But the only surprise is that everyone is surprised
dollar
Currency Crises Abroad Are Benefiting the U.S.
Analysts are calling them “The Fragile Five,” a catchy sobriquet for five countries–Turkey, Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia–that have been experiencing serious turmoil in their economies and currencies in recent …
Is the U.S. Economy Worse Off than Europe’s?
The U.S. economy is still only muddling through, according to revised GDP numbers out by the Commerce Department. That’s bad news. But more disturbing is the accompanying dollar slump against the euro, and what it says about perceptions of our economy versus Europe’s.
The Commerce Department’s revised report on first quarter GDP …
Will Strauss-Kahn’s Fall Lead to the Dollar’s Decline?
There’s a lot of talk about what Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest for sexually assaulting a maid means for the eurozone crisis. Less attention has gone to the fate of another project close to DSK’s heart: weaning the global financial system off of the U.S. dollar. DSK had been a vocal proponent of using the IMF’s de-facto currency, the …
Are High Oil Prices Good for U.S.-China Trade?
The U.S. trade deficit climbed 6% in March, according to numbers out from the Commerce Department. But the widening trade gap, the highest since June 2010, may not be as worrisome as it seems. Much of the jump has to do with the recent uptick in oil prices, which makes the U.S. bill for oil imports more expensive. But if you take oil …
New column: The dollar in danger
What if oil weren’t priced in dollars?
Robert Fisk’s report in the Independent that the Persian Gulf countries are planning to stop pricing oil in dollars by 2018 and start using a basket of currencies instead has caused quite the big stir today. Gold hit a new record of $1,043 an ounce as investors worried about the future of the dollar, and the Internets were aflame with …
Why China should stop piling up dollars (and why it won’t)
In today’s FT, Martin Wolf writes about China’s $2.1 trillion in foreign currency reserves:
It is little wonder such a huge exposure makes the Chinese government nervous. But nobody asked the Chinese to do this. On the contrary, US policymakers have consistently (and wisely) advised them to do the opposite. Having made what I believe was
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