All Entries Tagged With: "$USDJPY"
Asian Currency Outlook in 2012
Currency traders had a particularly interesting year in 2011. The expiration of the second round of quantitative easing (QE2), multiple interventions by the Bank of Japan (BoJ), and the initiation of a hard peg of the Swiss franc to the euro all contributed to an intensely volatile forex year. While it will be hard to [...]
Japanese Pull a Swiss
Last Sunday night, Japan’s central bank intervened in the currency market. The Bank of Japan sold yen en masse in an effort to drive down the value of the yen. The move worked—at least initially—as the yen dropped against the dollar roughly 5%. Against the euro, the yen dropped about 3%. Interestingly, the move was [...]
Bank of Japan Ponders Further Intervention
On Thursday, officials with the Japanese government met with officials at the Bank of Japan to discuss the recent record appreciation of the Japanese yen. Since the beginning of July, the yen has been steadily appreciating, particularly against the U.S. dollar. During the first week of August, the Bank of Japan intervened in an effort [...]
Currency Wars Continue, Japan Enters the Mix
Overnight Wednesday, the Bank of Japan intervened in the value of the yen. The Bank opted to sell trillions of yen, a move which may have significantly contributed to the depreciation of the currency. The yen depreciated well over 2% against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, well over 1% against the euro, and almost 2.5% [...]
Even With a Downgrade, Dollar’s Reserve Status May Not Go Away
John Taylor, the founder of the world’s largest currency-hedge fund, said the U.S. dollar would remain the world’s reserve currency, even if the ratings agencies opt to downgrade the U.S.’s debt in the face of the debt ceiling increase. “There is no alternative to the dollar in the next five to 10 years,” Taylor stated, [...]
Trichet Says European Situation Not as Bad as US, Japan
On Wednesday, the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, spoke regarding the economic situation in Europe. Trichet covered a variety of topics, but the most interesting note he made may have been his comparison of the European Union’s struggles to the fiscal problems in the United States and Japan. Given the ongoing struggles [...]
Where Does the U.S. Dollar Go Come August 3rd?
The deadline is fast approaching: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned that on August second, barring an extension of the debt ceiling, the U.S. federal government will default. Despite warnings from a host of economic commentators, congress has failed to reach an agreement that would allow the government to pay all of its obligations after [...]
ECB Rate Hike, Portuguese Bailout Stymie Markets
Proving once again that all of the people can be right some of the time, the European Central Bank raised its headline interest rate from 1% to 1.25% on Thursday. Because the increase was so widely anticipated, forex markets responded rather quietly. There were no significant changes in the EURUSD or the GBPUSD, while the [...]
Dollar Bounces Before Gravity Takes Over
The March 2011 report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics noted a gain in US non-farm payrolls of 216,000 for the month, and a headline unemployment rate of 8.8%. The numbers exceeded expectations, and put a charge into the US dollar on Friday, pushing the EURUSD down to less than 1.41 and the USDJPY [...]
UK Inflation Raises Odds for Interest Rate Hike
The UK posted an annualized inflation rate in February of 4.4%, some 240 basis points above the target 2% set by the Bank of England. The jump is attributed to rising fuel costs, housing costs, and clothing. Rising inflation numbers have set tongues to wagging again about the possibility of an immediate interest rate hike [...]
