#Harper #Gold #Davos #Soros & #CurrencyWars

We are perplexed and puzzled about the timing of why Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s wife Laureen [1], “liquidated her entire portfolio of stock market investments late last year.” Oddly enough, several other “global” factors, central banks [2], investors [3] as well as other anomalies that add to the confusion. This brings us to another topic and point to ponder, Why is Deutsche Bundesbank demanding it’s gold reserves back and will this escalate and initiate more global currency wars? Then we consider the rather bleak announcement and admission from Bank of Canada’s outgoing Mark Carney “The slowdown in the second half of 2012 was more pronounced than the Bank had anticipated”. One thing is certain, something is rotten in #Ottawapiskat and Martha Stewart comes to mind for some reason. For our next chapter in the #Ottawapiskat for #Upsettlers: #ShagTheDog series featuring #Bundesbank, #Gold and #CurrencyWars.

#Ottawapiskat for #Upsettlers: Does wife’s late 2012 stock liquidation & #Bundesbank #Gold = #MarthaStewart http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Prime+minister+wife+sells+entire+stock+portfolio/7802376/story.html #ShagTheDog

Sadly, this is so fluid and complicated, we have not even touched the Libor Scandal nor the veiled threats by David Cameron of the UK against the Eurozone…

Backgrounders

2007

October 2007 – God and Gold: Mead Explores History of “Anglo-American Wasps” and “Waspophobes” – October 9, 2007— This provocative new book, God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World, by Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, argues that the main event in modern history is the long war between the Anglo-American Wasps and their rivals. For more than 300 years, first the British and then the Americans, have been busy building a global system of politics, power, investment, and trade. The Waspophobes—those who hate and fear Anglo-American capitalism, liberalism, arrogance, religion, and power—keep fighting back. From Oliver Cromwell to George W. Bush, Wasp leaders have described their enemies as an axis of evil who hate liberty and God, seek world domination, care nothing for morality, will do anything to win, and rely on a fifth column of traitors within. Waspophobes, from Louis XIV on, thought pretty much the same things about the Wasps, but no matter who is right, for more than 300 years the Wasps have been winning. While they have lost small wars here and there, they have won big conflicts, the great power wars that shape the world. So far. What are these conflicts about? Why do the Wasps keep on winning? Why, despite all their victories, do the Wasps never succeed in establishing the peaceful world they keep dreaming about? Why did Bush, Blair, and the neoconservatives fail so badly in the Middle East? What has Wasp power meant for world history, and where are the Wasps headed next? Drawing on sources from Lewis Carroll and Monty Python to Osama bin Laden and Tony Blair, God and Gold weaves history, literature, philosophy, and religion together into a dazzling, vivid picture of the world we live in and our tumultuous times.

October 2007 – God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World [Video] – Watch Walter Russell Mead, CFR’s Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow, discuss his newest book, God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World.

2009

Uploaded on April 10, 2009 – Why You’ve Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920 [Video] – Presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., at “The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today,” the Mises Circle in Colorado; sponsored by Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs and hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Recorded Saturday, 4 April 2009.

June 07, 2009 – George Soros: China a ‘positive force’ – SHANGHAI (Reuters) — Financier George Soros said on Sunday that China’s global influence is set to grow faster than most people expect, with its isolation from the global financial system and a heavy state role in banking aiding a relatively swift economic recovery.

June 2009 – George Soros: China will be the NEW world revered currency [Video] – Billionaire financier George Soros says that China’s economy will grow faster than people expect and so will its global economic influence.

Uploaded on Jan 29, 2010 – Stephen Harper humiliated in Davos [Video] – Stephen Harper is humiliated at Davos when world leaders take issue with his archaic view on climate change.

2010

Uploaded on January 31, 2010 – Stephen Harper’s ‘enlightened sovereignty’ and humanitarian agenda [Video] – Visit http://CanuckPolitics.com for more. January 28, 2010 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged nations to practice “enlightened sovereignty” in his keynote speech to the 2010 Wold Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Notions rooted in a narrow view of sovereignty and national self interest must be reconsidered. We cannot do business as though for one to have more, another must have less. That is not true, it is not just, and it cannot be the path we take … Our ambition … must be a shared belief that the rising tide of recovery must lift all boats, not just some. This is the exercise of soverignty at its most enlightened.” – Stephen Harper

2011

January 27, 2011 – Soros at Davos – Money manager George Soros has granted a series of interviews at Davos. To the BBC, he talked about the Euro. To Bloomberg, he talked about commodities prices. To CNBC, he talked about U.S. municipal bond prices. Not a single one of the reporters appears to have asked Mr. Soros what financial positions he had, or to have communicated those positions to readers. I don’t fault Mr. Soros for talking to the reporters — he can make money if other people listen to what he says and then trade on it, because he’s already taken his positions. But it’d be nice for the reporters to explain that rather than to treat him as if he’s some sort of wise man on the sidelines who doesn’t have a financial stake in what he’s talking about. My favorite Soros quote of the week came not out of an interview but out of a wider press conference, as reported by Daniel Gross: “market regulators are even more imperfect than markets.” Mr. Gross also reports that Mr. Soros is working with Paul Volcker to convene a conference on April 8 to 10, 2011 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

2012

January 23, 2012 – Davos 2012: Has capitalism got a future?
Tim Weber By Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website, Davos – Has capitalism got a future? Is it fit for the 21st Century? And if it has and is, how must capitalism change? The organisers of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) have put some pretty crunchy questions on the agenda. But as more than 2,600 of the world’s richest and most powerful people come to the Swiss mountain village of Davos to discuss the state of the world, is it a topic that they want to talk about? For some, these are clearly the right questions. “Is capitalism working? Will we grow again? Is the Western model still working?” asks John Griffith-Jones, the UK and Europe chairman of accounting giant KPMG. “I’m really interested in hearing people talk about that,” he says. Mr Griffith-Jones talks of the need to find a “concept of responsible capitalism” and worries that even if Davos man and woman find a consensus, it will not be one that is very clear to people in the wider world. The founder and driving force of the forum, Prof Klaus Schwab, is even blunter. “Capitalism in its current form no longer fits the world around us,” he says.

January 23, 2012 – George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War – The Daily Beast – You know George Soros. He’s the investor’s investor—the man who still holds the record for making more money in a single day’s trading than anyone. He pocketed $1 billion betting against the British pound on “Black Wednesday” in 1992, when sterling lost 20 percent of its value in less than 24 hours and crashed out of the European exchange-rate mechanism. No wonder Brits call him, with a mix of awe and annoyance, “the man who broke the Bank of England.” Soros doesn’t make small bets on anything. Beyond the markets, he has plowed billions of dollars of his own money into promoting political freedom in Eastern Europe and other causes. He bet against the Bush White House, becoming a hate magnet for the right that persists to this day. So, as Soros and the world’s movers once again converge on Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum this week, what is one of the world’s highest-stakes economic gamblers betting on now?

January 25, 2012 – World Economic Forum: CEOs Question The Future Of Capitalism – NIKO PRICE and JOHN DANISZEWSKI – DAVOS, Switzerland — German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Wednesday that Europe will remain an economic power only if it deepens the integration that has caused it so many problems. Without that, she warned the global elite gathered in a Swiss ski resort, Europe will remain little more than a pleasant vacation destination. The tone of Merkel’s keynote address was not dramatically different from her measured norm, but it was positive enough to feed an emerging feeling among European power brokers that Germany – and hence Europe – is finally becoming convinced that it needs to do whatever it takes to save the euro from collapse. “The message is that we are ready for more commitment. We are no longer making excuses,” Merkel said. If Europe doesn’t integrate further, she said, “we will remain an interesting holiday destination for a long time, but we won’t be able to produce prosperity for the people in Europe anymore.” Merkel pledged to do what is necessary to protect the euro from collapse, and said greater European unity is needed to spark job creation and growth. However, she poured cold water on calls for Europe to ratchet up the financial firepower of its safety net for failing economies. Germany is at the center of any rescue plan because it has the deepest pockets in Europe. And Europe is at the center of the global outlook because many fear a collapse of the euro could drag large parts of the world back into recession.

January 26, 2012 – Stephen Harper in Davos January 2012 a Speech [Video] – grabbed here: http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/harpers-davos-speech/16aaopbhh Transcripts here: http://www.canada.com/Transcript+Stephen+Harper+speech+World+Economic+Forum/6057209/story.html
and here: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=4604

Uploaded on January 26, 2012 – George Soros at the World Economic Forum, 2012, Questions & Answers with Davos Media Leaders – George Soros answers questions related to the current economic crisis at the World Economic Forum on January 25, 2012.

Timeline of Recent Events

Report: Soros Unloads All Investments in Major Financial Stocks; Invests Over $130 Million In Gold
By Mac Slavo SHTFplan.com on August 16th, 2012

In a harbinger of what may be coming our way in the Fall of 2012, billionaire financier George Soros has sold all of his equity positions in major financial stocks according to a 13-F report filed with the SEC for the quarter ending June 30, 2012.

Soros, who manages funds through various accounts in the US and the Cayman Islands, has reportedly unloaded over one million shares of stock in financial companies and banks that include Citigroup (420,000 shares), JP Morgan (701,400 shares) and Goldman Sachs (120,000 shares). The total value of the stock sales amounts to nearly $50 million.

What’s equally as interesting as his sale of major financials is where Soros has shifted his money. At the same time he was selling bank stocks, he was acquiring some 884,000 shares (approx. $130 million) of Gold via the SPDR Gold Trust.

When a major global player with direct ties to the White House, Wall Street, and the banking system starts off-loading stocks and starts stacking gold, it suggests a very serious market move is set to happen.

While often lambasted for his calls to centralize global banking, increase government intervention in the economy and his support of what he has called an “emergence of the new world order,” if there’s anyone with an inside track of where things are headed next it’s Soros.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/report-soros-unloads-all-investments-in-major-financial-stocks-invests-over-100-million-in-gold_08162012

The Germans Are Coming for Their Gold
By: Senior Editor, CNBC.com Published: Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012 | 5:10 PM ET

A German federal court has said that country’s central bank should conduct annual audits and physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide, including gold in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition to the FRBNY, Bundesbank gold is stored in London, Paris and Frankfurt.

(Read more: Republicans Eye Return to Gold Standard)

For decades, the Bundesbank has relied on written confirmation of its gold holdings in London, Paris and New York. According to the report from the German audit court, the last time Bundesbank officials physically inspected the central banks gold holdings was, well, never.

(It should be stated that the folks at FT Alphaville quote a report saying an inspection took place in 1979/1980.)

Interestingly enough, the Bundesbank is apparently quite happy with taking the word of other central bankers about the existence, location and size of its gold reserves. It put out the word that it disagrees with the Audit Court, which only has advisory power and cannot force the Bundesbank to follow its recommendations, about the need for inspections. Nonetheless, the Bundesbank is actually going to follow the recommendation that it verify the gold stocks. It also has plans to ship some 150 tons of gold back to Germany for a more “thorough examination.”

Continue reading: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49540593/The_Germans_Are_Coming_for_Their_Gold

Bundesbank Says NY Fed to Help Meet Gold Audit Request

By Rainer Buergin & Stefan Riecher – 2012-10-26T11:19:44Z
The Bundesbank said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will help it meet auditing requirements related to its gold reserves that were demanded by Germany’s Audit Court.

“We have been in discussions with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York about the Bundesbank’s holdings of gold,” the Bundesbank said yesterday in a letter to the German parliament’s budget committee. “The discussions have been fruitful and the Federal Reserve has expressed a commitment to work with the Bundesbank to explore ways to address the audit observations, consistent with its own security and control processes and logistical constraints.”

The agreement is part of a compromise between the German central bank and the Audit Court, which has called on the Bundesbank to take stock of its gold holdings outside Germany, saying it has never verified their existence.

The Bundesbank distributed the letter to reporters after board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele and the Audit Court’s head Dieter Engels testified to budget committee lawmakers in the lower house of parliament in Berlin.

The Frankfurt-based central bank on Oct. 23 issued a statement saying that “the Bundesbank and the Federal Court of Auditors have different opinions” on the matter. The central bank manages Germany’s gold reserves, which amounted to 3,396 tons as of Dec. 31, 2011. The gold is kept at central bank vaults in Frankfurt, New York, Paris and London.

Continue reading: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-25/new-york-fed-to-help-bundesbank-meet-gold-audit-requirements.html

Prime minister’s wife sells off entire stock portfolio

By GLEN MCGREGOR, Ottawa Citizen January 10, 2013

OTTAWA — An ethics disclosure filed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper shows that his wife Laureen liquidated her entire portfolio of stock market investments late last year.

The prime minister last month amended a disclosure of assets and liabilities he had filed with Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson and removed its reference to his wife’s investments.

Previous versions of Harper’s MP disclosure said his wife held an “investment account with Raymond James Ltd. partly composed of publicly traded securities.”

That line item was not found in an updated December 8 version of the document, which lists no other declarable assets.

“Mrs. Harper’s updated disclosure reflects the fact this account was liquidated,” explained Andrew MacDougall, Harper’s director of communications.

MacDougall did not respond to a follow-up email asking why she had suddenly sold off her portfolio at a time when the economy is still recovering from a deep recession.

Unlike his apparently bearish wife, the prime minister has been an enthusiastic booster of Canadian equity markets, and once advised investors to increase their stake in public securities during the darkest days of the global economic downturn.

Continue reading: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Prime+minister+wife+sells+entire+stock+portfolio/7802376/story.html

Deutsche Bundesbank’s new storage plan for Germany’s gold reserves
Press notice 2013-01-16
By 2020, the Bundesbank intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Germany. The other half will remain in storage at its partner central banks in New York and London. With this new storage plan, the Bundesbank is focusing on the two primary functions of the gold reserves: to build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centres abroad within a short space of time.

The following table shows the current and the envisaged future allocation of Germany’s gold reserves across the various storage locations:

31 December 2012 31 December 2020
Frankfurt am Main 31 % 50 %
New York 45 % 37 %
London 13 % 13 %
Paris 11 % 0 %

To this end, the Bundesbank is planning a phased relocation of 300 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt as well as an additional 374 tonnes from Paris to Frankfurt by 2020.

The withdrawal of the reserves from the storage location in Paris reflects the change in the framework conditions since the introduction of the euro. Given that France, like Germany, also has the euro as its national currency, the Bundesbank is no longer dependent on Paris as a financial centre in which to exchange gold for an international reserve currency should the need arise. As capacity has now become available in the Bundesbank’s own vaults in Germany, the gold stocks can now be relocated from Paris to Frankfurt.

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in German only

* * *
Deutsche Bundesbank | Communications Department | Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse 14 | 60431 Frankfurt am Main
http://www.bundesbank.de | E-mail: presse@bundesbank.de
Tel: +49 69 9566-3511 | Fax: +49 69 9566-3077
Reproduction permitted only if source is stated.
Source: http://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/EN/Pressemitteilungen/BBK/2013/2013_01_16_storage_plan_gold_reserve.html

Bundesbank to Repatriate 674 Tons of Gold to Germany by 2020
By Jana Randow – 2013-01-16T12:00:00Z

The Bundesbank will repatriate 674 metric tons of gold from vaults in Paris and New York by 2020 to restore public confidence in the safety of Germany’s reserves.

The phased relocation of the gold, currently worth about 27 billion euros ($36 billion), will begin this year and result in half of Germany’s reserves being stored in Frankfurt by the end of the decade, the Bundesbank said in a statement today. It will bring home all 374 tons of its gold held at the Banque de France and a further 300 tons from the New York Federal Reserve, it said. Holdings at the Bank of England will remain unchanged.

“With this new storage plan, the Bundesbank is focusing on the two primary functions of the gold reserves: to build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centers abroad within a short space of time,” the Bundesbank said. It said the complete withdrawal of reserves from Paris reflects the fact that Germany no longer depends on France as a financial center to exchange gold because both nations use the euro.

Germany’s Audit Court sparked a debate about the country’s gold reserves last year when it called on the Bundesbank to take stock of its holdings abroad, saying their existence had never been verified. German gold reserves, the second-largest in the world after the U.S., amounted to 3,391 tons as of Dec. 31 and were valued at 137.5 billion euros.

Continue reading: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-16/bundesbank-to-repatriate-674-tons-of-gold-to-germany-by-2020.html short url: http://bloom.bg/WcCETW

Bundesbank Official Statement On Gold Repatriation
Submitted by Tyler Durden 01/16/2013 08:29 -0500

When we first heard about it, we thought Handelsblatt had gotten something very wrong. The implications were just so staggering. Turns out the news was spot on. Here is the official announcement from the Bundesbank, which roundly refutes all the spin the Frankfurt bank spoon-fed the people in October and November when it repeated time after time that there is nothing wrong with keeping German gold in NY and Paris, and on the contrary, it was better for everyone involved.

From the Bundesbank:

By 2020, the Bundesbank intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Germany. The other half will remain in storage at its partner central banks in New York and London. With this new storage plan, the Bundesbank is focusing on the two primary functions of the gold reserves: to build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centres abroad within a short space of time.

The following table shows the current and the envisaged future allocation of Germany’s gold reserves across the various storage locations:

Continue reading: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-16/bundesbank-official-statement-gold-repatriation

Central Banks Repatriate Gold: How Will This Affect Investors?

Watch the video via Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/video/central-banks-repatriate-gold-affect-160413531.html

Russia Says World Is Nearing Currency War as Europe Joins Battle
By Simon Kennedy & Scott Rose – 2013-01-16T16:24:51Z

The world is on the brink of a fresh “currency war,” Russia warned, as European policy makers joined Japan in bemoaning the economic cost of rising exchange rates.

“Japan is weakening the yen and other countries may follow,” Alexei Ulyukayev, first deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank, said at a conference today in Moscow.

The alert from the country that chairs the Group of 20 came as Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker complained of a “dangerously high” euro and officials in Norway and Sweden expressed exchange-rate concern.

The push for weaker currencies is being driven by a need to find new sources of economic growth as monetary and fiscal policies run out of room. The risk is as each country tries to boost exports, it hurts the competitiveness of other economies and provokes retaliation.

Yesterday “will go down as the first day European policy makers fired a shot in the 2013 currency war,” said Chris Turner, head of foreign-exchange strategy at ING Groep NV in London.

G-20 Clash

The skirmish may lead to a clash of G-20 finance ministers and central banks when they meet next month in Moscow, three months after reiterating their 2009 pledge to “refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies.”

While emerging markets have repeatedly complained about strong currencies as a result of easy monetary policies in the west, the engagement of richer nations is adding a new dimension to what Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega first dubbed a currency war in 2010.

After Switzerland blocked the franc’s appreciation against the euro since September 2011, Japan has reignited the latest round of rhetoric as newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigns to spur growth via a more aggressive central bank. The yen has slid 11 percent against the dollar since December and this week touched its lowest level in two years.

Now other policy makers are speaking out. Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, said yesterday that the euro’s 7 percent gain against the dollar in the past six months poses a fresh threat to the European economy just as it shows signs of escaping its three-year debt crisis.

Continue researching: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-16/russia-says-world-is-nearing-currency-war-as-europe-joins.html

Germany to bring home gold stored in US, France
By FRANK JORDANS | Associated Press – Wed, Jan 16, 2013 4:37 PM EST

BERLIN (AP) — In what sounds like the setup for a stylish Hollywood heist movie, Germany is transferring nearly 700 tons of gold bars worth $36 billion from Paris and New York to its vaults in Frankfurt.

The move is part of an effort by Germany’s central bank to bring much of its gold home after keeping big reserves outside the country for safekeeping during the Cold War.

Shipping such a large amount of valuable cargo between countries could be a serious security headache. A gold robbery — the subject of such movies as “Die Hard 3″ and “The Italian Job” — would be embarrassing and expensive for Germany.

The high-stakes, high-security plan is to move the precious metal — 374 tons kept in vaults in Paris and 300 tons stored at the New York Federal Reserve Bank — to the Bundesbank in Germany’s financial center over the next eight years.

Continue reading: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/germany-bring-home-gold-stored-us-france-205249881–finance.html

Gold imports could fall 25 percent on duty hike
By Jan Harvey and Siddesh Mayenkar LONDON/MUMBAI | Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:19pm IST
(Reuters) – India’s gold imports could drop by up to a quarter this year if, as expected, the government again raises the duty on the precious metal, the chairman of the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation said on Thursday.

Bachhraj Bamalwa said he believes import duty on gold will be hiked to 6 percent in the budget scheduled for February 28. The rate was doubled to 4 percent last as part of moves to cut India’s trade deficit.

“Going by the government’s attitude towards gold and the Reserve Bank of India’s latest recommendations, we fear gold imports will be further curtailed by at least 20-25 percent compared to last year,” he said in an interview with the Reuters Global Gold Forum.

“The increase in duty will make gold costlier in India, and at this price investors will not be interested in gold, keeping in mind that the Indian rupee is also constantly weakening.”

Finance minister P. Chidambaram reignited speculation for another duty hike earlier this month, hinting at cutting gold imports to resolve a record current account deficit that he referred to as “worrying”.

Gold is often used as an investment asset by Indians, but represents a drain on foreign currency reserves. A senior finance ministry official told Reuters the government could increase the import duty on gold by 1-2 percentage points.

Continue reading: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/gold-india-idINDEE90G0FG20130117

Global economic outlook is weaker than expected: Carney
Wed, Jan 23 2013 | Global News
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says that the Bank of Canada will keep the overnight rate target at 1 percent.
Watch it on Global News: http://www.globalnews.ca/video/global+economic+outlook+is+weaker+than+expected++carney/video.html?v=2328255223

How to profit from the coming currency wars
By Matthew Lynn | MarketWatch – 2013-01-23T09:00:50Z

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Central banks around the world have tried just about everything to drag their economies out of recession. They have slashed interest rates to three-century lows, printed money in vast quantities, and recapitalized banks with soft loans.

So far, however, they haven’t had much success. Now they have one last weapon left in the armory — a currency depreciation.

All-out currency wars are now looming.

Reuters Bank of England chief Mervyn King warns that currency wars are coming.A series of central banks, both large and small, have begun to target a lower exchange rate as a way of boosting their economies. Read: The warning from the Bundesbank’s Weidmann about currency wars.

Whether it works remains to be seen. For investors, however, that may be less important than figuring out which countries will be successful in getting their currencies down — and which other assets will go up in value if an all-out currency war does break out.

In the immediate wake of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, policy makers agreed not to engage in competitive devaluations.

Beggar-my-neighbor trade polices are part of the textbook explanation for the Great Depression of the 1930s and no one wanted to repeat the mistakes of that decade.

The British managed to slip through a 25% drop in the value of sterling (ICAP.C:GBPUSD) without anyone noticing very much (a sign perhaps of the pound’s diminished importance in the world). But otherwise, currencies stayed much were they were before the crisis struck. Indeed, the main feature of the foreign-exchange markets in their last five years has been their extraordinary stability; while every other asset price went haywire, most currencies stayed where they were.

Reuters Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg wants a weaker krona.

Now that is about to change…

Continue reading: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/profit-coming-currency-wars-090050677.html

Why the loonie’s losing streak isn’t over
MARKET VIEW The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Jan. 25 2013, 10:19 AM EST Last updated Friday, Jan. 25 2013, 10:42 AM EST

The Globe and Mail’s Jacqueline Nelson looks at the latest inflation numbers and what they mean for interest rates and the loonie

Watch video: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/market-view-video/video-market-view-why-the-loonies-losing-streak-isnt-over/article7847522/

Currency Wars Often Lead to Trade Wars … Which In Turn Can Devolve Into Hot Wars
By WashingtonsBlog Posted February 8, 2013

According to numerous high-level insiders, the global currency war is accelerating:

And Japan’s escalation of the currency war has caused leaders in the Eurozone (more), Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Columbia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Venezuela and many other regions to devalue or consider further devaluing their currencies. China may be joining as well. (And James Rickard and Reggie Middleton think that Germany’s demand for its gold is part of the currency war.)

We’ve been in a global currency war for years.

Continue researching: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/currency-wars-often-lead-to-trade-wars-which-in-turn-can-devolve-into-hot-wars.html

Currency Wars Return, 1930s Style: Who Will Lose Out?
By Matt Clinch CNBC – Published: Thursday, 7 Feb 2013

As countries try to weaken their currencies to boost exports, the risk of a currency war similar to events seen in the 1930s has heightened, and policymakers are making sure they are on the winning side, according to Morgan Stanley.

The balance of power now rests with Japan, according to the bank, as Japan’s policy-makers’ more dovish approach looks set to bring the world a step closer to a currency war.

The Bank of Japan doubled its inflation target to 2 percent in January and made an open-ended commitment to continue buying assets from next year. This follows a leadership change, with new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe openly calling for aggressive monetary stimulus from the country’s central bank.

(Read More: Land of the Falling Yen: Japan Cheers Sliding Currency)

This move, Morgan Stanley said, is a “game changer” as Japan tries to invigorate its stagnating economy .

Continue researching: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100441340

Has China Quietly Joined the Currency War?
By Dhara Ranasinghe CNBC Senior Writer Published: Thursday, 7 Feb 2013

China has been less vocal than other major economies in recent weeks in voicing discontent about a sharp slide in the yen, which means stronger currencies elsewhere. Yet, Beijing is taking action of its own to head off unwanted pressure on the yuan to appreciate.

The Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, fell on Thursday to its weakest level since late December. In fact, the yuan has been creeping down since January 14, when it hit a record high against the U.S. dollar at about 6.21, as China’s central bank steps up its intervention in the foreign exchange markets to curb yuan appreciation.

“It is disappointing for anyone looking for yuan gains,” said Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney. “The leash on the yuan has been tightening, probably because of the decline in the yen and also the decline in the (South Korean) won and the Taiwan dollar and in that environment it’s tough for China to allow currency gains that would hurt its competitive edge.”

The yen has tumbled against all major currencies since the start of the year, falling roughly 10 percent against the dollar and the euro, amid growing expectations of aggressive monetary policy from Japan, now on a concerted bid to revive a weak economy and end years of deflation.

The won meanwhile has eased about 2.5 percent against the dollar since the start of 2013, while the Taiwan dollar is down about 2 percent.

Policymakers in Europe and Asia, notably South Korea, have complained about the rapid depreciation of the yen. Indeed, analysts say a “currency war” is under way as major economies take action either verbally or through monetary intervention to weaken their currencies and keep them competitive.

Continue researching: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100444861

Carney says Canada particularly vulnerable to currency manipulation
by The Canadian Press on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 10:29am

OTTAWA – Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warns the Canadian economy would suffer from a currency exchange war — a battle the G7 has pledged not to engage in.

Carney tells a parliamentary committee in Ottawa that as a smaller economy, Canada does not have the flexibility of the United States and it would be futile for him to seek to manipulate the level at which the loonie is traded.

Before his appearance Tuesday morning, the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, which includes Canada, warned that volatile movements in exchange rates can adversely hit the global economy.

The G7 statement urges countries to set monetary policy to meet local economic targets and not to engage in a currency war through the manipulation of their currencies in order to boost exports at the expense of others.

Carney says at best, manipulating the currency works only in the short term. Eventually the economy must adjust through lower wages for the country’s workers, something he says parts of Europe are currently experiencing.

Continue researching: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/12/carney-says-canada-particularly-vulnerable-to-currency-manipulation/

Carney says Canada ‘vulnerable’ to currency manipulation Bank governor appears before MPs for 1st time since announcing departure
CBC News Posted: Feb 12, 2013 8:49 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 12, 2013 3:40 PM ET

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says the Canadian economy would be particularly vulnerable to a widespread currency war.

He was speaking to Canadian members of Parliament for the first time since announcing his resignation and taking the job of governor of the Bank of England.

As a smaller economy, Canada doesn’t have the flexibility of countries such as the U.S. to manipulate currency markets, Carney told the Commons finance committee.

In a currency war, countries attempt to artificially devalue their currency to boost exports, although this can often escalate into a “race to the bottom” that results in inflation and lower wages.

Earlier Tuesday, the G7 issued a statement saying its members nations have pledged to avoid engaging in a so-called “currency war.”

The statement, which vows to set monetary policy to address domestic concerns rather than international ones, was signed in Canada by both Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Continue researching: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/02/12/pol-cp-carney-finance-committee.html

Canada vulnerable to currency war, Carney warns
National Post Wire Services | Feb 12, 2013 9:38 AM ET | Last Updated: Feb 12, 2013 4:33 PM ET
OTTAWA — Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is warning the Canadian economy would be damaged by a global currency war and that it would do little good to join the manipulators in trying to boost exports.

The outgoing bank governor was speaking to a Canadian parliamentary committee Tuesday after he and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signed a Group of Seven statement denouncing exchange rate manipulation.

The statement issued in advance of the G20 meeting in Moscow later this week urges nations to set monetary policy to suit domestic conditions, not in an effort to lower the level of their currencies and gain a competitive advantage in export markets.

The statement appeared aimed at Japan, the world’s third largest economy, which set in motion a series of policy actions that have contributed to a 15 per cent devaluation in the yen against the U.S. dollar over the past three months. The U.S. and Europe have also maintained extremely accommodative monetary policies, although Carney called them appropriate given the circumstances in those economies.

But he acknowledged that Canadian exports are a key reason why the economy remains weak and that the strong loonie has not helped. He estimated the appreciation of the currency over the past decade or so was responsible for two-thirds of the loss in Canadian competitiveness.

Continue researching: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/12/rate-hikes-on-back-burner-mark-carney-tells-lawmakers/

Analysis: Bank Indonesia takes precautions to keep rupiah’s decline orderly
By Vidya Ranganathan SINGAPORE | Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:04pm EST

(Reuters) – Indonesia’s central bank is gradually closing trading loopholes used by global investors in an attempt to exert more control over its weakening currency and prevent a desirable depreciation of the rupiah from turning into a panicky tailspin.

Last week, it reminded domestic banks they are not allowed to dabble in offshore rupiah forward markets. It told them it wants an improvement in onshore trading volume. And it said it will specify the hours during which banks can quote exchange rates for the rupiah.

Looking for motives behind this focus on trading hours and rules in what has been a relatively well-behaved market, analysts suspect Bank Indonesia’s aim is to remove room for speculative play before letting the market take the rupiah down slowly.

The central bank has been selling dollars, limiting the rupiah’s decline so far this year to around 0.5 percent, but any intention to manage an orderly decline in the rupiah remains unstated.

But, without that intervention, the rupiah would undoubtedly have fallen faster as the currency comes under growing pressure from the country’s huge import bills and the risk of capital outflows.

Continue researching: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/13/us-markets-indonesia-rupiah-idUSBRE91C1J520130213

G20 set to dilute big powers’ demands on currencies
By Jan Strupczewski and Tetsushi Kajimoto MOSCOW | Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:22pm EST

(Reuters) – The Group of 20 nations will not single out Japan over the weak yen and will disregard a call from G7 powers to refrain from using economic policy to target exchange rates, according to a text drafted for finance leaders.

A G20 delegate who has seen the communique – prepared by finance officials for their bosses – also said it would make no direct mention of new debt-cutting targets, something Germany is pressing for but which the United States wanted struck out.

If adopted by G20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Moscow on Friday and Saturday, Japan will escape any censure for its expansionary policies which have driven the yen lower and drawn demands for action from some quarters.

“There will not be a heavy clash about currencies in the end, because nobody can risk such a negative signal,” said another G20 delegation source.

The currency market was thrown into turmoil this week after the Group of Seven – the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy – issued a joint statement stating that domestic economic policy must not be used to target currencies, which must remain determined by the market.

Tokyo said that reflected agreement that its bold monetary and fiscal policies were appropriate but the show of unity was shattered by off-the-record briefings critical of Japan.

Continue researching: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-g20-currency-idUSBRE91E00520130215

Exclusive: Big powers to offer easing gold sanctions at Iran nuclear talks By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON | Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:30pm EST

(Reuters) – Major powers plan to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for Iranian steps to shut down the nation’s newly expanded Fordow uranium enrichment plant, Western officials said on Friday.

The officials said the offer is to be presented to Iran at February 26 talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and they acknowledged that it represents a relatively modest update to proposals that the six major powers put forward last year.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said their decision not to make a dramatically new offer in part reflected skepticism that Iran is ready to make a deal ahead of its June 14 presidential election.

The group, which includes Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – and is known as the P5+1 – wants Iran to do more to prove that its nuclear program is for only non-military purposes and to permit wider U.N. inspections.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons but has refused, in recent years, to halt its uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or, ultimately, for bombs.

Israel, which is regarded as the Middle East’s only nuclear power and which views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, has raised the possibility of taking military action to halt the Iranian atomic program.

Continue researching: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-iran-nuclear-gold-idUSBRE91E0TP20130215

G20 defuses talk of currency war
By Randall Palmer and Lidia Kelly MOSCOW | Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:46am EST

(Reuters) – The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be no ‘currency war’ and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets in an indication of concern about the fragile state of the world economy.

Japan’s expansive policies, which have driven down the yen, escaped criticism in a statement thrashed out in Moscow by financial policymakers from the G20, which groups developed and emerging markets and accounts for 90 percent of the world economy.

After late night talks, finance ministers and central bankers agreed on wording closer than expected to a joint statement issued last Tuesday by the Group of Seven rich nations backing market-determined exchange rates.

A draft communique seen by delegates on Friday had steered clear of the G7′s call for economic policy not to be targeted at exchange rates. But the final version included a G20 commitment to refrain from competitive devaluations and stated monetary policy would be directed at price stability and growth.

“The language has been strengthened since our discussions last night,” Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters. “It’s stronger than it was, but it was quite clear last night that everyone around the table wants to avoid any sort of currency disputes.”

The communique did not single out Japan for aggressive monetary and fiscal policies that have seen the yen drop 20 percent, a trend that may now continue.

“The market will take the G20 statement as an approval for what it has been doing — selling of the yen,” said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon in London. “No censure of Japan means they will be off to the money printing presses.”

The statement reflected a substantial, but not complete, endorsement of Tuesday’s statement by the G7 nations – the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

“We all agreed on the fact that we refuse to enter any currency war,” French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told reporters.

Continue researching: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/16/us-g-idUSBRE91F01720130216

Published on Sep 13, 2012 – World War 3: the unthinkable cost of preserving the petrodollar [Video]

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