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* Currencies continue to rally... * More Stimulus... * Data shows more rot on the vine... * A Thanksgiving thought... **Maybe It's Time For A Change? Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! The day before Thanksgiving... Tonight is, historically, the biggest "going out" night for the younger crowd, as they all return home from college, etc. Not for yours truly though... A little reminder that Friday I will not be writing... Friday night, a large group of friends and family are starting the holiday season off with a gathering at the Butler House, before all heading to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Holiday Concert... I'm getting pumped up for that! OK... Another rally day in the currencies yesterday... One that wasn't as pronounced as Monday's 3-cent rally... But a rally just the same, and at one point, the euro was trading above 1.30... Hadn't seen that level in a while, so welcome back to the 1.30 level, Mr. euro... ...

* Deleveraging continues to push $ higher... * Pound Sterling tumbles... * Canada cuts rates... * Argentina spoils appetite for emerging markets... ** Deleveraging pushes the US$ up... Good day... Wow, another unbelievable day/night in the currency markets. The dollar continued to run up vs. most of the currencies yesterday and last night as investors brought money back into the US. We continue to get calls from WorldMarket investors asking us what was pushing this dollar up, as all of the data seems to be negative for the US$. The only explanation which seems to make sense is the global deleveraging of investors. Here is as good an explanation as I can give. Over the past several years money was extremely cheap and investors took advantage of these cheap loans. Hedge funds, corporate investors, and even some individuals borrowed funds and placed them into higher yielding investments to earn the 'carry'. This occurred not only in the currency markets, but across the entire spectrum of asset classes. These investors were rewarded with incremental yields over 'cash' investors, and banks were more than willing to lend, so the amount of leverage continued to increase to absolutely absurd levels. Everything was fine until the housing market here in the US turned and losses started to show up on the books of some investors....

* A potential CDS debacle... * Currencies rally back... * Brazilian real history... * Saber rattling or geopolitical pressure? ** Does The Bail Out Constitute A CDS Event? Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Right out of the starters blocks this morning, I have to apologize for the tardiness of the Pfennig yesterday... We were experiencing some technical difficulties... In fact, if you sent me an email, I didn't get it yesterday! Things look better this morning, so, maybe we're back on track! I know it's no one's fault when this stuff happens, but it sure doesn't make me feel good about getting up at X:XX AM (I won't say because you will think I'm crazy!) to come in and write the Pfennig, only to see it not go out until late in the day! Well... The stock market here in the U.S. sure liked the news about Fannie and Freddie! I guess, they, just like the dollar bulls, didn't get the memo that this will put billions of dollars of tax burden on taxpayers, and most likely is going to cause a major disruption in the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) that are on the books... Oh, well, we have to learn to deal with mental giants all our lives, this is just another case of that!...