Federal Reserve are happy with a gradual fall in the value of the dollar,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University and president of Roubini Global Economics, a consulting firm that also operates a popular economics Web site. “They’ll never say they favor a weak dollar, but the benefits to the U.S. in terms of competitiveness are significant.”
Though Paulson has primary responsibility for U.S. exchange-rate policy, officials at the Fed have also made it clear that they are not worried about any imminent inflationary dangers posed by a weaker dollar.
The Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, recently told a congressional hearing that the dollar’s value remains “strong” in other respects.
“The value of the currency can also be expressed in terms of what it can buy in domestic goods, the domestic inflation rate,” Bernanke said in response to questions about the dollar from Representative Ron Paul, a Republican of Texas, a long-shot candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Noting that inflation remains low, Bernanke suggested that the dollar’s weakness was not a source of concern to the Fed.
Democratic lawmakers, who have been quick to attack the Bush administration about most other economic policies, have said almost nothing at all about the currency’s decline.
To at least some European officials, worried that the soaring value of the euro will hurt European exports, the U.S. silence has been thunderous.
“I would like very much to hear U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeat loud and clear that a strong dollar is good for the American economy,” said Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, in an interview last week with the French business newspaper Les Échos.
Paulson has yet to respond. Left with his taciturnity, European officials have resorted to reminding Paulson about the one statement he did make.
“We agree with Mr. Paulson,” said Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, the governor of the Bank of Spain and a member of the European Central Bank board, after a meeting Monday in Luxembourg.
Yet even as European and U.S. officials warily circle each other on the currency, a bigger issue for both the United States and Europe is China, which continues to tether its currency, the yuan, closely to the dollar even as the Chinese trade surplus swells further.
According to recent data, the Chinese foreign reserves have been climbing at the pace of $40 billion a month – twice as fast as last year.
In recent days, European officials like Trichet have begun to focus more on demands that China allow its currency to float more flexibly.
That would be in line with long-standing efforts by the United States. But thus far, those efforts have had very limited effect on Chinese policy.
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Filed under: Australia, bernanke, canadian dollar, central bank, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, G7, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, job market, Stock Market, subprime, US Economy, washington mutual, Yen
Dollar falls, unable to shake gloom despite jobs report
Reuters
October 5, 2007
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar fell on Friday as a solid U.S. employment report was not enough to convince investors the U.S. economy is growing fast enough to keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates again.
The greenback rose sharply after the data showed September U.S. jobs growth of 110,000, the highest since May, and upwardly revised numbers for August and July, but the rally petered out ahead of the long Columbus Day holiday weekend.
“Even if you get some better news in terms of the employment report balancing out some of the doomsday scenarios for the U.S. economy, we still have a situation in which the Fed has eased and will likely ease further because of the risks to growth, while other central banks are on hold or tightening policy,” said Sophia Drossos, currency strategist with Morgan Stanley in New York.
In late afternoon trading in New York, the dollar index, a gauge of the greenback’s value against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.2 percent at 78.324 (.DXY: Quote, Profile, Research). After the jobs data, the index rose as high as 78.819. On Monday it had dropped to an all-time low of 77.660.
The euro fought back from earlier losses to trade little changed at $1.4140. The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 116.85 yen.
Commodity-related currencies were the biggest movers among the world’s most liquid.
The Australian dollar climbed to a 23-year high of US$0.9004 and was last up 1 percent at US$0.8970. The U.S. dollar tumbled to a three-decade low against the Canadian dollar of C$0.9816, falling 1.5 percent, the biggest daily decline in three years, after data showed the Canadian unemployment rate was the lowest in 33 years.
Despite the strong jobs report “it didn’t take long for the market to refocus on the overall fundamental weakness that remains for the U.S. dollar,” said Camilla Sutton, a currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
G7 ON ITS WAY
While the jobs report reduced the chances of a cut in the Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate this month, it did not eradicate them. The futures market reflected a 50 percent perceived chance of a cut in the benchmark rate, down from a roughly 70 percent implied chance prior to the payrolls report.
Since mid-August when a crisis in the U.S. subprime mortgage market practically froze bank lending, the dollar has been on a one-way road downhill. The sell-off accelerated after the Fed slashed the fed funds rate by a half percentage point to 4.75 percent last month.
But this week’s U.S. economic data, as well as less-than-hawkish comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, have at the very least introduced more two-way traffic.
“The jobs report makes what the Fed will do in October a very close call,” said Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo in New York.
The focus in the market has shifted to an upcoming meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven rich nations this month and a Fed policy meeting at the end of the month.
Growing complaints by European politicians about the euro’s strength have added the risk in the market that the dollar could find firm footing in the run-up to the G7 meeting.
On Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s spokesman said France’s position on the euro’s surge is increasingly finding wider backing in Europe.
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Filed under: Alan Greenspan, Bank of America, canadian dollar, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, JPMorgan, liquidation, Merrill Lynch, Stock Market, US Economy, Wall Street, washington mutual
For home builders, the worst is to come
MSN Money
October 2, 2007
The era of NINJA (“no income, no job or assets” ) subprime loans sold by fast-talking storefront mortgage brokers is dead, after all. By some estimates, up to three quarters of sales made in Southern California, Nevada and Florida in the go-go era of 2004-2006 involved some sort of fraud, particularly in the form of exaggerated income.
Foreclosure rates are soaring, and as those owners are kicked out of their homes for not paying, the structures are sitting empty, with no one waiting in line to buy at any price. Meanwhile, more than $1 trillion in adjustable-rate loans will kick mortgage payments much higher by June 2008 for tens of thousands of homeowners, which will push foreclosure rates even higher as people simply walk away from houses they can’t afford. I saw this happen in the last down-cycle in Los Angeles in the late 1980s; it gets ugly and stays that way for years, not months.
According to a report by investment bank Punk Ziegel, there are 17.4 million vacant houses in the country, and only 4.3 million of those are second homes. That means there are more ownerless houses in the United States today as a percentage of total inventory than at any time since records have been kept.
Not only are there not enough qualified households available to take them over, but demographics are heading the opposite direction. A Punk Ziegel analysis shows that the number of people aged 25 to 34 — the age of most home buyers — peaked in 1989 and will not get back to that level until 2013.
Waiting for a bankruptcy
As a result of too few buyers facing too many homes, the rate of price depreciation has been accelerating, with a 3.9% year-over-year decline in July nationwide after a 3.4% decline in June and a 2.8% decline in May. There is little doubt that builders will be forced to write down more of their inventory as losses over the next quarter, further eroding book values.
Although there are pockets of strength, such as my hometown of Seattle, home values in areas like Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami and Washington, D.C., are plunging, with year-over-year declines as great as 9.7%, according to data released by research group Case-Shiller.
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Filed under: African Union, Amero, biometrics, Canada, canadian dollar, central bank, CFR, CNBC, DMV, Drivers License, Economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, Greenback, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Inflation, Mexico, NAFTA, New World Order, North American Union, North Carolina, Real ID
’Amero coming within decade’
Strategist expects currency changes as Canadian dollar matches greenback
Jerome R. Corsi
World Net Daily
October 5, 2007
A commemorative amero coin |
BankIntroductions.com, a Canadian company that specializes in global banking strategies and currency consulting, is advising clients that the amero may be the currency of North America within the next 10 years.
“The amero would compete against other regional currency blocks,” BankIntroductions.com says. “At present, with the Canadian dollar approaching par, more talk for an amero currency unit will become popular in Canada.”
The company says that with the successful implementation of NAFTA, “the one dragging component for the amero will be Mexico, but in time this will change.”
“Implementation of the amero currency may actually give Mexico an economic boost, thus helping to alleviate Mexican immigration pressures into the United States for those Mexicans seeking financial gain,” BankIntroductions.com advises.
“The amero one day may well be circulating throughout North America.”
Matt Bell, president of BankIntroductions.com, told WND in an e-mail to “feel free to quote our currency research on Canada. Our general opinion on the amero stands as stated.”
As WND reported, coin designer Daniel Carr has issued for sale a series of private-issue fantasy pattern amero coins that have drawn attention on the Internet.
WND also reported the African Union is moving down the path of regional economic integration, with the African Central Bank planning to create the “Gold Mandela” as a single African continental currency by 2010.
The Council on Foreign Relations also has supported regional and global currencies designed to replace nationally issued currencies.
In an article in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, entitled “The End of National Currency,” CFR economist Benn Steil asserted the dollar is a temporary currency.
Steil concluded “countries should abandon monetary nationalism,” moving to adopt regional currencies, on the road to a global “one world currency.”
WND previously reported Steve Previs, a vice president at Jeffries International Ltd. in London, said the amero “is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.”
A video clip of the CNBC interview in November with Jeffries is now available at YouTube.com.
WND also has reported a continued slide in the value of the dollar on world currency markets could set up conditions in which the adoption of the amero as a North American currency gains momentum.
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What is the ’North American Union’?
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, Bank of England, bernanke, canadian dollar, central bank, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dow, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, european union, Federal Reserve, George Bush, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, Northern Rock, Oil, Sarkozy, Stock Market, US Economy, Wall Street
Greenspan Warns Good Times Are Over
Short News
October 2, 2007
Alan Greenspan has announced the end of the good times for the world economy and that the economic future is a gloomy one, due to many factors including a slow down in the US economy which will have repercussions across the globe.
Greenspan predicted the boom of the 90’s following a “new economy”,a high-tec boost to productivity whose effects have been prolonged by the economic rise of China although he now claims that these have only given a temporary respite to the economy
He warns that government intervention to counteract the economic slowdown often do more harm than good citing the Bank of England intervention to help Northern Rock, a move that triggered the run on the bank.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Dollar Crunch Puts Gold Centre Stage
Telegraph
October 2, 2007
The dominoes are toppling. What began as a credit crunch has turned into a dollar crunch. We are witnessing a run on the world’s paramount reserve currency, an event that occurs twice a century or so, and never with a benign outcome.
The US dollar has fallen through parity against the Canadian dollar and plummeted to all-time lows against a basket of currencies. This is dangerous. None of the mature economic blocs seems able to take the strain, let alone step in to restore order.
Ultimately, Europe and Japan are in worse shape than the US. A mood of sauve qui peut is taking hold.
Is this what gold is sniffing as it breaks out against all currencies, smashing through €500 an ounce against the euro, and vaulting to a 28-year high of $743 against the dollar?
“Central banks have been forced to choose between global recession or sacrificing control of gold, and have chosen the perceived lesser of two evils,” said Citigroup in a fresh report.
“We believe that the policy resolution to the credit crunch will take the form of a massive, extended ‘Reflationary Rescue’, in a new cycle of global credit creation and competititive currency devaluations. This could take gold to $1,000 an ounce, or higher.”
The report’s authors, John Hill and Graham Wark, say the avalanche of central bank bullion sales earlier this year was “clearly timed to cap the gold price”.
They do not explain this explosive allegation, long promoted by the gold group GATA. But it would not surprise me if the European Central Bank’s motive for selling 37 tonnes in April and May was to hold the euro price of gold below €500.
Citigroup said the game was up once the Federal Reserve slashed rates a half point and opened the liquidity floodgates.
Talk of “competitive devaluations” is a new twist, although Bernard Connolly from Banque AIG has been warning for a long time that this would be the denouement. Gold bugs often prattle about the dollar’s demise – condign punishment for a country that has amassed $3 trillion of net liabilities abroad, slashed its savings rate below zero and spent itself into a debtor’s gaol – but they rarely ask what currency it is supposed to collapse against.
China is a leveraged play on US shopping malls. Japan is already buckling. Its economy contracted 0.3pc in Q2. Wages have fallen for eight months in a row. The Abe government has fallen – the first sub-prime victim, but not the last.
Until now, the euro has served as the “anti-dollar”, the default choice for Asians and petrodollar powers wary of US assets. This cannot last.
A rate of $1.43 (it was 83 cents in 2000) will combine, after a one-year lag, with deflating property bubbles in the Club Med bloc to cause a crisis in 2008. It will then become clear that the needs of the Germanic and Latin zones are incompatible and that a coin with no treasury, debt union, or polity to back it up cannot displace the dollar – if it survives at all.
Airbus is already underwater, unable to meet its dollar contracts unless it shifts plant from Europe. Every 10-cent rise in the euro costs €1bn.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in guerrilla warfare against the ECB, threatening to invoke Maastricht Article 109, which gives EU politicians power to set a fixed exchange rate (by unanimity) or a “dirty float” (by majority).
The mood is moving his way. Eurogroup chair, Jean-Claude Juncker, has stopped pretending that all is well. “We have begun to have great concern about the exchange rate of the euro,” he said.
Europe will not let America export its day of reckoning to the rest of the world. It will counter with its own devaluation.
No doubt Ben Bernanke will use all means to avert disaster, including the “printing press” he invoked in November 2002. By this he meant that the Fed could inject unlimited stimulus by purchasing as many bonds and assets as it wants. He believes the Fed could have avoided the Depression if it had been more creative in 1931.
Even so, I am not sure that the Bernanke Fed will move fast enough, given fears of moral hazard, or, indeed, whether the rate cuts on offer are enough to head off an insolvency crisis. The chart of S&P 500 looks eerily similar to October 1987, the last time a tumbling US dollar set off a crash.
A Bundesbank rate rise was the trigger then. If the ECB’s hawks are pig-headed enough to ram through one last rise on October 4, we might see a replay.
Large parts of the global credit system are still shut. The $2.2 trillion market for commercial paper has shrunk by $368bn over the past seven weeks as lenders refuse to roll over loans. The $2.5 trillion market for “structured finance” remains frozen.
US sales of new houses are down 21pc in a year. Median prices have fallen 14pc since March to $225,700. Builders are having to slash tariffs to move stock at all.
We wait to see what happens as “teaser rates” on some $1.5 trillion of mortgages jump with a venomous kick in coming months. The Fed should have thought about this three years ago when rates were 1pc. It is too late now.
How do you play gold rally? Citigroup says the mining shares are poised to surge after lagging badly, offering a “Gold beta” leverage of 2.36. “The market is likely to be shocked at how much cash the major Golds generate at $700 an ounce,” it said.
It certainly looks as if gold has at last “decoupled” from the stock markets, regaining its role as the ultimate store of value. Whether the mining equities have decoupled is another matter.
If Wall Street takes a beating this autumn, the safest play is pure metal.
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Filed under: bernanke, Borse Dubai, canadian dollar, catastrophic event, Credit Crisis, Dow, economic depression, Economy, Euro, european union, Federal Reserve, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, Nasdaq, Oil, Petrol, Saudi Arabia, Stock Market
Dollar plunges on fears Saudis might drop peg
Euro breaks above $1.40 for first time; parity for Canadian dollar
Market Watch
September 20, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The dollar fell sharply across the board Thursday, hitting a new all-time low against the euro and falling to parity with its Canadian counterpart, pressured by lower U.S. interest rates and a report Saudi Arabia might end its dollar peg.
The Canadian dollar rose slightly above one-to-one parity with the U.S. dollar in early trading, marking the first time this has happened since November 1976. The dollar was last trading at C$1.0013 after moving as low as C$0.9996, down from C$1.0155 Wednesday.
The euro broke through the $1.40 level into uncharted territory for the first time, just two days after the Federal Reserve made an aggressive cut of half a percentage point to its benchmark interest rate target.
The euro was last up 0.7% at $1.4068. It earlier rose to $1.4097, its highest level since the currency began trading in January 1999.
The trade-weighted dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.9% to 78.610, after earlier hitting a new 15-year low.
“The environment has been developing for a U.S. dollar bearish move,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets. “A weight of evidence has been accumulating.”
The dollar has fallen significantly against most major currencies since the Fed made a larger-than-expected half-point cut in both its federal funds target and discount rate Tuesday, in a move aimed at preventing the credit woes from dragging down the broader economy.
Lower rates erode the returns on dollar-denominated assets, so the Fed’s announcement sent the dollar into a tailspin against most major currencies.
The greenback was down 1.4% to 114.40 yen, even though Japan’s 0.5% interest rate is the lowest in the developed world.
It also dropped against the British pound, which has taken a knock in recent days on worries about the U.K. banking system. The pound was trading at $2.0096, compared to $2.0010 late Wednesday.
“The U.S. dollar is clearly being sacrificed by the Federal Reserve in a last ditch effort to save the mortgage bankers,” said Ned Schmidt, editor of the Value View Gold Report.
“Foreign investors would be foolish to buy U.S. investments knowing that the value of the dollar will decline,” Schmidt said.
On Thursday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in prepared testimony before a House panel that more delinquencies and foreclosures can be expected in the subprime adjustable-rate mortgage market as borrowers face interest-rate resets. See full story.
Saudi Arabia mulling peg drop?
Fueling bearish sentiment on the dollar, a report in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Thursday pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s central bank didn’t take action in the wake of the Fed’s rate cut.
“Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the U.S. Federal Reserve for the first time, signaling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East,” the report said.
But Marc Chandler, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said speculation that Saudi Arabia may abandon the peg between its riyal and the dollar and to reduce its holdings of dollars seems unfounded.
“While SAMA [Saudi Arabian monetary agency] may abandon the peg at some point, it is unlikely this will lead to a mass exodus from the U.S. bond markets, especially by central bank reserve managers,” Chandler said in a research note. “The largest reserve holders are not in the Middle East but in Asia and account, together with Russia, for over 63% of total reserve holdings.”
Referring to the currency peg, Chandler said that the governor of SAMA has said the bank held rates steady to fight inflation.
No coincidence
Stocks were lower Thursday. See Market Snapshot. Treasury bonds, typically a safe-haven buy when stocks drop, also languished under the weight of the dollar’s drop. See Bond report.
Gold futures, another safe-haven buy, rose more than 2% to top $745 an ounce in New York, to levels not seen since 1980. See Metals Stocks.
Crude-oil futures also rose Thursday, hitting as a new record of $83 a barrel. See Futures Movers.
“Is it a coincidence that the U.S. dollar, oil and gold are all breaking significant levels at the same time? No,” wrote Kathy Lien, chief strategist at Forex Capital Markets.
“The reason why the dollar can be blamed for the strength of oil and gold is because a weak dollar induces inflationary pressures, and since oil is priced in dollars, OPEC nations have a vested interest in seeing oil prices rise just so that they do not see a significant shortfall in profits,” Lien said.
Oil hits high over $84
Reuters
September 20, 2007
Oil surged to $84 a barrel on Thursday in the seventh straight record-breaking session as companies shut Gulf of Mexico output on forecasts a tropical depression churning through the region would become a storm.
U.S. crude settled up $1.39 at $83.32 a barrel after touching an all time high of $84.10 earlier. London Brent settled up 62 cents at $79.09 a barrel.
Oil has traded above $80 for the past week in part due to concerns about U.S. supplies after government data showed crude stocks in the top consumer fell for the fourth straight week.
A tropical depression blowing into the Gulf of Mexico exacerbated worries as companies shut offshore oil and natural gas output on expectations it would become a tropical storm.
Energy companies have shut over 360,100 barrels of oil per day, some 27.7 percent, of Gulf crude oil production and 16.7 percent of natural gas production on the storm threat, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said on Thursday.
“Energy companies shutting down Gulf of Mexico production and Fed Chief Bernanke’s optimistic words on the economy were supportive for this latest record rise in crude futures,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago.
RISING PRICES
U.S. Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said he expected rising defaults on U.S. mortgages but added the Fed was committed to preventing new lending problems after cutting interest rates sharply on Tuesday.
The dollar fell to a lifetime low against the euro and reached parity with the Canadian currency on Thursday on expectations more interest rate cuts could be made.
Oil has risen by a third this year, driven by worries of fuel shortages during the Northern Hemisphere winter, supply risks in producer countries, the weaker dollar and rising money flows from investors.
The recent surge to record prices came after producer group OPEC agreed to add 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to global markets to help calm consumer nation concerns.
While analysts are divided over whether prices can sustain current levels, some OPEC officials said oil will not stay above $80 for long.
“This situation is not stable and cannot be permanent,” said Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran’s OPEC governor.
Wednesday’s rise to record highs came after data showed crude oil stocks in the United States fell by 3.8 million barrels last week, nearly twice the 2 million-barrel draw expected in a Reuters poll of analysts.
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Zimbabwe Close To Economic Collapse
Home foreclosures triple in Hawaii
Bank of England doubles emergency loans available to British banks
Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright
China’s Ultimatum: Let Us Invade Taiwan Or We’ll Dump The Dollar
Rogers: Fed Rate Cut Will Trigger Recession
Greenspan Working To Destroy US Economy
Alan Greenspan Defends Himself
Greenspan says euro could replace U.S. dollar as reserve currency of choice
EU Warns China Of Trade Imbalance
Oil hits new high over $82 after Fed rate cut
U.S. gold futures hit 28-year peak
Failed Lender Makes Grab for Employee Funds
Greenspan predicts falling house prices, rising inflation
Greenspan Says China Will Determine World Economic Fate in 2030
Alan Greenspan warns of UK house prices drop
Greenspan alert on US house prices
Credit turmoil set to benefit big banks
Northern Rock: ‘One in 10 chance of property crash’
Hopes of UK interest rate cut ‘before Christmas’ after FTSE rises follow Fed’s swoop to cut rates
Relief as Northern Rock shares up
Treasurys Fall Ahead of Fed Decision
Fed Announces Big Rate Cut
Subprime Fallout: More Companies Slammed
Prepare for prolonged turmoil, says US Treasury Secretary
$200 Dollar a Barrel Oil Is Bilderberg Plan To Destroy Middle Class
Oil industry ‘sleepwalking into crisis’
Oil Trades Near Record on Speculation of Reduced U.S. Supplies
Mystery Trader To Collect On Financial Meltdown?
Ron Paul Sees Crisis Ahead For Country
Bankers Fear £12bn Run On Rock
Oil Trades Near Record on Speculation of Reduced U.S. Supplies
Oil industry ‘sleepwalking into crisis’
U.S. Banks Brace for Storm Surge as Dollar and Credit System Reel
“Business Expert” (?) Ann Coulter: It’s Good for Wall Street to Bomb Iran
Britons Withdraw Billions in Bank Run
Northern Rock besieged by savers
Pound slides, yen up on N. Rock jitters
New saver queues at Northern Rock
E*Trade Cuts Earnings Estimate 25% on Mortgage Losses
Fears Rise Over Online Banking
Stocks may rise on expected interest rate cut
Fears grow for British economy as panic over Northern Rock spreads
World’s banks hit for $30billion in credit crunch
Oil Hits $80 A Barrel For First Time
Senate panel okays $850 billion debt increase
Dollar’s retreat raises fear of collapse
Further signs of US economic pain
British Bank Rocked By Bank Run
Forecast: Housing woes pose risk of recession
Mortgage Lender’s Bankruptcy
US dollar hits record lows
Foreclosures gain on sales
American economy: R.I.P.
US Heads for Recession as Foreign Investors Rush for the Exit from US Dollar Holdings
Dollar Hits 15 Year Low
Gold Rallies Past $700
Greenspan: Turmoil Like 1998
Bad News Puts Political Glare Onto Economy
US economy loses jobs for first time in 4 years
ECB Injects €42.2BN Into Money Markets
Is China quietly dumping US Treasuries?
Markets Brace For Seismic September
Fed Injects 31.25 Billion Into Market
Credit Crisis Has Hallmarks of Classic Bank Run
U.S. at risk of recession from housing
Analysts Dismiss Suspicious “New 9/11? Trades
Credit Crisis Compared To 1930
Bank Warns Emergency Borrowers
Bush Unveils Mortgage Proposals
Congressman: Stock Market Will Eventually Collapse
Comptroller: U.S. Facing Economic Collapse
BIS Warns of Great Depression Dangers from Credit Spree
Market Crash Forecast Suggests New 9/11
U.S. Recession Risk Highest Since 9/11
Economy, credit worries drive Wall St down sharply
Fed Injects 17.25 Billion In Market
Foreclosures Up 93% In One Year
After Foreclosure A Big Tax Bill From The IRS
After Fed’s Rescue, Volatile Days Ahead
Warren Buffett Sees Opportunities In Chaos
Run On The Banks in Los Angeles
Zimbabwe Inflation Rate Hits 7600%
Yields On T-Bills Down Most In 2 Decades
Bruised investors suffer as market continues to swing
The Dow Plunges, FOX Reports Happy Economic News
World Stocks Plummet Yet Again
Economic Expert: We Are Already In An Engineered Recession
China is not the Problem
Heavy losses sweep world markets
Wall Street Pulls Off Late Comeback
Fed Poised To Dump More Money Into Market
Stock Market Brush Fire & Run On The Banks
Food prices rising in double digits
Existing Home Sales Fall In 41 States
Banks Add More Funds To Stabilize Markets
Economic Meltdown Favors The Elite
Central Banks Add Cash To Avert Crisis
Stocks End Mixed After Raucous Week
China dollar attack would be ‘foolhardy’: Bush
Fed Adds $38 Bln in Funds, Most Since September 2001
The “Plunge Protection Team” Working Overtime to Save US Stock Market
China threatens ‘nuclear option’ of dollar sales
World stocks slide on fresh US credit concerns
Dow Plunges 387 On Subprime Fears
Credit Crunch In U.S. Upends Global Markets
American Home to Declare Bankruptcy, Employees Told by Managers
Mad Money Cramer: Bernanke, Wake Up
Wall Street shaken by late-day market surges
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