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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: daveinmarinca who wrote (75352)	12/12/2006 12:37:54 AM
From: CalculatedRisk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

U.S. Economy: The Weak Spots for '07 S&P looks at how bad any hit would be from several risk factors—from higher oil prices to a steep decline in the dollar businessweek.com If everything goes right in 2007, Standard & Poor's expects the U.S. economy to slow, but not precipitously. Our forecast is for growth to slide to 2.3%, from 3.3% in 2006. Inflation will drop gradually from its current level, while the unemployment rate creeps upward toward 5% from 4.4% now. However, these projections, as always, could change depending on external or internal surprises—that is, if something goes wrong. <MORE>

To: daveinmarinca who wrote (75352)	12/12/2006 4:56:06 AM
From: Kailash	Respond to of 110194

Iran replaces dollar with euro in most oil dealings mehrnews.ir TEHRAN, Dec. 5 (MNA) — Iran has started replacing dollar with euro in majority of its crude oil exchanges in the last several months, an informed source with Iran’s Oil Ministry said here on Tuesday. Oil Ministry has taken the policy to substitute dollar with euro, and begun to implement it for most of its oil dealings, the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Mehr News Agency. “This can maintain the real value of Iranian oil,” he added. The majority of Iran crude’s customers are Asian and European states, the source noted. ------------------------------ The next step is for Putin to switch the oil trade to euros; the Russians have gradually been moving their foreign currency reserves out of dollars for a while. Norway -- surprisingly, the world's third largest exporter of oil and gas -- could follow suit. Both of these countries' trade is mainly with the euro zone. A series of such steps seems more likely than a run on the currency. Instead of a dollar rout, we may already be moving into a world that relies on a basket of reserve currencies -- where much of the adjustment to the dollar has already happened. If this is the case, the US government won't be able to continue to run massive budget deficits without putting up interest rates. But if Bush is properly declawed, there is an opportunity for a real turnaround.