British Pound is known to be a stable currency. Great Britain is a strong economy. But, Great Britain was finding it difficult to stay within the tight exchange rate band set by the European Monetary Union (EMU) in the early’90s. One person who made history with options was George Soros who is famously known as the man who broke the Bank of England.

George Soros had this intuition that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue British Pound. So he bought call options on German Marks and put options on British Pound. He made a bet of $10 Billion by leveraging all the assets in his hedge fund.

Bank of England had made a number of public statements regarding its intention of staying within the EMU. However, within a few days of the speculative attack on the British Pound, Bank of England was brought to its knees as it was …

British-Russian relations have suffered greatly in recent years, with a series of incidents souring relations: the Alexander Litvinenko scandal, the British Council restrictions, diplomatic exits and various extradition rows.  Foreign Secretary David Milliband will visit Russia next week, the first visit by a British Foreign Secretary since relations hit their rocky low.  In an optimistic piece in the Times, the former British ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, sees 'common ground' between Russia and Great Britain, and offers five suggestions for how the two sides can improve relations - without Britain shying away from tackling Russia on human rights.First, we should remain true to our own liberal principles. Russia is a signatory ...

With prices testing their record high of $1,033 an ounce set last year gold has again become the hot topic of conversation.

But while many analysts are focusing on threat of inflation – which could be a byproduct of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s reluctance to withdraw monetary stimulus – investors should really be watching China.

“In the post-financial crisis global economy, China is quickly becoming the proverbial ‘800-pound gorilla’ – the player that has to be courted, but that can’t be tamed,” said Money Morning Contributing Editor Peter Krauth.

In a recent article for Money Morning, Krauth said that he believes the stage has been set for gold to make a lasting run above $1,000 an ounce, in no small part because of China.

For the past six years China has quietly been stocking up on gold, boosting its holdings of the yellow metal to 1,054 metric tons from 400

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In general, we believe it is still a bit early to get involved with non-US bank stocks as the fundamental outlook remains weak -- asset quality will continue to deteriorate as individuals and companies default on loans, and revenues should continue to fall as loan growth falters and investment banking faces a dearth of new business in the face of economic slowing.

Consumer job losses and sluggish business conditions are increasing worldwide, which will tend to dampen demand for credit, even assuming banks are capable of lending more. Moreover, these factors will also hurt asset quality and increase losses on the existing "good" loan portfolios, even apart from considerations of toxic assets. Combined with top-line pressure due to weakening economic conditions, non-US banks face a daunting outlook.

That said, we believe that banks in stable emerging economies, such as Chile, Brazil or India, may be more attractive investments -- similar to what

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In general, we believe it is still a bit early to get involved with non-US bank stocks as the fundamental outlook remains weak -- asset quality will continue to deteriorate as individuals and companies default on loans, and revenues should continue to fall as loan growth falters and investment banking faces a dearth of new business in the face of economic slowing.

Consumer job losses and sluggish business conditions are increasing worldwide, which will tend to dampen demand for credit, even assuming banks are capable of lending more. Moreover, these factors will also hurt asset quality and increase losses on the existing "good" loan portfolios, even apart from considerations of toxic assets. Combined with top-line pressure due to weakening economic conditions, non-US banks face a daunting outlook.

That said, we believe that banks in stable emerging economies, such as Chile, Brazil or India, may be more attractive investments -- similar to what

...

In general, we believe it is still a bit early to get involved with non-US bank stocks as the fundamental outlook remains weak -- asset quality will continue to deteriorate as individuals and companies default on loans, and revenues should continue to fall as loan growth falters and investment banking faces a dearth of new business in the face of economic slowing. Consumer job losses and sluggish business conditions are increasing worldwide, which will tend to dampen demand for credit, even assuming banks are capable of lending more. Moreover, these factors will also hurt asset quality and increase losses on the existing "good" loan portfolios, even apart from considerations of toxic assets. Combined with top-line pressure due to weakening economic conditions, non-US banks face a daunting outlook. That said, we believe that banks in stable emerging economies, such as Chile, Brazil or India, may be more attractive ...

Soon after its first quarter 2009 earnings release, Mechel OAO (MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, entered into an agreement with a syndicate of bankers to refinance its short-term credit facilities. The company had raised a total of $2.6 billion to acquire Yakutugol Holding Company OAO and Elgaugol OAO in October 2007 and Oriel Resources Ltd. (Great Britain) in April 2008.

For acquiring Yakutia coal mines, Mechel took loans of $2 billion, which has been refinanced for $1.6 billion at LIBOR plus 6%. Earlier, the company had paid off $400 million of the loan from internal funds. Mechel will pay off the loan in equal monthly installments beginning September 2009 through December 2012.

The company has also refinanced the $1.5 billion credit obtained for acquiring the U.K.-based chrome and nickel mining and processing company, Oriel Resources Ltd. for $1 billion at LIBOR rate + 7%. Mechel has

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More range trading…  Eurozone doesn’t need more stimulus…  A$’s outperform on rate outlook…  A double whammy for the dollar… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! The end of another week… I was out on Monday, and it still seems to have been another long week! UGH! Oh well… It’s Friday, and this weekend is Father’s Day… So, we’ve got that going for us, eh?

More range trading in the currencies yesterday, with the euro leading the currencies higher for most of the day, only to see their gains slip, sliding away by the late afternoon. In the overnight markets, the currencies, once again, have moved higher, but nothing to get all lathered up about…

This morning, the euro got a boost when, in a draft statement from European Union leaders, it was reported that they believe they are seeing the first signs of a “sustainable economic recovery”, and that

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