Currencies trade in a tight range…  Another new plan to help homeowners…  RBNZ and Riksbank slash interest rates! The Governorator speaks!… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! It’s going to be a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday in Europe for sure, given the Central Banks of England and the Eurozone are meeting and will probably cut interest rates to levels that haven’t been seen in a while! The automakers are in deep dookie folks, according to them, and are in need of funds / bailout money right now! The head of Ford believes his company can withstand the recession, but fears for GM and Chrysler… The UAW has made some concessions to help the automakers, but it could be a case of too little, too late…

Well… Another day of doldrums in the currencies, with the bias, what little there is, to buy dollars. The stock jockeys received some manna from heaven yesterday when

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Currencies trade in a tight range…  China…  Commodity prices to blame…  “Safe” Treasuries? And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well… I went “shopping” yesterday evening… At least I can say I did my bit to keep the economy afloat! HA! Thanks to all who sent along notes to me yesterday with kind words. I truly appreciate the kind words, you are all too kind! The automakers made their pleas to Congress yesterday, and they claim they are in deep dookie! GM says they need $4 Billion right now! And… The original $25 Billion figure has grown to $35 to $40 Billion…

The currencies were lifeless yesterday, with only

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Japanese yen rallies…  Renminbi stumbles…  A very tough data week in store…  Rate cuts all around the world… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Well… When I left you last Wednesday, I had thought that we could be on the cusp of a “change” in the currencies, as the Trading Theme that had held a tight grip on the currencies since July, was thrown to the side for a couple of days… But, I doubt “that” has happened, as a return to risk aversion is back on the table, which means the currencies and precious metals get sold, while Japanese yen, and U.S. Treasuries (read dollars) get bought.

And Japanese yen is “getting bought!” Yen is trading

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The dollar rallies big time!  A dollar conspiracy?  Bailing out the automakers?  Weathering the storm in N.Z.? And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well, the Junk Yard Dog got a hold of the euro yesterday, and even though the U.S. Banks, thus the majority of currency desks, were observing Veteran’s Day, the move down in currencies VS the dollar, led by the euro, was drastic!

The Junk Yard Dog I’m talking about is Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Euro group… I stopped the euro in its tracks from its nascent rise in the past month, by saying the “euro’s recent rise was undesirable”… He also deep sixed the euro, and thus all the currencies save yen, by saying he “didn’t see any reason there couldn’t be more rate cuts by the ECB”… (the ECB is of course the European Central Bank) Well… These two comments tore

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There is no guarantee that mortgage rates will fall when Dr Alan Bollard cuts interest rates, as expected, on 11 September. This is because of the international credit crunch which has widened the gap between official central bank interest rates and mortgage rates over the past twelve months. When the credit crunch began just over a year ago the US Federal Reserve Board’s official federal funds rate was 5.25% and the one year adjustable mortgage rate was 5.84%. The gap between the two was a mere 0.59 percentage points. The Federal Reserve Board dropped its official rate from 5.25% to 4.75% on 18 September and further cuts were implemented until the current rate of 2.00% was established on 30 April. However mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high and the gap between the official federal funds rate and the one year mortgage rate has risen from 0.59 to 3.29 ...

No wonder the human icon in the Sparc logo is jumping for joy.

He (or could it be a very svelte she…) has probably just trousered $100,000 plus a year for being employed by the government-run Sparc (Sport and Recreation New Zealand) to help 84 other people give away $74 million of taxpayer and Lotto money to a bunch of clubs, sportspeople and other good athletic causes.

I stumbled across this not so-little-gem of government mis-spending in a John Key speech about National’s policy on sport. Frankly, I couldn’t believe what he’d said. It was simply too outrageous. Key said 47 of Sparc’s 86 staff were paid more than $100,000 a year and that Sparc spent $35 million on activities in its Wellington office, including spending $5.5 million this year on its website.

Surely this was wrong, I thought. So I looked at that very expensive Sparc website

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