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Forex and Stock Market News via WallStreetRockStar.com
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Ready for Stock Market Reality? | | THE FINAL NUMBERS - BACK TO REALITY
NEWS: On the second trading day of 2009 the market broke its three-day winning streak as the major indices fell. The Dow led the way lower with a drop of 0. | | 1/5/2009 7:43:56 PM |
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Vietnam Dong Finally Devalued | | The Central Bank of Vietnam finally acceded to reality and devalued its currency, the Vietnam Dong, by 3%. Prior to the change, the Dong (as well as its neighbor, the Chinese Yuan, which has also experienced a decline) was one of the few relative winners of the credit crisis. Perhaps this was because the currency had already depreciated significantly in recent years (35% since 1994), as well as because it remains fixed to the Dollar and hence it is impossible for the markets to short it when it becomes overvalued. Vietnam continues to be plagued by double-digit inflation and a surging current account imbalance, which suggest that the currency will probably have to suffer an additional 'correction' before reaching a sustainable level. In fact, the black market rate remains well below the official rate, reports Bloomberg News:The devaluation followed five interest-rate cuts by the
central bank this quarter to help bolster the economy. Policy
makers last lowered the benchmark rate on Dec. 19 by the most
ever this year to 8.5 percent, from 10 percent.Read More: Vietnam Devalues Dong to Fight Slowdown, Help Exports | | 1/5/2009 7:40:00 AM |
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Consensus: Fed is Devaluing Dollar | | The Fed is officially in panic mode, having lowered its benchmark federal funds rate close to zero and exhausted all of the tools in its monetary arsenal, with one notable exception: its printing press. In other words, the Fed is trying to jumpstart credit markets by acting as a market participant- investing funds to compensate for the reticence of private investors. Capital markets are naturally enthusiastic about this policy, since some of the new cash will probably be used to make leveraged bets on asset prices and erase some of the losses of the last year. Forex markets are palpably less excited that the Fed has essentially eroded much of the impetus for foreigners to hold their ash in the US, with paltry short-term yields and long-term gains that will likely be offset by inflation. Unless foreign Central Banks follow suit and eliminate the current interest rate disparity with the US, it could be a bumpy 2009 for the Dollar. Forbes reports:Citi Analyst Steven Wieting opined: "If you want yield, you'll have to take some risk." With borrowing rates suddenly close to zero and the Fed saying it will keep them at “exceptionally low levels ... for some time, you'll get as little of it from government-issued debt as possible."Read More: After the Fed Panic | | 1/2/2009 7:31:00 AM |
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