By Cees Bruggemans, Chief Economist FNB

These are dynamic times in which few things remain the same for long. What surprises could await us these next six to twelve months?

Externally, there has been plenty of warning of a long period of near zero interest rates at the global centre (America, Europe, Japan) while growth and yield remains most attractive in the periphery (Asia, Latin America, other Middle Eastern and African commodity producers).

These past six months this condition has pushed global equity and bond prices higher, while favouring a steady liquidity leakage from the global centre to the periphery, giving many emerging asset markets a double leg-up while also firming their currencies.

The main likelihood for the next twelve months (or longer, bearing in mind the evolving nature of the shaping global expansion) is that these processes will continue. By implication expect more asset price gains, especially in

Pandora’s Box of rate hikes is opened! Is the dollar being removed from oil trades? Deficits do matter, eh? Gold heads toward its all-time high…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! A Tuesday morning that is seeing a HUGE currency rally VS the dollar on the news that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) opted to go ahead and hike rates now, and not wait for November’s meeting,

The dollar remains well bid…G-7 to hand currencies off to G-20? Car Sales collapse…Auditing the Lehman cash movements…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! Yesterday, I welcomed you to October. I had been prepared to tell you about a famous radio station here in St. Louis, that has long called October… Rocktober… But forgot, as usual! But anyway… It’s the first Fantastico Friday of Rocktober!

Today is a Jobs Jamboree Friday too! And… I’m not getting a good feeling about today’s labor report at the Jobs Jamboree. The forecast is for jobs losses to fall from -216,000 to -175,000, but the unemployment rate to tick up to 9.8% from 9.7%… I got the feeling, baby, baby, I got the feeling… Oops, a little James Brown on Fantastico Friday never hurts! But what I was saying was I’m getting the feeling that there are risks

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

A bias to buy dollars remains…Looks like coordinated jawboning…Fujii now talks about intervening! Gold remains below $1,000…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Well… Stop the presses… You know the presses that are talking about the countries that are on the docket to begin a rate hike cycle, because… Russia has thrown a cat among the pigeons this morning with a rate CUT… Let me tell you why this is a big deal…

Well, when everyone is thinking that the G0-GO countries of Norway, Australia, and Brazil will probably begin their rate hike cycles this year, and other won’t be far behind… While the U.S. drags its feet and wallows in the zero rate mud… The thinking was that the rate differentials to the dollar would begin to widen, causing even more pain for the dollar. And, the reason these countries were able to raise rates

Dollar’s rally is cut short…Major problems for loans still exist…Yen rallies on exporter repatriation…Kiwi gets whacked! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! It’s still raining here in St. Louis this morning, but I won’t that get me down, as it is a Friday! G-20 has gotten a bit ugly, folks… Seems everyone just can’t seem to get along! Imagine that! 20 different countries, and now they want to be able to watch another country’s finances and comment on them! Oh, I can see that working out real well! NOT!

So… Yesterday, we had the dollar gaining back the ground that it had lost the previous day, but at the end of the day, we’re looking very much like the currencies hadn’t moved from morning to morning… And overnight, didn’t bring about much movement… So… When you get to the currency round-up below, you’ll

A Wild and Wacky Wednesday…FOMC leave stimulus and QE in place…Will G-20 try to throw cold water on commodities? GATA receives a letter from the Fed…And Now… Today’s Pfennig

Good day… And a Thunderin’ Thursday to you! It’s Thundering and raining here, so I felt that naming today a “Thunderin’ Thursday” was bang on! We had a wild and wacky Wednesday yesterday, with the Fed Heads playing the part of the court jester… And… I want to know, right here, right now, why the media isn’t blasting Fed Head Honcho Big Ben Bernanke! I’ll tell you why they should be, in a minute…

OK… As I said, we had a wild and wacky Wednesday yesterday, as

Non-dollar currencies give back very little…The Unemployed are remaining unemployed… FOMC puts away the board games today… China invokes a “Public Morals” defense…

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

Currencies rally on Retail Sales! China likes investments in Canada…Big Ben the “inflation fighter”…Gold climbs to $1,018! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Good news for me this morning, the pain in my left knee has subsided… Now, If I could just get that swelling to go down, I’d be in tall cotton! This has been quite the ordeal on the old Pfennig writer, and one that I will be glad to put in the rear view mirror!

Well… When I turned on the currency screens this morning, the euro was trading with a 1.47 handle! WOW! It just skipped to my Lou right through the 1.46 handle, eh? It began yesterday afternoon, the dollar was getting sold on the news of a strong Retail Sales figure, more on that in