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Europe is in its deepest recession since World War II, so reports the UK’s Telegraph.   “German economic policy is ‘bankrupt,’ economists have said.  The declaration was made as it emerged that Europe’s biggest economy has now suffered a worse ‘lost decade’ than Japan and is deeper in recession than any other major economy.  On a day of dismal news for the European economy, official figures also showed that Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are facing their biggest combined slump in post-war history.” Eurostat provides the raw data.  Here are real GDP growth numbers for some selected countries and...

NEW YORK, Sept. 30 — The dollar rose against the euro and the pound on Monday as investors worried that the U.S. financial crisis was spreading to Europe. The U.S. House of Representatives Monday unexpectedly rejected a 700-billion-dollar bailout plan for financial industry, sending Wall Street crashing. The Dow Jones industrials average plunged nearly 780 points, the worst single day drop ever. Risk aversion in currency trading helped low-yielding yen and Swiss franc. As for the euro and the British pound, they kept loss against the dollar as investors focused on the crisis of the European bank system. Over the...

It seems like no one wants to leave the Chinese alone when it comes to revaluing the yuan. Here is some news that I am sure the Chinese would like to see spread all over the pages. The Russians say their economy is not ready to introduce the idea of a 'floating ruble' yet because it involves: 1. Economic risks 2. Reevaluation (sounds like revaluation) of the state's participation in the economy. Russia's Federal Financial Markets Service Head, Oleg Vyugin, said, "we're not ready." "People think the ruble rate is undervalued," he said. That statement could be put in any...

All Headline News reported that Japanese exporters are trying to take advantage of the rise in the Yen rate. When the dollar spikes, they try to sell it in order to save up for later purchases in the year. The current yen rate hovers around 114 yen = $1. I remember when it was 260 yen = $1. Some of my missionary friends tell me of a time when it was 350 = $1. When Japan started to produce quality products for very affordable prices, everyone started crying 'foul' and 'undervalued,' and then trade imbalances started growing. In the end,...

Forcing China to float its currency would jack up prices at Wal-Mart. Do we really want that? The following is an "Ahead of the Curve" column published May 20, 2005 on SmartMoney.com, where Luskin is a Contributing Editor. In case you're wondering what ignited the stock market on Tuesday afternoon, launching the next leg up in the quiet rally that's been underway for a month now, it was just a piece of paper. The Treasury Department released a bureaucratic memorandum declaring that China isn't manipulating its currency — at least not quite. That's all it took. Treasury is required to...