Aussie under pressure amid new currency war

The Australian dollar came under renewed selling pressure on Tuesday as the consolidation of global imbalances continues to fuel a rally in its US counterpart.

The Aussie dropped briefly to touch a four-year low around  $US86.5 cents on weak trade data and an upward revision in unemployment, before recovering to around $US86.9 cents as the market took heart from strong retail sales figures.

However, the main driver of more general weakness is a new surge in the US dollar, spurred by another bout of extreme monetary easing by the Bank of Japan.

The BoJ on Friday caught markets off-guard by announcing a larger-than-expected boost to it quantitative easing program, less than 48 hours after the US Federal Reserve confirmed a halt to its own six-year stimulus scheme.

In the Year 2024

 

[Editor’s Note from Jim Rickards: The following article describes a fictional dystopia in the spirit of Brave New World or 1984. It is not a firm forecast or prediction in the usual analytic sense. Instead, it’s intended to provide warning, and encourage readers to be alert to dangerous trends in society, some of which are already in place. Thank you.]

As I awoke this morning, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, from restless dreams, I found the insect-sized sensor implanted in my arm was already awake. We call it a “bug.” U.S. citizens have been required to have them since 2022 to access government health care.

The bug knew from its biometric monitoring of my brain wave frequencies and rapid eye movement that I would awake momentarily. It was already at work launching systems, including the coffee maker. I could smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. The information screens on the inside of my panopticon goggles were already flashing before my eyes.

Jim Willie: Syria, Pipeline Politics, OPEC & the US Dollar

Syria holds the key to peace, a new chapter in history and the dawn of a new age. Without oil being traded in Dollars, the US will collapse back into the stone age. With an attack on Syria the US might also collapse, should for example, a host of other nations (i.e. BRIC nations) retaliate by dropping the Dollar. This article highlights exactly what hangs in the balance and why Syria is the focus.

Syria is also only a stepping stone into Iran as it was already pre-planned to invade seven countries in five years. This was highlighted by then-General Wesley Clark in the video below. However, Iran might take the iniative by skipping that step and might set the entire Middle East on fire should Syria be attacked.

Syria is about the last gasp for the Petro-Dollar, the emergence of energy pipeline geopolitics, the rise of the NatGas Co-op, the new dominance of Russian Gazprom, the eclipse of OPEC, the fall of the house of Saud, and a grand adjustment process in global commerce and banking.

The NatGas Co-op eclipses OPEC and ushers in a new era.

Refer to trade settlement outside the USDollar and diversification away from USTreasury Bond reserves management. It took some time to realize it, but the Cyprus bank incident was a misdirected attack against Gazprom. It failed. The entire Arab Spring movement, an ambitious disruptive project waged with foolhardy ambitions, has turned on itself. Egypt fell, its US puppet discharged. The entire North African region will be in flames soon. The USGovt interfered with a grand industrialization project for European industry, to be placed on North Africa intended to take advantage of cheaper labor, available minerals, nearby resources, and easy shipping. The resentment of Europe will show up in the future. The Middle East and Persian Gulf region is shifting its salute to Russia & China, as the noisy sectarian battles have been a common fixture since long ago. Bahrain has erupted. Saudi is clamping down and converting into an Islamic police state to create the Iran-Saudi repressive bobsey twins. Chaos is the longstanding objective of the USGovt in foreign policy infection, no change in decades.

Syria is about a lot of things, most of which are volatile, many unsolvable. To be sure, the naval port of Tartus is valuable for the Russian Military, always eager to wrest a seaport. Like Lebanon, Syria is a hotbed stronghold for HezBollah, never to be taken lightly. They are mortal enemies to Israel, whose nations have exchanged covert violence for years. Syria might have tight relations with the Shiites of Iran, even some in Iraq. However, Syria represents the crossroads of many important shifting geopolitical roadways that pertain to the global financial structure and commercial systems. Syria is the tipping point for a Grand Global Paradigm Shift. It is the last stand for the Anglo Banker world. Syria will not go easily into the Russian camp, into the Gazprom fold, into the European energy market sphere. For if it does, the entire USDollar system of commerce and the USTreasury Bond system of reserves management will fall by the wayside and open a new era with Eastern dominance. But the Western powers cannot stop it. Clouds of whatever type do not halt pipeline flow, nor pipeline geopolitics.

New Zealand, China in Talks on Convertibility of Currencies

The world is leaving the US Dollar, one country at a time, and America is too busy following the Kardashians to notice.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Seeking to help its exporters, New Zealand is negotiating with China to make their currencies directly convertible, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister John Key said.

…

Talks are in the “very early stages” and “progressing,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the issue had been brought up during Mr. Key’s visit to China last month.

…

Direct convertibility between the Chinese yuan and New Zealand dollar would end the need for New Zealand’s companies and currency traders to convert New Zealand dollars or yuan into U.S. dollars when making or receiving payments.

China “fully prepared” for currency war: banker

A top Chinese banker said Beijing is “fully prepared” for a currency war as he urged the world to abide by a consensus reached by the G20 to avert confrontation, state media reported on Saturday.

Yi Gang, deputy governor of China’s central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow.