This is a question that plagues NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, where we believe 2+2=5 is a beautiful thing. The objective force created by markets has always perplexed us? U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen keeps sounding the alarm that currency values must be established by markets. This is meant to be a threat to nations that attempt to intervene through selling their currencies in the open markets in an effort to keep downward pressure on currency values to support their economies.
Posts Tagged ‘currency manipulation’
Notes From Underground: What Constitutes Market Forces?
February 2, 2021Notes From Underground: The Darkness of Foreign Exchange
December 10, 2020There were two central bank meetings in the past two days: The Bank of Canada and the European Central Bank. The BOC stayed its current course with no change in policy. Several analysts were looking for more dovish action because of the appreciation of the Canadian dollar but the BOC was wise in noting that a “broad-based decline” in the U.S. exchange rate has contributed to a “further appreciation of the Canadian dollar.” As a result, the BOC has ZERO concerns about its currency appreciating as long as it is BROAD-BASED.
Notes From Undergound: Marc Faber, Wow
October 13, 2020It is a pleasure to have sat down with the paradigm of global macro, Dr. Marc Faber. We, alongside Richard Bonugli, talked commodities, currencies and bond markets. Enjoy the podcast and make it a double of your favorite libation. No, it’s not doom and gloom. It’s insights into the current global financial situation presented with potential investment opportunities.
But first, let’s review a few things:
Notes From Underground: Trump Has Weaponized The Dollar. Do the Longs Know?
June 12, 2019Some shots were fired last Friday, but it seems that the markets can only hear the siren song of White House tweets. There was an important story from Bloomberg reporter Saleha Mohsin titled, “Trump’s Currency War Plan Puts Treasury and Commerce at Odds.” The article noted that “a Commerce Department proposal to impose countervailing tariffs on countries that it determines have devalued their currencies has alarmed officials at the Treasury Department.”
It appears that President Trump has grown frustrated by Treasury’s failure to name any country as a “currency manipulator.” It has been Treasury’s bailiwick to monitor the foreign exchange interventions of countries who strive to artificially hold down the value of their currencies in an effort gain a competitive advantage versus any G20 country, especially the U.S. (from the Treasury Department perspective).
Notes From Underground: Things to Contemplate
March 6, 2018Let’s discuss the concept of tariffs with a wider historical perspective:
The Bretton Woods system crafted at the end of World War II provided the U.S. with both an enormous privilege and an enormous burden (a blessing and a curse, if you will). The U.S. acted as the provider with massive amounts of global liquidity but it also became the repository of the FREE world’s excess capacity. The Marshall Plan and the Alliance For Progress acted to spread dollars to our allies in an effort to counteract COMECON and the influence of the Soviet Empire.
Notes From Underground: Cleaning Out The Financial News Stables
July 24, 2017Today, Rick Santelli and I offered insights into this week’s FOMC meeting, coupled with the recent ECB actions. I noted that the Italian BOND FUTURES Monday were trading above the June 27 close when ECB President Mario Draghi roiled global credit markets with his Sintra,Portugal speech, which suggested that the removal of a deflationary scare would allow the ECB to begin tapering its QE program. The fact that Italian 10-year yields are lower today than four weeks ago is indicative of the power of the QE bond purchases. Why?
Notes From Underground: Making Sense Of the Treasury’s Guide to Currency Manipulation
May 2, 2016While attempting to enjoy Pittsburgh (and hopefully a Cubs game), the markets buzzing about the U.S. Treasury’s report about the “Trade facilitation and trade Enforcement Act of 2015.” In a Bloomberg News article published late Friday afternoon, “U.S. Places China, Japan, Germany on New FX Monitoring List,” it seems that the Treasury and Jack Lew are raising the threat of retaliation against nations that meet the Congressional crafted criterion of currency manipulation. These include: 1. Significant bilateral trade surplus with U.S.; 2. Material current-account surplus; and 3. Engaged in persistent one-sided FX intervention. The issue of “one-sided intervention” is defined as only weakening a currency by conducting repetitive net purchases of FX amounting to more than 2% of its GDP.”