BEAUTIFUL SHOOTS OF CHINA

Forget everything you think you know about China and take a couple minutes to ponder these images.

Few people in the Western world know about the hidden beauty of China. Well….. of course it helps to have an ace photographer who can capture this land of enchantment as no other has. But these are some truly inspiring photos.

Commodities sidelined to a tad lower :-

Plenty of FX volatility: Canadian dollar, Mexican peso and Sterling the weakest, South Korean won, Kiwi and Norway the strongest. As well as banking jitters, comments from the Bank of England’s Mervyn King that sterling weakness would help to rebalance the economy away from (nasty) financial services and help exports (what? Vauxhall cars?) pushed Cable down to $1.5917 and EUR/GBP £0.9193 (highest since April fool’s day). The US dollar was fairly weak too, taking the Euro up to $1.4845, the Yen to 89.96 and the Swiss franc to 1.0170 (best since July 2008). Short-dated yields dipped, allowing many money market futures contracts to post new all-time highs, the lowest being one-month US TBills at 0.02%, three-months at 0.09%. Major yield curves flattened slightly, longer-dated Treasury yields dropping further because they are not constrained by the zero level. Equity indices gave up half or all of last week’s gains, Mexico, Hong Kong and Shanghai down 4.5% and the hardest hit. Commodities sidelined to a tad lower.

Political and Economic Developments :-

The FT reports that US syndicated loan losses rose to $53 billion so far in 2009, greater than the cumulative losses since 2001, according to the Shared National Credit Program, a body set up in 1977 to monitor loans over $20 million from federally regulated institutions - banks and the shadow banking system. Quality has deteriorated badly, because of poor underwriting as well as weak economic conditions, so that 11.5% of bank loans and 33% of quasi-banks’ advances are now bad debts. Hedge and pension funds, securitisation vehicles and their ilk are hanging on to 47% of problem loans while accounting for just 21% of lending. Assets rated as ‘special mention’, ‘substandard’, ‘doubtful’ and ‘loss’ (the four categories of fragile loans) of this $2.9 trillion market stands at $642 billion or 23% of the portfolio, almost double last year’s 13%.

Beautiful Mosques In The World -2

European markets, advance ahead of Fed; Euro and Pound remain strong :-

European markets are going through moderate advances on Wednesday, fuelled by higher prices on basic resources which have been favoured by a weaker Dollar and higher commodity prices. Euro and Pound remain trading at high levels after two-days rally.

Eurostoxx 50 Index adds 0.5%, while German DAX Index rises 0.45%, and the French CAC Index advances 0.35%. In the UK, the FTSE Index rises 0.4% in the first hours of trading.

On teh macroeconomic front, the Bank of England has released the minutes of September's meeting with no mention of discussions over the deposit rate cut, while the decisions to hold rates at 0.5% and to maintain its bond buying plan at GBP175 billion were approved unanimously.

Pound And Euro remain at high levels

EUR/USD has eased somewhat after rally from 1.4610 low on Monday hit a fresh 2009 high at 1.4843 during Asian session, and the Euro has dipped below 1.4800 although it remains above session low at 1.4785.

GBP/USD pulled down from 1.6400 to 1.6330 intra-day low ahead of the BoE minutes although the pair bounced past 1.6400 to reach intra-day high at 1.6430 area at the moment of writing.

USD/JPY decline from 92.55 high on September 21 found support at 90.50 low on Asian session, and the Dollr has tried to build up recovery from 90.70, although the pair remains capped at the 91.00 area.

Island of Rab

Euro Climbs on Growing Optimism

The euro climbed versus a number of currencies in the start of this week as investors’ confidence rose in the region, providing support for speculations regarding the end of the recession in the countries using the European common currency.
This week started with pending to the side of risk appetite continuing market trends perceived in the end of last week, when the euro climbed fueled by renewed attractiveness as countries like Germany indicate significant positive economic improvements, suggesting that the recession may end sooner than expected in the Eurozone. Today, the euro is also gaining on speculations that a report regarding factory orders in Germany will show an expansion in July, if confirmed, it will be the fifth consecutive month with positive figures in this sector. Currencies like the yen and the dollar lost the most versus the euro, as traders leave safety attracted by yielding in emergent markets.
The euro is likely to have a positive week, mainly versus the yen, which could be overpriced after last week’s rally, but it will be difficult for the European common currency to climb very sharply, considering that even if the region is publishing several positive reports, most of the bloc’s members still face recession and complications in different sectors of the economy.
If you want to comment on the Euro’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

Abu Dhabi from Sky-New Landscape

Personal Accident: Overview

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