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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (19331)	10/15/2003 7:05:32 PM
From: philv	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82237

The USD Index has stopped falling. Well, its a controlled decline. Bush is going to talk to the Japanese, and remind them that they aren't supposed to interfere in the FX markets by selling YENs for Dollars, while at the same time re-iterating a strong dollar policy. (Figure that one out). This administration is very adept at double speak. The Europeans are also angry at the Japanese. The Europeans complain that so far, they have had to do all the heavy lifting. I have read commentary that they will accept the Euro @1.20, after that the squealing starts. Life just isn't fair. My guess is that the USD Index has a long way to go yet.

To: sea_urchin who wrote (19331)	10/16/2003 8:25:55 PM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 82237

SA gold industry underwater mips1.net >>>The South African gold industry, once the paragon of profitability, has been pushed into the red by a step change in costs and a stubbornly low rand gold price, the unhappy by-product of a strong currency. According to the latest statistics compiled by the Chamber of Mines, an industry group, the average year-to-date costs of the local gold mining industry are R86,741/kg.The cash earned for each kilogram runs perilously close to average R86,770/kg that mines have had to shell out to extract the gold. The upshot of the unchecked rise in the cost of inputs is that an appreciable part of the South African gold industry will now have to shed jobs not only to stay profitable but also to stay in business. Roger Baxter, chief economist at the Chamber of Mines, says 70,000 gold miners work on unprofitable shafts. In the broader mining industry, the number of workers on loss-making or breakeven operations climbs to 120,000. Baxter says that although not all those jobs will be lost, mining companies will have to shed some of those jobs to bring the operations back to profitability. But it is not only jobs that will be cut. Baxter says the mining industry alone has R100 billion in capital projects approved and warns that a tenth of these will be put on hold if the status quo persists. Add to that the R20 billion in foreign exchange revenue that will be lost this year alone as the value of mineral exports plummets, and the potential for ballooning trade and current account deficits increases dramatically. Whatever the solution, the current situation looks bleak for a sector that contributes 8 percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product, or 12 percent if feeder industries are taken into account. Even the lowest interest rates in 17 years, have failed to precipitate any signs of rand weakness.<<< And this, on top of all the other imponderables and uncertainties.