10.10.2014 - Currencies: Buck to the future
Suddenly the dollar is the currency of the moment. The greenback has risen 6.3% on a trade-weighted basis over the past three months. It recently hit a six-year high against the yen and a two-year high against the euro. The trend reflects confidence in the prospects for the American economy, combined with worries about the health of the rest of the world. On October 7th the IMF lowered its forecast for global growth in 2014 to 3.3% from the 3.7% it foresaw in April. Some of the biggest reductions were in Europe: it now expects France to grow just 0.4% this year, half a percentage point less than in July. To confirm the fund’s pessimism, German industrial production fell 4% in August while factory orders dropped by almost 6%; both were the biggest declines in more than five years. In contrast, the latest American data showed a 248,000 jump in jobs in September and a fall in the unemployment rate to 5.9%...............................................Full Article: Source
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