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. [...]

Interesting proposal from Germany on how to handle the Greek crisis surfaced late last week. It is rather simple – Greece would give up control over its tax and spending decisions. A new “budget commissioner”, appointed by the Eurozone, would have the power to veto Greek budget decisions. Under this plan, paying off creditors would [...]

There were two developments from Europe on Friday. One was the continued lack of progress on Greek debt swap, exactly the same situation as we had one week ago, in spite of assurances of “imminent” agreement. The other one came courtesy of Fitch Rating Agency. The company cut the credit ratings of five Euro zone [...]