Free Republic

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The dollar fell broadly on Wednesday after a report showed housing starts dropped to their lowest level in 14 years in September, adding to concerns that the housing market may drag on the U.S. economy.

Tokyo housewife hid 1.7 million pounds in forex gains TOKYO (Reuters) - A financially savvy Tokyo housewife who made 400 million yen (1.7 million pounds) trading in foreign exchange markets was fined on Friday for evading tax, a court official said. Yukiko Ikebe, 60, got a suspended jail sentence and was fined 34 million yen, after she used relatives' names to make her gains look smaller and avoid paying tax, NHK said. "She felt it was unfair to have to pay tax on her gains, when she made losses some years," NHK quoted the judge as saying. "She spent the...

The Iranian government said it has ordered the central bank to transform the state's dollar-denominated assets held abroad into euros and use the European currency for foreign transactions. "The government has ordered the central bank to replace the dollar with the euro to limit the problems of the executive organs in commercial transactions," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters Monday. "We will also employ this change for Iranian assets (in dollars) held abroad."

BRUSSELS, May 16, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Slovenia today became the first new EU member state to get the green light to join the EU's common currency, the euro. Meeting in Strasbourg, the European Commission ruled the country meets all the necessary criteria and can adopt the euro as of January 1, 2007. The Commission turned down the application of a second candidate for early entry, Lithuania, saying the country's inflation is too high.

TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) - The dollar struck a seven-month low against the yen and a one-year low against the euro on Monday, extending a slide as the Federal Reserve appears set to soon end a two-year run of credit tightening. A renewed focus on U.S. deficits after last month's meeting of Group of Seven industrialised powers, worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions and deteriorating technical signals have pummeled the dollar across the board. The yen gained across the board on solid buying by foreign hedge funds and investment banks, while some Japanese players squared positions heading into the country's Golden...

SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) -- China is considering launching its QDII (qualified domestic institutional investor) program to balance its capital account, officials from the country's state forex regulator, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on Tuesday in Beijing. The QDII program, which opens the door for overseas investment by using forex accumulated within the country, will offset capital inflows to China, which pressure the country's currency the renminbi (RMB) to appreciate. However, Zou Lin, Director of the Capital Department under SAFE, stressed that the QDII program is still under research, rather than in a decided schedule. On the same day,...

Home  l  Broadcast  l  Market Monitor  l  Top 10  l  Storm Watch  l  Sitemap  l  About Us Today's WrapUp by Mike Hartman 03.01.2006  Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu   Fri   Archive MARKETS TURN 180 DEGREES FROM YESTERDAY Tuesday’s closing bell had stock prices sharply lower, bond prices higher, and the dollar lower versus most major currencies, but today is a different story. Yesterday we saw a great deal of data depicting weakness in the U.S. economy, but today we see continuing strength in consumer spending, increased business spending, and more strength than was expected in U.S. manufacturing. The anchor on CNBC...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Authorities announced charges Wednesday against 47 people, including traders from some of Wall Street's best-known firms, in a foreign currency trading scandal that officials say defrauded investors of millions of dollars...[snip] Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission also filed separate charges of fraud in federal court against Wall Street currency trader United Currency Group Inc. and its CEO, Adam Swickle, Wednesday...[snip] The defendants, he said, were part of the multimillion-dollar scheme that spanned all levels of the currency-trading market, from top traders down to "boiler-room operations," where financial professionals make phone calls to solicit individual investors......

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar hit a 27-month high against the yen on Monday and edged closer to recent two-year lows versus the euro and sterling as greenback buying on yield advantage gathered momentum after a long U.S. weekend. In the absense of major data on Monday, investors, coming back from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, pushed the dollar higher in anticipation of further rises in U.S. interest rates. The euro kept a low profile as investors awaited European Central Bank speakers including chief Jean-Claude Trichet ahead of a widely-expected 25 basis point rate hike this week. But the outlook beyond...

Technical Overview · British Pound Heads To 1.7000· Swiss Franc Sees 1.3500 In Its Future· New Zealand Dollar Fails To Capture .6900 Traders Corner:Reality or wishful thinking, it’s a very delicate balance when it comes to trading. As a trader I always learned not to let the wishful thinking cloud my judgment. I never let such notions as hopes and dreams distort the reality of the market. At one point when I found myself grasping at straws in a sinking trade I realized that no matter what I think, wish or hope, the market will do what its need to...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar clung close to a two-year high against the euro and a 27-month peak versus the yen on Tuesday as more investors flock to the U.S. currency for its widening yield advantage. The yen came under pressure after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a rare comment on central bank policy, saying it was too early for the Bank of Japan to end its ultra-loose "quantitative easing" until deflation is defeated. Koizumi's remarks on Monday added to a chorus of government officials calling for the BOJ, which gained political independence just in 1998, to work with...

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar remained firm on Tuesday near this week's three-month highs against the euro and 16-month peaks versus the yen as a Federal Reserve official joined the hawkish chorus on U.S. interest rates. The dollar also hit a two-month high against sterling and against an index of major currencies as investors priced in prospects for the Fed to press ahead with its 15-month credit-tightening campaign. Atlanta Fed President Jack Guynn told Reuters in an interview on Monday that the Fed's tightening campaign still has "a ways to go" before completion. Analysts said strong data, equity inflows and...

The Canadian dollar surged to a 13 1/2-year high Monday - gaining almost a full U.S. cent - as a sharp increase in crude oil prices fired up gains against the U.S. greenback. The loonie was trading during the day as high as 85.74 cents US, up 0.9 of a cent from Friday's close of 84.84 cents U.S. It later closed at 85.57 cents US, up 0.73 cent,. "This is the highest we've been since the month of January 1992," said George Davis, chief foreign exchange technical analyst with RBC Capital Markets. "The market is starting to refocus on...

Canada's benchmark stock index achieved its highest close of the year Friday - a level not seen since the autumn of 2000 - as triple-digit increases were propelled by a fresh spate of corporate and economic news. The Canadian dollar touched at a 13-year intraday high, shooting above 85 cents US after a stable jobs report from Statistics Canada built on Wednesday's interest rate hike. ~snip~ The Canadian dollar ended the day at 84.93 cents US, up 0.32 cent - its highest close since November after retreating from its intraday peak of 85.27 cents US, a 13-year high. On Thursday,...

The euro hit its lowest level against the dollar in more than 13 months Monday after data painted a rosy picture of the U.S. economy and traders waited to see if the European Central Bank would cut interest rates later this week. The euro fell as low as $1.1888 in Europe - its lowest point since May 20, 2004, when it dropped to $1.1893 - before recovering slightly to $1.1900 in late afternoon trading. That's compared to $1.1947 in New York late Friday. The British pound slipped to $1.7611 from $1.7694. The dollar fell against the Japanese yen, to...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The euro fell below $1.20 for the first time in 10 months on Friday as traders bet that euro zone interest rates will eventually be cut and make the dollar an even more attractive destination for investors. A combination of Sweden's central bank slashing interest rates this week and the Bank of England moving closer to lowering rates has thrown the spotlight on the European Central Bank. ECB officials have held firm that current rates at 2 percent are appropriate, but political pressure has mounted on the euro zone's central bank to do something about the region's...

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar hit a nine-month high against the euro on Monday, extending recent gains made after upbeat U.S. data and comments from Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan fanned expectations of more U.S. interest rate hikes. Finance ministers from the world's rich nations (G8) during their weekend meeting in London kept up pressure on China to move toward more flexible exchange rates, but produced no clues as to the timing. Following last week's better-than-expected U.S. trade data and Greenspan's comments that the economy was on a "firm footing," the market is looking to see if this week's figures...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The euro hit an 11-month low against the yen on Tuesday, hurt by a bleak economic outlook for the euro zone and remarks by the European Central Bank chief which the market saw as a hint of interest rate cuts. The ECB will do "all it can" to reinforce consumer and business confidence, and economic reforms are fundamental to boost euro zone growth, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in a discussion among central bankers from China, Europe and Japan in Beijing. "Trichet suggested that maybe he has to do something about interest rates," said a trader at...

The under-fire euro fell further on Wednesday, slumping to an eight-month low against the US dollar amid rumblings over the long-term future of the eurozone. The fresh selling was prompted by a report claiming that Hans Eichel, the German finance minister, and Axel Weber, the president of the Bundesbank, were present at a meeting at which the possible break-up of European Monetary Union was discussed. The German Bundestag is also said to have commissioned a report on the legal repercussions of a country wishing to leave the EMU. Germany’s finance ministry labelled the talk “absurd”, while Mr Eichel and Mr...

FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - The euro dipped sharply on Wednesday on reports that the possibility of a failure of European Monetary Union was discussed at a high-level meeting of German financial officials. A source who attended the meeting last week said Finance Minister Hans Eichel and Bundesbank President Axel Weber were present but that they did not take part in any discussion on the future of the system which gave birth to the euro. The Bundesbank said it would issue an official statement later on Wednesday in response to a report about the meeting in Germany's Stern magazine. Stern said the...