The Japanese Yen received a lot press recently and this time it was not because of intervention or a threat of one. After three consecutive months of running a trade deficit, the Japan posted a gap of JPY 2.49 trillion for 2011. Unfamiliar territory for this country, which had a surplus every year since 1980. [...]

The major market mover on Friday turned out to be not the dismal US Trade Balance, which again showed growing deficit, but a wholesale downgrade of European countries by Standard & Poor’s. After months of threats, the rating agency finally delivered the goods, ending France’s and Austria’s triple-A status Friday. It lowered Italy’s and Spain’s [...]

Media was buzzing on Monday with news of Philipp Hildebrand quitting as the chairman of the Swiss National Bank over his wife’s currency trades. In response, market participants started to buy the Franc, as if Mr. Hildebrand’s departure somehow would change bank’s view on Swiss currency. The EUR-CHF, original target of earlier interventions, fell to [...]