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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (35851)	6/17/2008 8:45:39 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217528

Mirow Says EU Is Against `Abrupt' Currency Movements hasn't ruled out any policy option, including intervention in the market, to prop up the dollar.(Update2) Mirow Says EU Is Against `Abrupt' Currency By Rainer Buergin and Mike Firn June 13 (Bloomberg) -- German Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Mirow said European governments don't like sharp movements in foreign exchange rates and don't want the euro region alone to suffer from a weaker dollar. ELMAT: He has not watched the other currencies going up against the USD. ``The European position is clear, we don't want all the adjustment burden to be carried by the euro alone and we're always concerned when there are abrupt movements,'' Mirow said today in an interview in Osaka, Japan, where he is attending a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations. Mirow's comments come after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said June 9 that he hasn't ruled out any policy option, including intervention in the market, to prop up the dollar. Mirow declined to comment on statements by Paulson and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The U.S. currency is headed for its biggest weekly gain in almost three years against the euro and the biggest weekly advance since 2004 versus the yen. The dollar traded at $1.5401 per euro at 9:14 a.m. in London, from $1.5439 in New York yesterday. The dollar rose 2.5 percent this week, the most since the five days ending June 5, 2005. The currency traded at 107.96 yen, from 107.96 yesterday. It has risen 2.8 percent this week, the biggest advance since December 2004. The euro traded at 166.29 yen, from 166.68. The U.S. currency has fallen 5 percent against the euro this year, reaching a record low of $1.6019 on April 22. Inflation Concerns Mirow said surging inflation has become the biggest worry for the international economy since the G-7 meeting in Washington. These concerns, as expressed by Bernanke and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, `` have to be taken seriously,'' he said. Bernanke on June 9 said policy makers will ``strongly resist'' any surge in inflation expectations, while Trichet said the ECB is watching inflation with ``heightened alertness'' and may raise rates in July. Inflation in the 15-nation euro region accelerated to 3.6 percent in May, exceeding the ECB's 2 percent ceiling for a ninth month. The ECB council hasn't kept annual gains in consumer prices below its limit since 1999. The International Monetary Fund in April predicted advanced economies this year will suffer their fastest price gains since 1995 and their weakest expansion in seven years. The World Bank said June 10 that global growth will slow a percentage point to 2.7 percent in 2008. Crude `Speculation' The doubling in the price of crude oil in the past year to a record $139.12 on June 6, which is fueling inflation and sapping consumers' purchasing power, is because of ``strong'' demand, bottlenecks in production as well as refinery capacity and ``speculation,'' Mirow said. Looking forward, ``the main point certainly will be to be more ambitious on sparing energy consumption and to be more efficient with energy consumption than we are,'' he said. ``And, adding to this, trying to enhance transparency on international energy markets.'' ELMAT: Anything concrete? No! Mirow takes up a new post as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on July 3. To contact the reporters on this story: Rainer Buergin in Osaka at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net; Mike Firn in Osaka at mfirn@bloomberg.net; Last Updated: June 13, 2008 05:16 EDT