Category: Finance

China’s Currency Policy A cornerstone of China’s economic policy is managing the yuan exchange rate to benefit its exports. China does not have a floating exchange rate that is determined by market forces, as is the case with most advanced economies. Instead it pegs its currency, the yuan (or renminbi), to the U.S. dollar. The yuan was pegged to the greenback at 8.28 to the […]

in order for currency depreciation to work its magic, more demand for exports must be forthcoming when the exchange rate falls (or, as economists say, the price elasticity of demand for exports must be high). But various studies have shown that the price elasticity of demand for UK exports is low. Ideally, the British government should aim to bring down imports as a percentage of […]

Japan has always been a large exporter and has continually exported significantly more goods and services than it imports. The result has been decades of current account surpluses that have positioned Japan as a net creditor to the world.This is a distinction also shared by the Swiss franc, often considered another haven currency.The value of foreign assets held by Japanese investors is substantially higher than […]

A surge in banks’ demand for the European Central Bank’s dollar funding increased concerns on Friday that fears over Deutsche Bank AG where forcing lenders to stock up on greenbacks. But there are signs that the drawdown may have more to do with U.S. financial reform. As investors continue to fret over Deutsche Bank, a jittery market is likely to continue leaping to negative conclusions. […]

The outstanding global derivatives market is over $700 trillion — 10 times global GDP. And amazingly, one bank, Deutsche Bank, owns about $75 trillion of those derivatives. That’s roughly 13% of all outstanding global derivatives. And Deutsche Bank is in trouble…With its tentacles extended throughout the world like a global grapevine, Deutsche Bank presents “systemic risk.” In fact, the IMF declared last month that Deutsche […]

While odds of a deal in Algiers are virtually nil, keep an eye on oil vol: with a barrage of “headlines” (mostly from anonymous Reuters “sources”) imminent, the only guarantee move is that oil will move dramatically higher and lower in the next three days.

Angela Merkel said, “Europe is not at all in a good state.” And Europe is famous for waiting until the last second to actually address crises. The danger is that threats are flowing from so many holes that plugging up the leak at the last moment may take more fingers than the Little Dutch Boy of myth has.