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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (276360)	9/16/2010 11:14:10 AM
From: DebtBomb	Respond to of 306849

LOL. I read that they were also buying dollars.

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (276360)	9/16/2010 11:15:43 AM
From: DebtBomb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Yen Fluctuates Versus the Dollar, Trading Close to a Post-Intervention Low By Catarina Saraiva - Sep 16, 2010 10:41 AM ET The yen fluctuated against the dollar near a two-week low reached yesterday when Japan’s first sales in foreign-exchange markets since 2004 sent the currency tumbling the most in 22 months. The euro gained the most in a month against the dollar after lower-than-expected U.S. jobless claims and after Spain conducted a successful bond auction, boosting investor appetite for higher-yielding assets. Vice Finance Minister Motohisa Ikeda today declined to comment on whether the Japanese government is intervening in markets. The Swiss franc fell to the lowest level in a month against the euro after the central bank cut its inflation forecast. “We’re in the early stages of this and the Japanese are desperate to assist the major component of their economy, which is exporters,” Andrew Busch, a global currency strategist at Bank of Montreal in Chicago. “We had a spike in the euro, much of this was driven by the situation with the yen.” The yen gained 0.1 percent against the dollar to 85.68 at 10:37 a.m. in New York, trading near the weakest since since Aug. 30. The euro rose 0.7 percent to $1.3095, after touching $1.3110, the highest since Aug. 11. The euro gained 0.6 percent to 112.23 yen. Swiss Banking The franc lost 1.6 percent to 1.3257 per euro after touching 1.3301, the lowest since Aug. 19. The Swiss National Bank left the three-month Libor target rate at 0.25 percent, in line with 18 of 19 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. It cut its inflation forecast for 2010 to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent. Spain sold 4 billion euros of 10- and 30-year bonds, the maximum target for the auction, and borrowing costs declined after the government implemented measures to shrink the euro region’s third-largest budget gap. The U.S. producer price index increased 0.4 percent, the most in five months and twice the gain in July, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast was for a 0.3 percent rise, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Initial jobless claims dropped by 3,000 to 450,000 in the week ended Sept. 11, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast was for a rise to 459,000, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Japan Stance The Bank of Japan projected that deposits held by financial institutions at the bank rose by 2 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) after the nation sold yen. “Investors are still trying to take it all in and figure out what it means for the yen,” said John Doyle, a strategist in Washington at currency-trading firm Tempus Consulting Inc. “It’s a dollar bullish sign that the dollar was able to hold on to the 3 percent gains we saw after the intervention.” The Japanese currency’s current level against the dollar is stronger than the 90.16 average estimated by large manufacturers for the six months to March 2011, according to the Bank of Japan’s last Tankan survey. Exporters typically buy yen to convert overseas earnings into their own currency when they close account books in September and March. Japan sold the yen yesterday after it climbed to 82.88, the strongest since May 1995. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told reporters the finance ministry “seems to think” 82 yen per dollar to be the line of defense. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said today that his government will not tolerate “rapid movements” in the currency and is ready to take “decisive measures.” ‘Seems to Be Serious’ “Japan seems to be serious about halting the yen’s rise this time and won’t dare to drop the ball,” said Hiroshi Maeba, deputy general manager of foreign-exchange trading in Tokyo at Nomura Securities Co., Japan’s biggest securities broker. “The government is likely to continue to intervene intermittently.” The yen has risen 9 percent against the dollar this year as global risk aversion has boosted the currency. The yen tends to strengthen during periods of economic turmoil as Japan’s trade surplus makes the nation less reliant on foreign capital. A stronger domestic currency hurts the overseas competitiveness of Japanese exporters. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the U.S. isn’t satisfied with the pace of yuan gains and is considering ways to urge China to let the currency rise faster. “The pace of appreciation has been too slow and the extent of appreciation too limited,” Geithner said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing today. “We are examining the important question of what mix of tools, those available to the United States and multilateral approaches, might help encourage the Chinese authorities to move more quickly.” China’s yuan earlier touched 6.7180, the strongest level since the central bank unified official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. American officials have criticized China’s currency policy, saying it puts American companies at a competitive disadvantage. The pound weakened after U.K. retail sales unexpectedly dropped in August for the first time since January. The British currency fell as much as 0.9 percent to 84.03 pence per euro, the weakest level since July 27. bloomberg.com