MetaFilter posts tagged with euro and dollar

They see dollar fallin', they hatin'

azazello — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:41:51 -0800

Is Jay-Z signaling a recession? There is something quite alarming on the recently released “Blue Magic” music video ... it wasn’t sex, drugs, violence or explicit language that shocked my conscience. It was the Euros. The Jay-Z video flashed large stacks of $500 Euros. When I start seeing rap stars flashing euros instead of U.S. dollars, I know our economy is in trouble.

Cui bono?

Pastabagel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:41:30 -0800

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5%. Wall Street aggressively demanded the cut to stop the sub-prime mortgage contagion from triggering a credit crisis among large US and foreign investment banks and the collapse of their over-leveraged hedge funds, which ultimately threatened to drag the US economy into recession. The market rallied this week in response to the Fed's move. But there is no free lunch. Oil rallied also, to an all-time high of $81/bbl. The rate cut shattered the dollar, sending it to new lows against the Euro and to parity with the Canadian dollar. The falling dollar puts pressure on China, whose dollar-pegged currency has attracted the ire of many US politicians, causing China to threaten the US with the "nuclear option" of diversifying its foreign currency reserves away from the dollar. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia refuses to cut its interest rates in lockstep with the US for the first time ever, signaling that it may break its long standing dollar peg as well. In other words, foreign investors who currently own roughly 50% of the publicly-owned portion of the US national debt may flee the US bond markets. Result? We'll probably slide into recession anyway. But there is a silver lining: it turns out that many of those large investment banks and hedge funds were making far more money than anyone thought all along. Confused? Some background: Currency carry trade - how currencies are related to one another How interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and trade deficits are interrelated How interest rates and bonds are related Peviously 1 2 3 4

Euro's rise raises 'catastrophic' fears

Postroad — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 17:02:29 -0800

Euro's rise raises 'catastrophic' fears The euro rose on Thursday, topping $1.35 for the first time ever, amid speculation that the United States would not act to counter the dollar's decline. . "If we remain in a situation without any coordination, we can imagine a catastrophic situation" for the global economy, Finance Minister Hérve Gaymard of France told manufacturers during a factory visit Thursday in Strasbourg

What if oil was traded in euros?

Birichini — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 14:14:50 -0800

What if oil was traded in euros? "Even more alarming, and completely unreported in the U.S. media, are significant monetary shifts in the reserve funds of foreign governments away from the dollar with movements towards the euro. It appears that the world community ... seems poised to respond with economic retribution if the U.S. government is regarded as an uncontrollable and dangerous superpower." An analysis of the previous link. Apologies to those I

Mullah, can you spare a euro?

CrazyJub — Mon, 21 Apr 2003 22:17:03 -0800

It started in November of 2000, with Iraq wanting to switch to the Euro for oil payments. Following recent events, Muslims at large are thinking about dropping US currency for the Euro. With a large US presence now in the Middle East, this event may never occur.

Related Stories
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1554.htm
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/euro/comment/0,9236,940790,00.html

The Euro Effect Iraq Oil and threat to the dollar

thedailygrowl — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 01:12:51 -0800

Is the currency that oil is denominated in the real reason for the Iraq War? "The Federal Reserve's greatest nightmare is that OPEC will switch its international transactions from a dollar standard to a euro standard. Iraq actually made this switch in Nov. 2000 (when the euro was worth around 80 cents), and has actually made off like a bandit considering the dollar's steady depreciation against the euro. (Note: the dollar declined 17% against the euro in 2002.)"