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Euro crunch time once again

Not for the first time, the single currency is waiting for a European summit to offer renewed hope and some light at the end of the tunnel. As the past few weeks have shown, the ability of supposedly supportive events to prop up the single currency is getting ever weaker. At present, the expectations for the summit at the end of this week are fairly limited, some formalisation of the growth compact pushed by France (and others), together with some noises around a banking union.
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25/06/2012 @ 07:20 GMT

BRIC wall

For differing reasons, the BRIC currencies have endured a tough time in recent days, which in turn has contributed to the firmer dollar tone.
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22/06/2012 @ 10:00 GMT

Dollar wobbles

It’s the Aussie and Kiwi that were hurting overnight, the Kiwi taken to a five-week low vs. the USD. Whilst there were domestic factors that were evident in both moves, the wider tone is one of more caution so far this month. There’s a certain dynamic at play, in that there is a concern that the large amount of cash that European banks are currently sitting on could shift the euro into becoming a carry currency. But the more important issue is that where the cash might go.
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06/03/2012 @ 08:05 GMT

Russia’s slow road to ruin

Of course, it was no surprise that Putin was re-elected as President of Russia over the weekend. But in the bigger picture, it’s a development that will further challenge Russia’s standing in the global economy. Already, Russia’s relatively poor performance poses a question mark over retention of its place within the BRIC ‘bloc’ (Brazil, Russia, India and China) given that it has failed to keep up with its major emerging market counterparts on most measures.
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05/03/2012 @ 11:09 GMT

The emerging reversal

It started with Turkey cutting rates early in August then Brazil cutting its benchmark rate at the end of the month. Earlier this week Indonesia cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to 6.5%. The August moves were easier to dismiss as one-off events, especially Brazil where the central bank is less than independent of the government which was pushing for lower rates in the wake of fiscal concessions. In terms of emerging markets cutting rates, there could well then be more to come.
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12/10/2011 @ 11:06 GMT

A new challenge for Asia

In economics and finance, things can change quickly. Over in the Far East, the major policy pre-occupation for most of 2011 thus far has been curtailing the threat of rising inflation. That challenge has not completely passed by any stretch of the imagination. However, over the past few weeks it has been replaced by growing concern regarding the pace of currency depreciation.
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26/09/2011 @ 09:01 GMT

Tough times for the Russian ruble

Concern that the global economy is heading back into recession and heightened risk aversion have weighed heavily on most of the EMEA currencies over recent weeks. In the current quarter alone, the Russian ruble has lost more than 10% against the dollar, while both the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty have suffered declines against the greenback of more than 13%.
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21/09/2011 @ 11:11 GMT

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