Archive for May, 2009

The Bank of Canada released today the revised Standard Terms for its securities-lending program available to Primary Dealers (PDs) in Government of Canada securities.

The financial turbulence that began in the U.S. subprime-mortgage
market in August 2007 reached maximum intensity towards the end of 2008, and enveloped the entire global economy.

Price action on AUD/USD, a daily chart of which is shown, is closing out a decisively bullish week that saw the pair break cleanly above 0.7400 and then follow-through all the way up to a high above 0.7600.

CURRENCIES: 05/08/09 Higher closes yesterday for the Euro Fx, Aussie Dollar and dollar index while lower for the Canadian Dollar, British Pound, Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen.

Chinese stocks had a phenomenal week with the Hang Seng leading the charge, up 12.04% since the end of last week, at 17,389.87. Taiwan closely followed, powered by speculation of cross-strait M&A, the TAIEX index rose 9.87% to 6,583.87.

Pound Falls against Dollar, Euro as Bank of England Will Buy More Assets

In the past week the major economic developments in China included comments on monetary policy by the PBOC, stats showing the CLSA PMI rising above 50 in April, estimates that new lending in April was over 600 billion yuan, and revelation that China passed the US as the top ranked trading partner with Brazil.

These are difficult economic times, with the Canadian economy being buffeted by an intense and synchronized global recession. In recent months, that global recession has been exacerbated by delays in implementing measures to restore financial stability around the world.