Free Republic

(Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rally is likely to continue into the coming year on expectations that President-elect Donald Trump's proposed reflationary economic policies will force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more quickly, according to a Reuters poll. Most foreign exchange strategists also say risks to forecasts for the dollar to gain against every major currency are skewed to the upside. They see nearly one chance in three the euro will reach or fall below parity in the year ahead. "(The dollar) continues to reign supreme on the back of bets of improving growth and the inflation outlook...

Image from 11alive.com On November 21, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia, an armed robber attempted to victimize a Dollar store. Attempted is the operative word. The suspect did not succeed. He was wounded twice for his efforts, then he was arrested. He is lucky to have survived. From 11alive.com: Atlanta Police say the man walked into the store around 9:55 p.m., pulled a gun and demanded the contents of the store’s cash register. As the robber was leaving the store with the cash register itself, an Atlanta Police spokesman said one of the store’s employees pulled a personal handgun and...

A 10-day losing streak for the euro against the U.S. dollar is rekindling an old debate: Will the single currency reach parity with the dollar? In the last two weeks, the euro has fallen 4% against the dollar, hitting $1.06, a level last seen 12 months ago.

The answer is no,” he said, when asked about his campaign trail promise by CBS interviewer Lesley Stahl. “I think I have to take by law one dollar so I’ll take one dollar a year.” He admitted that he didn’t even know what the salary was, but when he was told it was $400,000 salary he declined it. “I’m not taking it,” he said. He added that he would not be taking too many vacations either. “There’s so much work to be done and I want to get it done for the people,” he said. “I want to get it...

Canada’s dollar took a wild ride in overnight trading in the midst of Donald Trump‘s U.S. presidential victory, shedding nearly 1.3 cents before stemming some of its losses. The loonie tanked on global markets, falling as low as 73.89 cents US on Wednesday at around 12 a.m. ET, down 1.27 cents from its close Tuesday. It later regained some ground, trading at 74.38 cents US, not far off the levels it’s been at in the waning weeks of the U.S. presidential election campaign.

As the Federal Reserve's long-awaited December rate hike approaches, the parallels with a year ago are both striking and a bit worrying. The dollar is surging against other major currencies as the Fed gets set to tighten policy, even as other major central banks plan to keep their monetary spigots wide open for the foreseeable future. Similar circumstances triggered a bout of global financial market turmoil at the start of 2016... ...strong dollar is a negative for U.S. multinationals... ...good news is that Fed policymakers also are on guard against a repeat of the global financial market turmoil... ...IBD'S TAKE:...

They call him Dr. Doom and for good reason. Dr. Marc Faber, author, investment adviser, and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, usually emphasizes the risks in the financial system and never minces his words. However, his views are more nuanced than most people think, and his advice for investors is more pragmatic than idealistic. Epoch Times spoke to Faber about central bank manipulation of financial markets, the reasons for income inequality, and how to invest in this environment.

Negative interest rates are spreading like a virus. Central banks in the Eurozone, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan all have below-zero policy rates. “NIRP,” as economists call a negative interest rate policy, is a desperation move—but the only move those central banks have. The Federal Reserve hasn’t followed—yet. When the next recession strikes, I believe Janet Yellen will choose to break the zero lower bound. The rationale was laid out in Jackson Hole. Look behind the headlines and you’ll see the Fed already preparing for NIRP. In theory, negative rates should encourage consumers and businesses to spend more freely and stimulate...

The American debt problem was almost entirely ignored at the Republican National Convention last week, and we can expect nothing more when the Democrats gather this week. Both parties support the entitlement spending system and the decrepit tax system that fails to support it. They compete on the fiscal side of politics with impossible promises to spend more and tax less. Imagine the U.S. Treasury as an airplane beginning to roll down the runway to take off. For a mile or so, the plane gains no altitude, then the wings start to generate lift. The wheels leave the ground and...

The glut of gasoline and other refined products has taken center stage for the oil markets, threatening to initiate a new bear market and push oil prices down below $40 per barrel for the first time in months. But while a surplus of refined products is weighing on crude prices, there could be another culprit that does not get as much publicity. Goldman Sachs says that a strong dollar deserves more blame for an oil price downturn, and further strengthening of the greenback looms as a much larger threat to prices than the gasoline glut. The U.S. Federal Reserve could...

ISIS is now issuing its own currency referred to as the ‘Golden Dinar,’ with engravings bearing the words “Islamic State.” The coins, currently being released in limited quantity, are to primarily be used by traders in the oil industry in areas under Islamic State control, according to reports on jihadi online forums. Activists in Deir ez-Zor, Syria reported oil traders have been ordered to use the new Dinar when purchasing from ISIS-held oil fields. Reports from the Iraqi city of Mosul have indicated the Golden Dinar is being introduced to the currency market as part of a serious attempt to...

The Canadian dollar has posted gains on Monday session, continuing the upward trend which marked the Friday. USD/CAD is trading at 1.2860. The Canadian dollar posted strong gains on Friday, which was somewhat surprising as Canadian markets were closed for Canada Day. US markets are closed on Monday for Independence Day, so there are no scheduled US events. Canada will publish Manufacturing PMI and the BoC Business Outlook Survey. With the financial markets understandably focused on the stunning Brexit vote, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has shifted to the back-burner. That could change later this week, with the release of...

It wasn’t so long ago that some of the more famous investor gurus were shrugging off gold as nothing more than shiny trinkets with no investment value. They were wrong. This safe haven is back, the recovery is clear, and there have been some very big changes of heart. The biggest gold producers in the world have seen their share prices double this year. Not only are gold prices soaring, but producers are cutting costs and slimming down debt as they pave the way for gold to return to the top of the favored commodities list. Even though gold dropped...

With Saudi Riyal forwards plunging back below 3.81, dramatically weaker than the current peg, Bloomberg reports that Saudi authorities are cracking down on currency traders as speculation mounts that the world’s biggest oil exporter won’t be able to maintain the riyal’s peg to the dollar as revenue plunges. Saudi Arabia ordered banks in the kingdom to stop selling some products that allow speculators to bet against its currency peg just days after demanding information from lenders on the offerings, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency sent a circular to banks this week saying...

Leading members of Congress are calling on President Barack Obama to fire one of his top advisers amid a deepening scandal over accusations the White House intentionally misled lawmakers and the American public about the contents of last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran, according to a letter sent Monday to Obama and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The lawmakers are pressing Obama to fire deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes following revelations he and other officials “spearheaded the charge to mislead elected lawmakers and the American people about the Iran nuclear deal and the negotiations that led to...

When Jim Chanos said earlier this week that days ago that sub-Saharan Africa is facing a severe cash shortage (mostly as a result of their collapsing oil export revenue) he probably did not have the economic basket case of Zimbabwe in mind, and yet this is the country which, after years of monetary and economic collapse "problems", including the occasional bout of hyperinflation, finds itself in the most dire situation. As News24 reports, just this past week, Zimbabweans formed long queues outside banks on Thursday as a cash shortage prompted the government to announce plans to print a local version...

In a shocking move likely to crush the US economy overnight, China is refusing to make its new gold-backed Yuan, convertible from or to US Dollars. The new Yuan will be introduced next Tuesday, April 19. When the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to add the Yuan to the basket of world currencies used for Global Reserves and International Trade, they wanted China to make the Yuan more reliable as a currency. Since then, China has almost un-pegged its Yuan from the Dollar, allowing its value to fluctuate on world markets. But for years, China has been amassing huge amounts...

This is the first in an eight-part series about America's awesomeness. The United States of America is the most awesome country in the world – even when I was a child. I was grateful to live in America and not in some impoverished Third World country. But it is really my experiences living abroad and traveling across the globe that have utterly convinced me that America is a uniquely great country. Democracy and liberty are clearly the two most important birthrights of Americans. But today I want to write about the U.S. dollar. A stable national currency and low inflation are...

Five consecutive weeks of gains makes it hard to argue that we’re in a bear market. While it may not seem like much has changed since the markets last swooned, a few key developments remain supportive of stock prices.In particular, a shifted stance on monetary policy, change in the trajectory of the dollar, and recovery in oil prices have turned sellers into buyers.The Fed Last Wednesday the Federal Reserve confirmed what many had anticipated going into the latest FOMC meeting: that the Fed would have to back off of its four-rate-hike plan for 2016.For some time now, the Fed’s...

Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, who advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, wrote for the Yorkshire Post, was managing editor of the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, has lectured at faculty level on currency theory and is now a columnist for WND, has long given warnings that the over-borrowing governments of the West are on a course to bankruptcy, from which recovery will not be possible.Monckton has now come out with his personal plan to sideline the collapsing dollar and rescue western markets: a sound and fully asset-backed currency called the Texas Talent. Users of the Talent would trade in their...