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TOKYO -- The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan have intervened to buy the yen and sell dollars for the first time in about 24 years after the currency weakened on indications that the central bank would stick to its ultraloose monetary policy. The intervention on Thursday was confirmed by Masato Kanda, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs. It followed a slide in the yen after BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda made bearish remarks that indicated he had no intention to raise rates any time soon. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki later said that the BOJ intervened to calm volatility...

Folks, we have a consensus here. Formidable thinkers such as Paul Krugman, Larry Summers, and David Stockman, some 370 economists including 19 Nobel Laureates, and editors at the Economist, Fortune, and Barron’s all believe that Donald Trump as president is a menace to world trade and prosperity.President Trump has talked about 35 percent tariffs on foreign goods and an array of “border taxes,” such as the tariff with Mexico he proposed last week. He intends to name China a so-called “currency manipulator” on the basis of a mere bilateral trade gap. He’s denounced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)...

For most people, pleading guilty to a felony means they will very likely land in prison, lose their job and forfeit their right to vote. But when five of the world’s biggest banks plead guilty to an array of antitrust and fraud charges as soon as next week, life will go on, probably without much of a hiccup. The Justice Department is preparing to announce that Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland will collectively pay several billion dollars and plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations for rigging the price of foreign currencies, according to people briefed...

Banks want assurances from U.S. regulators that they will not be barred from certain businesses before agreeing to plead guilty to criminal charges over the manipulation of foreign exchange rates, causing a delay in multibillion-dollar settlements, people familiar with the matter said. In an unprecedented move, the parent companies or main banking units of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS.L), Barclays Plc (BARC.L) and UBS Group AG (UBSG.VX) are likely to plead guilty to rigging foreign exchange rates to benefit their transactions. The banks are also scrambling to line up exemptions...

Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff 12/19/2011 @ 4:15PM |2,956 views China Waking Up? Central Bank Now Selling Forex Reserves To Support Yuan Marking a clear break with its policies over the last several years, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced a second consecutive month of foreign exchange outflows in November, a move designed to support the value of the yuan. China’s currency intervention came alongside a report showing property prices continuing to fall, as Beijing clamps down on what many see as a dangerous real estate bubble. The Red Dragon appears to be waking up. Chinese policymakers are doing everything...

If you’re like many of us, you may be wondering when people are going to stop uttering the phrase “In this economy, … ”. Since the world’s financial system took a turn for the worst in 2007, this saying has been used time and time again by countless people. In fact, it is the underlying sentiment that contributed to U.S. regulators drafting the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 (“Dodd Frank” or “Act”). Dodd Frank, for those of you who don’t know, is a massive financial legislation intended to prevent a future financial Armageddon. In drafting the Act,...

Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011. In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm...

Friday, March 18, 2011 G-7 OKs Yen-Selling, Spurring BOJ, Gov't Move TOKYO (Nikkei)--Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven agreed to intervene jointly in the foreign exchange markets for the first time in more than 10 years to curb the yen's rise against the dollar. Officials from the G-7 held a telephone conference Friday morning to discuss the yen's surge against the dollar following the earthquake in northeastern Japan on March 11 and accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Following the agreement, the government and the Bank of Japan intervened in the forex market...

Commentary: Looking at forex through lens of recent Chinese policy BEIJING (Caixin Online) — Regional Asian central banks have swiftly intervened to prevent the appreciation of their currencies, fanning tensions in an already heated global currency discussion. But the use of currency depreciation to revive exports only serves to introduce greater uncertainty and puts economies on a path toward weak recovery. The stimulation of exports to promote economic growth remains an essential pattern of growth for countries around the world. Because of this, several economies have made reciprocal moves to depreciate their currencies. And yet with so many central banks...

On March 17th of 2010 the self regulatory organization for commodities trading and retail foreign currency transactions in the United States, National Futures Association (“NFA”), announced a major change to the way Hedge, Commodity, and Forex funds operate. The change, titled “Compliance Rule 2-46” is NFA’s latest effort to work towards detecting and eliminating Madoff Style investment frauds within the industries they regulate. In order to comply with any set of new regulatory standards one has to first understand the intentions and implications of the adjusted policy. So what then does this adjustment mean for the commodity and forex industries?...

On January 13th, 2010 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a press release regarding its highly anticipated rule proposal for the regulation of retail forex transactions. The proposal seeks to adopt a new regulatory scheme to implement the CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2008. The following is a summary listing of the major provisions included in the CFTC’s proposal. While reading through these items please note that they are not the only changes to the law which have been proposed. Rather, these items represent what will be the most significant changes to the industry through the eyes of a former...

Thursday saw the US Treasury report a record October deficit, the 13th monthly shortfall in a row. The Federal Reserve last week vowed to hold its key interest at next-to-zero for an "extended period". The Bank of England here in London has now created £200 billion of new money since March, using it primarily to buy government bonds as Whitehall's deficit hits a peace-time record equal above 14% of GDP. China's central bank reported record gold reserves this spring of 1054 tonnes. The Reserve Bank of India bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund at the start...

IN ONE sense, a weak dollar is good news for the world. Behind the global economy’s current revival is a returning appetite for risky investments, such as equities and corporate bonds. At their most panicky investors shunned all but the safest and most liquid assets: American Treasuries were a favoured comfort blanket. That demand for safe assets prompted a rally in the dollar in the months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September. Now that stockmarkets and economies have bounced back, dollar weakness has returned, causing a headache for countries with floating exchange rates (see chart). That has prompted...

The dollar dropped overnight Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked interest rates, the first G20 country to do so, putting added pressure on the low-yielding greenback. The rate hike comes at a time when U.S. interest rates are still ultra-low, making the dollar less attractive to investors. The RBA's move reinforces the impression the U.S. could lag behind other countries in raising rates as the world pulls out of the financial crisis. The RBA Tuesday raised interest rates for the first time since March 2008, becoming the first central bank from the Group of 20 to begin withdrawing...

The latest in the Amero saga... I know it sounds impossible, but the world is being forced to a point of having to implement a one world currency. Or at least a one world currency among the major economies - maybe Tunisia might escape. But, ultimately, since the world economies are all linked now, none can stand alone whatsoever, so then the idea of individual currencies is fading. In fact, all individual currencies do now is cause trade and currency frictions, like the US complaining the Chinese are using a cheap Yuan to manipulate their trade to their advantage, and...

Bank of Korea Likely to Buy Gold for 1st Time in 11 Years JULY 04, 2009 10:02 The Bank of Korea has not purchased gold for 11 years, but is expected to go on a gold buying spree, as the world’s central banks have bought the commodity since the global economic erupted in September last year. A Bank of Korea official said yesterday, “The bank has begun to set up a plan to manage foreign exchange reserves for next year. It has also closely watched central banks in other nations and trends in the global gold market. Given the changing...

Well well well. In an update to my "GM Goes Boom" Ticker, it appears that we may now have to ask: Did Obama grow a pair? "WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama plans to appoint senior administration officials — rather than a single "car czar," as had been discussed — to oversee a restructuring of the auto industry. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will oversee the across-the-government panel, a senior administration official said Sunday on the condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. It has also been rumored that President Obama himself will...

China forex watchdog burnt by WaMu collapse Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:08am GMT By George Chen, Asia Private Equity Correspondent HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange watchdog, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will cut back on overseas equity buys next year after suffering major losses on the collapse of U.S. lender Washington Mutual, according to sources. Earlier this year, SAFE, which controls around $2 trillion of China's foreign reserves, agreed to invest up to $2.5 billion in fund of U.S. private equity giant TPG TPG.UL -- its first foray into a foreign private equity fund, people close to...

The Strong Dollar Illusion By Peter Schiff Economists who now see American troubles spreading around the world are predicting that foreign central banks will ignore the gathering inflation threat and follow the Fed down the rate cutting path. Similarly, they argue that since the downturn began here, the U.S. recovery will likely be underway while the rest of world is still decelerating. These assumptions have prompted a rally in the dollar, a sell-off in gold, commodities and foreign stocks, and have cast doubts on the ability of foreign economies to "decouple" from the United States. Investors should not take...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The dollar fell to a record low against a basket of currencies on Monday, dragging Asian stock markets down and compounding worries about a likely U.S. recession and more write-downs in the global financial sector. ADVERTISEMENT A sliding dollar boosted safe-haven bonds and sent gold to a record high in Asia. The dollar fell as low as 73.551 (^DXY - News) against a basket of six major currencies, taking it to the lowest since the index was started in 1973. It ploughed below 103 yen as a sell-off in Wall Street last Friday spurred an unwinding...