Currencies rebound VS the dollar…Aussie and kiwi lead the currencies higher…Data and Central Bank speeches today…Gold rebounds back to $1,000! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you… Instead of a “turn around Tuesday”, we’re seeing a whiplash Wednesday! And for once in a month of Sundays, the Big Dog, euro didn’t lead the other little dogs (currencies) off the porch to chase the dollar down the street!

No… This time it was the currencies of Australia and New Zealand that led the charge VS the dollar… The euro has taken up the charge since opening the doors to a new day of trading in Europe, so… It looks like it’s a “take the dollar to the woodshed day”…

OK… Let’s start first with the goings on yesterday and then build to a big crescendo! Yeah, right, like I can do that! HA! Any way…

As a reminder, yesterday we

The dollar pushes back! FOMC plays battleship? Norges Bank meets this week…Precious metals give back too…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Here we go… Starting a new week all over again… I have a blank page to start each day, and then 2 hours later… The Fabulous Pfennig! A work of art, I must say! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well… Recall on Friday, I said that the non-dollar currencies would probably just follow whatever the stocks did, since the data cupboard was empty? Well, the non-dollar currencies didn’t even follow that theme, as stocks pretty much wallowed around in the mud all day… The dollar began to push back at the gains the other currencies had made during

The U.S. dollar steadied on Thursday after sliding to its lowest in almost a year against major currencies this week, but is seen vulnerable to further selling.

The dollar initially fell versus the euro after a better-than-expected reading on U.S. weekly jobless claims but recovered a little groun das U.S. and European stocks failed to extend earlier gains.

The U.S. currency has suffered recently as investors bet on an economic recovery through commodity-linked and higher-yielding currencies, which rallied earlier this week.

“Some caution has returned to the foreign exchange markets today, and the dollar is mixed,” said Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo Bank in New York. Still, Bennenbroek warned that Thursday’s rebound in the U.S. currency may be short-lived.

“Dollar sentiment is still fragile, and the path of least resistance for the dollar is still clearly to the downside in the near term,” he said.

In midday trading in New York,

Currencies rally strong! China is upset with printing of dollars…The UN talks of a new currency…Unemployment rate rises to 9.7% And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! A long Holiday Weekend, that was quite good for yours truly! A great tailgate, a great Missouri Tigers victory, 3 of 4 for the Cardinals, a great end of summer bar-b-que at the Butler House, and a

A 4-day rally gets stopped at the border…  Home Prices fall at a -18.12% pace…  Alice Rivlin gives her 2-cents… * Kiwi bond maturities galore next month… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! As tradition with the Pfennig would have it, here’s my introduction to July… There I was… On a July morning… Looking for love… With the strength of a new day dawning, and… The beautiful sun…

Yes, for those “old rockers” from the 70’s like me… That’s Uriah Heep, at their best!

OK… So, welcome to July! The last day of June was quite the volatile one to say the least! There we were waiting for the S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index to print, and show that home prices were still down by quite a bit, when it did, it did, it printed at -18.12%… But! The media was all over that like a cheap suit, clamoring that

Currencies rally…  More on the BRIC’s…  New Zealand’s GDP contracts..  Bernanke gets grilled! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! The end of what seemed to be a very long week… The last weekend in June, can you believe that? Next week, we’ll be getting ready for the 4th of July celebrations! WOW!

Well… What a volatile week it has been in the currencies! Up, down, all around, and settling back to levels that we saw before the Fed’s FOMC meeting earlier this week. Suddenly, investors are looking for yield again… Looks like they are “Desperately Seeking (not Susan) Yield! And why not? The Fed, and the Bank of Canada (BOC) have come out and said that there will be no interest rate hikes until we’ve turned quite a few pages on the 2010 calendar.

So, with investors clamoring for yield, the dollar gets taken to the woodshed… As I

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

Fed’s Beige Book disappoints…Dollar rebounds on the day…Currencies come back on the night…RBNZ leaves rates unchanged…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Thunderin’ Thursday to you! It’s a Thunderin’ and lightenin’ here in St. Louis. It all began last night, went through the night, and still hangin’ round this mornin’! Yes, I’m into dropping “g’s” today! HA!

Well… We had “Turn Around Tuesday”, and that was fallowed by “Whipsawed Wednesday”! The euphoria of the dollar bears, turned quickly yesterday, with the dollar bouncing back… I’ll tell you this dollar has more lives than a cat! But that’s OK… I certainly don’t want to see a dollar collapse, as some have called for… I just want to see it at a “fair” level, given the fundamentals of exploding deficit spending… That seems fair, eh? Trends… Weak dollar, strong dollar, alternating throughout time… Well, at least since Nixon closed the Gold window in

Another Treasury auction today…  Goldman says to buy euros!  Oil fuels Commodity Currencies!  RBNZ to meet tonight… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well… Yesterday was “Turn Around Tuesday”! Add to that, the fact that there were a number of reasons for the euro to lead the charge for currencies VS the dollar yesterday. And… A word from one of the economists that I keep on my list of “to read”… So, let’s get to the tape from Turn Around Tuesday!

I heard yesterday someone say “well, we sure turned around today in the currencies”… And I thought, Shoot Rudy, why not name it Turn Around Tuesday? Then I went back to the history page on my trusty Bloomberg, and saw that on 4 of the last 5 Tuesdays, the currencies did in fact “turn around” their performances from the day before! Not that this is something we can

There is no doubt that the recent aggressive interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) are positive. However, they carry less punch if banks keep some of the lower cost of funding for themselves, without passing the full benefit on to customers.

Banks in this country have a key role to play if New Zealand is to recover from the current recession but they don’t appear to be “playing ball” when it comes to the margins they are currently enjoying.

The table below shows the extent of the mortgage margin for the major banks over current bank bill rates. The average floating mortgage rate margin over bank bills for New Zealand banks is currently 3.40%. It used to be a rule of thumb that the major banks had a margin of about 1.5% over bank bills for floating rate mortgages.

Of course these are very unusual times but does

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