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Iceland Melts Down...

* RBA cuts rates 100 BPS! * Iceland to peg the krona... * High Yielders get whacked! * Gold rallies in the face of a strong dollar! ** Iceland Melts Down... Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Well... Folks... The wheels, what was left of them, are really coming off this economy. It's a sad sight to see, but it's happening nonetheless, and there's no bailout, stimulus check, mortgage bill, truck loads of money supply, or whatever, that's going to stop this recession bus.. Memo to Paulson and Bernanke... Don't throw yourself under this recession bus... Well... The dollar continued to push the envelope against a handful of currencies yesterday. Up front and center, the high yielders got beaten about the head and shoulders by the dollar. Aussie, kiwi, real, rand, all took major hits from the dollar. It was one of the worst days I can remember seeing for these currencies. This huge sell off showed two things going against the high yielders... 1. Commodities (other than Gold) are getting whacked, and 2. The Carry Trade is Dead......

Published Tue, Oct 10 2008 9:20 AM by Chuck Butler

Filed under: Australia, Silver, Gold, Ben Bernanke, Yen, Japan, Carry Trade, Icelandic Krona, FOMC, Renminbi, Henry Paulson

Congratulations to Chuck...

* Great news from Chuck... * FOMC could lower rates... * TIC flows to slow... * Yen and SFR continue to rally... ** Congratulations to Chuck... Good day... I want to start this mornings Pfennig off with a note Chuck sent the trade desk last night: "The doctor called, and I'm CLEAN! My scans were clean, and, I'm officially off the Sutent, and considered a "Cancer Survivor" now! YIPPEE!" I know the markets are in a state of turmoil, but that great news from Chuck took precedence over anything I could write about the currencies. It looks like Chuck's positive attitude along with all of our prayers have beaten back the cancer (I guess his doctors and the new medicines deserve some of the credit also). Congratulations to Chuck, can't wait to shake his hand when he returns from the first week of the FXU tour. But now lets move on to the markets. I was so focused on the Wall Street turmoil yesterday that I failed to mention the FOMC will be meeting today. Just a few weeks ago, the markets were calling for an interest rate increase by the Fed to tackle inflation. But the events of this past weekend, along with a dramatic drop in the price of oil, has many calling for another interest rate cut. The Central Bank has already injected billions of money into the markets to try and calm them after the bankruptcy of Lehman. The Federal Reserve yesterday added $70 billion in reserves, the most since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The funds were needed as banks and financial firms tightened up their lending in reaction to the financial turmoil....

Published Tue, Sep 09 2008 9:19 AM by Chuck Butler

Filed under: Brazilian Real, Gold, Swiss franc, The Fed, FOMC, TIC Flow, T-Bills, Peso, Financial Crisis

Currencies Rally On Bad U.S. Data...

* Dollar rally is stopped! * FOMC meeting minutes... * Housing data you won't see on TV! * Sweden to sell Gold... ** Currencies Rally On Bad U.S. Data... Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! I'm back. I just couldn't answer the bell yesterday morning, as the night before was simply rough on your old Pfennig writer. I'm in my last week of treatment and it has been a tough row to hoe, and I feel bad that I was not able to stiffen the back and make it through the day. But, no biggie, I've got great people here to take care of things when I'm gone... When I finally dragged myself out of bed yesterday, I saw that the dollar was taking liberties with the euro and other currencies once again. It was another game of "your economy is worse than mine", as German Business Confidence took a ride on the slippery slope down. You should have seen the "bandwagon jumpers" falling all over themselves to write about how cool it was to own the dollar. I chuckled, no big laugh as that might upset my stomach! But, their claim to be cool, was quickly squashed like a bug, when the housing numbers printed, and then later in the day, with the latest FOMC meeting minutes... More on this in a minute.......

Published Wed, Aug 08 2008 9:02 AM by Chuck Butler

Filed under: Currencies, Dollar, Gold, Home Sales, Euro, European Central Bank, Sweden, FOMC

Fed not as hawkish as expected...

* Fed not as hawkish as expected... * Markets now turn to ECB and BOE... * Canadian dollar slides... * Aussie hit by 1-2 punch.. ** Fed not as hawkish as expected... Good day...I want to start off today's Pfennig by apologizing for those of you who were waiting to receive their Pfennig yesterday. I sent it off at the normal time, but we had some problems with the program which sends it out, so it was delayed in getting delivered. You can always view the current Pfennig at www.dailypfennig.com where we post it first thing in the morning. That website also has archived versions of past pfennigs for your reading pleasure! They tell me the problem has been fixed, so you should get this pfennig right on time. The dollar drifted higher throughout most of the day yesterday as the markets prepared for the FOMC rate announcement. The sentiment driving the dollar higher was that the Fed would sound much more hawkish in order to keep an overall consensus among the FOMC members. Dollar bulls were expecting a signal from Bernanke that an increase in interest rates would be just around the corner. These higher interest rate expectations encouraged traders to take the dollar index back up to just under 74, a level we haven't seen in almost two months....

Published Wed, Aug 08 2008 10:12 AM by Chuck Butler

Filed under: Australia, Oil, Inflation, Commodities, Gold, European Central Bank, Canada, Bank of England, Interest Rates, The Fed, FOMC

Questioning The Fed's Rhetoric...

* More dollar strength... * Retail Sales surprise... * SARB raises rates! * Gold on the slippery slope... **Questioning The Fed's Rhetoric... Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! It will be a Fantastico Friday (Hopefully) for the boys and girls in the St. Louis office, as we head to Busch Stadium tonight for a Cardinals baseball game... We even have a special guest that will be with us, so party on Wayne... Party on Garth! Well... Things went a little crazy on the desk while I was away yesterday... When I returned home last night, I had a ton of emails from the Big Boss, Frank Trotter, and that's usually a sign that things didn't go well! Frank plays hockey on Friday mornings, and said he will call me to bring me up to date on his way to hockey......

Published Fri, Jun 06 2008 9:10 AM by Chuck Butler

Filed under: Dollar, Inflation, Gold, The Fed, Citigroup, Retail Sales, FOMC