Free Republic

September 16, 2007 Japanese Housewives Sweat in Secret as Markets Reel By MARTIN FACKLER TOKYO, Sept. 15 — Since the credit crisis started shaking the world financial markets this summer, many professional traders have taken big losses. Another, less likely group of investors has, too: middle-class Japanese homemakers who moonlight as amateur currency speculators. Ms. Itoh is one of them. Ms. Itoh, a homemaker in the central city of Nagoya, did not want her full name used because her husband still does not know. After cleaning the dinner dishes, she would spend her evenings buying and selling British pounds and...

The U.S. dollar is drooping. It's down about 9% against other major currencies since August. That's often the headline, but it's not the problem. The weak dollar is actually a symptom of a global economic malady -- and it's also part of the cure. The problem is that the world economy is out of whack. Americans have become global consumers of last resort, gobbling up far more than the U.S. produces by importing from economies that churn out far more stuff than they can digest at home. They send us things to eat, wear, drive and plug in. We buy...

Stronger euro hits manufacturing production By Ralph Atkins and Mark Schieritz in Frankfurt Published: December 2 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 2 2004 02:00 Eurozone manufacturing appeared close to contracting yesterday as the effects of the world economic slowdown and the stronger euro began to bite. Manufacturing output has already fallen in Germany and Italy, according to the November purchasing managers survey, compiled by NTC Research for Reuters. The eurozone output index fell by 3.6 points to 50.4 - the biggest drop since October 2001, the aftermath of the attacks on the US. The purchasing managers index, which acts...