Russia Is Throwing The Kitchen Sink At The Ruble To Try To Stop Its Collapse

BI ^ | 12-17-2014 | Mike Bird

[blam]

Mike Bird
December 17, 2014

After a brutal sell-off Tuesday, the ruble shot up in early trading Wednesday morning, rising by nearly 7%, from 68 to the dollar to 63.16 at 8:09 a.m. GMT.

The rise came as the Russian finance ministry intervened in the currency market, according to Bloomberg. That means it's selling off a chunk of its dollar reserves to buy rubles, driving the currency's value up.

By 9 a.m., though, the exchange rate fell back to where it started, and the ruble is falling again: down 0.68% at 68.51 as of 10:15 a.m. GMT.

Here's how the drop looked:

(snip)

[blam]

Russians Are Scrambling To Get Their Hands On US Dollars

[blam]

Russia risks Soviet-style collapse as rouble defence fails

[WayneS]

I was wondering where that thing went. And I was going to wash a few dishes before leaving for work, too.

[black_diamond]

The “Invisible Hand of the Market” is very powerful.

[moovova]

I hope Vlad doesn’t press the Launch button.

[grania]

I hope Vlad doesn't press the launch button

The US Senate and HOR voted, and Obama signed, authorization to support Kiev's war efforts. Is that an act of war?

At a time when Christians and other civilized people should be uniting to save the world from global terror, the EU, US, and global banking/oil interests are playing their games. Follow the money and power....it isn't us little folk who stand to gain anything from chaos.

[grumpygresh]

I think that the Russians will have to resort to some sort of “war” against the western transnational elites. Cyber attacks against Wall Street, government and military institutions, banks, electrical grids; the list is legion. Their attacks will be disguised and proxies will be used- perhaps a faux Islamic terror groups under orders from Moscow. They can also cause “accidents”. A few oil tankers could sink, one of Buffets’ railroads carrying petrol could blow up.

I think it’s clear that the Western elites are trying to depose Putin and force Russia into vassal status at the feet of the NWO.

At this point we have to hope that Russia can resist; otherwise we will be one step closer to a one world bank, a one world digital currency, and a one world government.

[11th Commandment]

Many comments on the Ruble but first to all the amateur economist that said we could not do anything to Russia because they held so much of our debt/dollars- I hope you now realize the importance of dollars in the World economy and why Russia needs dollars.

Second, the same press that said Russia had us over a barrel because they had so much treasury debt will now try to convince you this is all about the price of oil falling. Oil maybe the straw that broke the camel's back but Putin disregard for the rule of law has been causing capital flight for at least two years. Companies are afraid to invest in Russia for fear of jail and bribery. This has been straining Russia's current account for sometime.

Third, I posted several months ago that the sanctions would be affective in hurting the Russian economy but not in deterring Putin. However, this truism maybe coming to a close.

The next shoe to drop could be the regions in the South Ossetia region and other regions make an Independence move with a weakened Russia. Putin's efforts to raise the Soviet Empire could result in a broken Russia.

[Bon mots]

I hope Vlad doesn’t press the Launch button.

Hillary fixed that with her reset button. He'll just push that.

A cornered bear is an angry bear.

[EQAndyBuzz]

We need to stick a fork in them now. Fast track Keystone and open up more fields to drilling leases.