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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (73541)	5/17/2010 4:12:39 PM
From: Maurice Winn	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

A well-run local currency is likely to be better than a large scale currency to which people owe little allegiance. A local currency likely has a greater component of trust because neighbours are more likely to trust each other than they are to trust a politician in another country [such as the USA] which is self-dealing the US$ as hard as they can go while Chinese, Japanese and Kiwis watch their US$ holdings shrivel. Even some Americans don't trust their politicians and are not particularly thrilled by the Federal Reserve. Mqurice

To: maceng2 who wrote (73541)	5/18/2010 5:04:20 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Euro Zone Had Trade Surplus In March By Paul Hannon Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--The euro zone posted a trade surplus in March as exports and imports picked up sharply. The European Union's statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday that the 16 countries that use the euro had a combined surplus in their trade in goods of EUR4.5 billion. In February they posted a surplus of EUR2.4 billion, it said, a figure that was revised down from the previous estimate of EUR2.6 billion. The March surplus was smaller than expected, with economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires last week having estimated that exports exceeded imports by EUR5.0 billion. The figures show that trade flows involving euro-zone nations have picked up strongly from early 2009, when they seized up in response to the intensification of the financial crisis and the deepening global recession. Exports in March were EUR134.9 billion, up 22% from the comparable month last year, while imports were EUR130.3 billion, up 20%. Seasonally adjusted figures, meanwhile, showed that exports rose sharply in March from the previous month, likely reflecting the impact of the weakening euro and a recovery in global demand. But imports also rose as the cost of energy purchases increased, the 10.3% month-on-month pickup outpacing the 7.5% growth in exports, leaving the currency area with a small March trade surplus. Germany continued to have by far the largest trade surplus in the currency area. In the first two months of this year, it exported EUR20.6 billion more than it imported, up from EUR15.8 billion in the same period of 2009. However, there continued to be big trade deficits run up by a number of euro-zone nations that have seen their cost of borrowing soar as investors grow concerned about their ability to repay large debts. Spain's deficit for the first two months stood at EUR8 billion, down from EUR10.1 billion in the same period of 2009, while Greece had a deficit of EUR4.3 billion and Portugal a deficit of EUR2.8 billion. By contrast Ireland posted a trade surplus of EUR6.2 billion, up from EUR5.9 billion in the same period of 2009. -By Paul Hannon, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 20 7842 9491; paul.hannon@dowjones.com