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Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions

ATCA Briefings

London, UK - 13 December 2006, 09:20 GMT - The US Dollar (USD) extended its declines on Tuesday, sending the Euro above USD 1.32 for the first time since March 2005, as US data supported expectations the US central bank -- The Federal Reserve -- may cut interest rates early next year. The USD fell to a new 20-month low against the Euro on Tuesday, as a spate of disappointing US economic data further dimmed the prospect of higher interest rates in the world's largest economy. A long-term factor behind the weakening Dollar is the widening US current account deficit and many market watchers say that the Dollar is just beginning to catch up with the fact that the United States is deep in debt, a significant chunk of which is held by China and Japan. Both the Asian powers are beginning to review their entrenched positions in regard to the value of their own currencies and the mix of their foreign reserves and holdings.


ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence, ATCA addresses opportunities and threats arising from climate chaos, radical poverty, organised crime & extremism, advanced technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI, demographic skews, pandemics and financial systems. Present membership of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished members from over 100 countries: including several from the House of Lords, House of Commons, EU Parliament, US Congress & Senate, G10's Senior Government officials and over 1,500 CEOs from financial institutions, scientific corporates and voluntary organisations as well as over 750 Professors from academic centres of excellence worldwide.


Dear ATCA Colleagues; dear IntentBloggers

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

We are grateful to:

. Prof Norbert Walter, Chief Economist, Deutsche Bank Group, & Head of Deutsche Bank Research, based in Frankfurt, Germany, for "US Problems rubbing off";
. Prof Avinash Persaud, Chairman, Intelligence Capital, based in London, England, for "Is the Dollar decline to be welcomed or feared?";
. Dr Harald Malmgren, Chief Executive, Malmgren Global, based in Washington DC, USA, for "Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news?"; and
. Bill Emmott, former Editor-in-Chief, The Economist, based in London and Somerset, England, for "The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News"

for their response to the ATCA think piece, "The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions" and the more recent update, "Sterling trading at 14 year record of nearly 2 Dollars."

Norbert Walter is Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank Group and Head of Deutsche Bank Research. Before his current position he was Professor and Director at the renowned Kiel Institute for World Economics and was a John J McCloy Distinguished Research Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC (1986 - 1987). He holds a doctorate in economics from the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University, Frankfurt-am-Main. As chief economist of Deutsche Bank Group Norbert Walter is responsible for a globally integrated approach in economic research. Deutsche Bank's think tank, Deutsche Bank Research, covers a wide spectrum of issues ranging from economic forecasting to country rating and sector analysis. Services are rendered to the Bank's board, staff, customers and the general public. In addition to holding these responsibilities at Deutsche Bank, Professor Walter is a member of the Committee of Wise Men on the Regulation of European Securities Markets ("Lamfalussy Group"). Norbert Walter loves debate, and he will gladly hold forth on anything from deflation, the prospects offered by the internet, the Euro's perspective or the role of the IMF. Many know him -- as he says himself, he is like a cup of espresso: small, dark and strong -- from watching the evening news bulletins. When it is a question of explaining economic issues, editors of television news, programmes, and newspaper and magazine editors, look to the 61-year old based in Frankfurt for comment and explanation. He is old Europe's economist, with a keen interest in a global perspective. He writes:

Dear DK and Colleagues

The global economy has been booming for years. Some countries are posting annual growth rates of no less than 10%. China is one example and India has recently followed suit. At the same time a number of imbalances are reaching frightening proportions. Current account imbalances are piling up. In Japan they are notorious and the result is the accumulation of currency reserves totalling nearly USD 1 trillion. Since the year 2000 alone these reserves have grown by some USD 500 billion.

But Japan is not the only country awash with cash for investing internationally. China's currency reserves have also recently breached the trillion dollar threshold. This figure does not include the reserves held by Hong Kong or Taiwan which have grown even faster. Greater China has boosted its reserves by about USD 1 trillion since the year 2000. Since oil prices have skyrocketed, commodity exporters have also booked huge increases in revenues. Mostly it is the current account surpluses that have widened dramatically, and along with this currency reserves and other forms of foreign investment. Not only the Middle East, Russia and Kazakhstan, but also Latin America have boosted their currency reserves and other foreign assets by more than USD 750 billion over the last four years. Since 2000 global currency reserves have increased from USD 2 trillion to over USD 5 trillion.

Most of these investments have flowed into liquid dollar assets. Investment has been concentrated in US treasury bonds. This explains to a major degree the low capital market rates in the US despite years of above-potential growth. Some international investments are focused on euro markets, bonds and equities.

Two questions need to be addressed: firstly, has action been taken to bring about a correction in current account imbalances? And secondly, are investors becoming nervous about the concentration of their investment risks in US dollars and the US bond market and are they seeking to diversify? And if so, in which direction?

The easing of oil prices and the slowing down of the US economy are undoubtedly developments that help to reduce current account imbalances - especially between commodity-exporting nations and the US. But there is a raft of other factors that are working to prolong the imbalances. China's competitive strength has actually increased. Productivity growth is of course not being offset by the minimal appreciation of the Yuan. Japan's surplus position is also unlikely to undergo correction. The Bank of Japan's extreme, low-interest-rate policy is keeping the yen very weak. At the same time increases in nominal (!) wages are virtually nonexistent in Japan. Germany's current account balance remains in surplus, but German unit labour costs continue to fall in the negotiable sectors. US foreign obligations will probably therefore see an annual net increase of more than USD 500 billion for the coming years. And global currency reserves will reach a figure of USD 7½ trillion in 2010, probably still a conservative estimate.

As long as the countries running surpluses (China, Japan, Germany and the commodity-exporting nations) largely invest their cash in US dollars and to a large degree in US Treasuries, everything could remain just as it is. I don't consider such a scenario to be realistic. I expect diversification both in terms of currencies and asset classes. Since the Bank of Japan will hardly have any justification for higher interest rates I do not believe investors will look to buy into the yen. Since the Chinese authorities want to buttress their growth, the likelihood of a stronger Yuan appreciation appears minimal.

This leaves the euro as effectively the only alternative currency. It looks as if the markets are beginning to play this game. For some time now Indians, Chinese, Russians and the Gulf states have begun to show interest in corporate investments in addition to US Treasuries. Their endeavours have however not always been successful. The apologists for the free movement of capital in the US are discovering protectionism. By fomenting doubts about the dollar, they are undermining their own position. The risk of a freefalling dollar and rising US capital market rates is growing. And the euro area could lose competitiveness as a result of the euro being too strong and also find itself dragged into recession, just like the US.

Kind regards


Norbert Walter

[ENDS]

-----Original Message-----
From: Intelligence Unit
Sent: 04 December 2006 11:16
To: 'atca.members@mi2g.com'
Subject: Response: Prof Persaud - Is the Dollar decline to be welcomed or feared?; Dr Malmgren - Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news?; GBP 14 year record ~USD 2; Emmott - Falling Dollar Good News


Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

We are grateful to:

. Prof Avinash Persaud, based in London, England, for "Is the Dollar decline to be welcomed or feared?";
. Dr Harald Malmgren presently touring the Far East having flown from Seoul, South Korea, to Tokyo, Japan, and based in Washington DC, USA, for "Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news?"; and
. Bill Emmott, based in London and Somerset, England, for "The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News"

for their response to the ATCA think piece, "The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions" and the more recent update, "Sterling trading at 14 year record of nearly 2 Dollars."

Prof Avinash Persaud's career spans finance, public policy and academia. He is currently Chairman of Intelligence Capital, a financial advisory boutique specializing in the management of financial assets, risks and liquidity. Previously, Persaud was Investment Director at GAM [owned by UBS until Dec 2005 and now part of Julius Baer, Switzerland]; Managing Director, State Street Corporation; Global Head of Currency and Commodity Research at J P Morgan; and Director of fixed income research at UBS. He was ranked in the top three of currency analysts in global institutional investor surveys from 1989 to 1999. He is well known as the originator of the EMU Calculator, Risk Appetite Index and Event Risk Indicator. According to the Financial Times his work on investors' shifting appetite for risk has entered the popular lexicon of analysts.

Persaud was Visiting Scholar at the European Central Bank (ECB) up until recently and Visiting Scholar, International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is Co-Chair of the OECD Emerging Markets Network, and a Trustee of the Overseas Development Institute. He is a Member of the Euro 50. Persaud is a Director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and author of what the FT has described as the Persaud Paradox of Modern Risk Management: the observation of safety creates risk. Persaud is a Fellow of Gresham College and formerly the Gresham Professor of Commerce. He is Visiting Professor in Applied Finance at the University of Surrey, Visiting Fellow at CERF, Judge Business School, Cambridge. He is a Member of Council of the Royal Economics Society and a Governor and Member of Council of the London School of Economics & Political Science. Persaud is the author of a number of papers on risk, liquidity, regulation and exchange rates. He has won both major awards for essays in international finance: the Jacques de Larosiere in Global Finance from the Institute of International Finance (First, 2000) and the Amex Bank Award (Bronze, 1994). He writes:

Dear DK and Colleagues

Re: Is the Dollar decline to be welcomed or feared?


If we were to forget the capital market side of the global economic equation for the moment, the decline in the US dollar is the natural and correct response to economic developments. Previously strong US growth has prompted a tightening of US monetary policy, which has pricked the US housing market bubble and has caused a moderation of activity and concern of a greater slowdown to come. This in turn has led to a decline in expected future interest rates, which is only consistent with a dollar that rebounds in the future, after a decline today. The current decline in the dollar and a slowdown in the US economy will force the rest of the world to loosen monetary policy which will help to rebalance global growth away from US consumption to rest-of-the-world consumption.

All that would seem to me to be unambiguously good news as it turns the world economy back on to a more sustainable and balanced path than the one it was on. The problem is that this mix of real economy and financial market adjustment occurs at different speeds. The danger is that the currency depreciation can get stuck in a vicious cycle where the more the currency is expected to fall, the more foreign investors will decide to withdraw from the US bond market in favour of non-dollar bond markets. And given the US bond market is dependent on foreign holders, such a withdrawal would compound the short-term unattractiveness of dollar-bonds. (Incidentally the European and Japanese bond markets have the capacity to absorb such a switch. Indeed the Euro-denominated cash government bond market is a third larger than the US, in terms of bonds outstanding, though it is true to say that the market functioning of cash government markets are not as smooth as in the US.)

The risk presented by the large "overhang" of foreign holders and the faster pace of financial markets than goods markets, is that a dollar slide can never be gradual and graceful but only grievous. It is why the US Federal Reserve erred in allowing the scale of foreign-financed over-spending that we have seen in the US in recent years. For all of his focus on the balance of risks, (Sir) Alan Greenspan allowed the largest risks to develop. For the rest of the world, a free-fall in the world's reserve currency cannot, net-net, be a good thing and it could lead to the perverse response of world-wide interest rates rising, rather than falling. Let us hope we avoid that.

It is said that foreign central banks have too much at stake to allow a rout in the dollar to develop. But this misses three important points. First, most central banks do not own US dollars as an investment but as liquidity insurance. They are less concerned about swings in the value of foreign exchange as long as they still provide liquidity insurance. Second, those central banks who do care, may consider that they are part of a "game" where their losses are maximized if they are the last one holding dollars and minimized if they get out first. Third, it is important to remember the experience of the UK. In 1968 the Basle Agreements tried to get foreign holders of sterling to agree to stop selling sterling and they did. But the markets viewed this whole episode as a sure sign that sterling was on the way out as a reserve currency and replaced central bank selling with private sector shorting of sterling: a financial version of Ricardian equivalence. The Basle Agreements marked a major turning point in sterling's fate and it wasn't up. Even if central banks decided not to sell the US dollar (and Asia and Europe entered into a central bank currency swap to soften the impact of a dollar decline on the euro) the dollar would not be saved.

The best we can hope for is that our central bankers and policy makers do not panic as they try to dig themselves out of a hole of their creation. Perhaps they should let the foreign exchange market take as much of the adjustment as possible while trying to provide some stability by strongly resisting protectionist pressure and fixing monetary policy onto long-term objectives of price-stability. I wish policy makers in the US and the rest of the world the best of luck and fortitude in the coming trying months!

Warm regards


Avinash

[ENDS]

-----Original Message-----
From: Intelligence Unit
Sent: 03 December 2006 11:37
To: 'atca.members@mi2g.com'
Subject: Response: Dr Harald Malmgren -- Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news? GBP trading at 14 year record of ~USD 2; Emmott - Falling Dollar Good News; Weakening USD, China & Japan


Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

We are grateful to:

. Dr Harald Malmgren presently touring the Far East having flown from Seoul, South Korea, to Tokyo, Japan, and based in Washington DC, USA, for "Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news?"; and
. Bill Emmott, based in London and Somerset, England, for "The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News"

for their response to the ATCA think piece, "The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions" and the more recent update, "Sterling trading at 14 year record of nearly 2 Dollars."

Dr Harald Malmgren is an internationally recognised expert on world trade and investment flows who has worked for four US Presidents. His extensive personal global network among governments, central banks, financial institutions, and corporations provides a highly informed basis for his assessments of global markets. At Yale University, he was a Scholar of the House and Research Assistant to Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling, graduating BA summa cum laude in 1957. At Oxford University, he studied under Nobel Laureate Sir John Hicks, and wrote several widely referenced scholarly articles while earning a DPhil in Economics in 1961. His theoretical works on information theory and business organization have continued to be cited by academics over the last 45 years. After Oxford, he began his academic career in the Galen Stone Chair in Mathematical Economics at Cornell University.

Dr Malmgren commenced his career in government service under President John F Kennedy, working with the Pentagon in revamping the Defence Department's military and procurement strategies. When President Lyndon B Johnson took office, Dr Malmgren was asked to join the newly organised office of the US Trade Representative in the President's staff, where he had broad negotiating responsibility as the first Assistant US Trade Representative. He left government service in 1969, to direct research at the Overseas Development Council, and to act as trade adviser to the US Senate Finance Committee. At that time, he authored International Economic Peacekeeping, which many trade experts believe provided the blueprint for global trade liberalisation in the Tokyo Round of the 1970s and the Uruguay Round of the 1980s. In 1971-72 he also served as principal adviser to the OECD Wise Men's Group on opening world markets, under the chairmanship of Jean Rey, and he served as a senior adviser to President Richard M Nixon on foreign economic policies. President Nixon then appointed him to be the principal Deputy US Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador. In this role he served Presidents Nixon and Ford as the American government's chief trade negotiator in dealing with all nations. While in USTR, he became known in Congress as the father of "fast track" trade negotiating authority, which he first introduced into the historically innovative Trade Act of 1974. He was the first official of any government to call for global negotiations on liberalisation of financial services, and he was the first US official to call for the establishment of an Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation arrangement, known in more recent years as APEC.

In 1975 Malmgren left government service, and was appointed Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. From the late 1970s he managed an international consulting business, providing advice to many corporations, banks, investment banks, and asset management institutions, as well as to Finance Ministers and Prime Ministers of many governments on financial markets, trade, and currencies. He has also been an adviser to subsequent US Presidents, as well as to a number of prominent American politicians of both parties. Over the years, he has continued writing many publications both in economic theory and in public policy and markets. He is Chief Executive of Malmgren Global and also currently the Chairman of the Cordell Hull Institute in Washington, a private, not-for-profit "think tank" which he co-founded with Lawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State. He writes:

Dear DK and Colleagues

Re: Falling Dollar: Good news or Bad news?

The recent weakening of the dollar has been declared "good news" by distinguished commentators within ATCA such as Bill Emmott and without. While a weaker dollar might be good news for the US, it could be very bad news for the rest of the world!

When the dollar falls, the flipside is that the valuations of other currencies rise. A dollar decline would improve the competitiveness of American exports in world markets while cutting the competitiveness of exports of other nations. The US economy is primarily driven by domestic consumption - but most of the other major economies around the world, and almost all emerging market countries, are dependent on external demand to maintain growth. The core economies of the Eurozone have tepid, and in some cases, even negative domestic consumption. More than a third of China's GDP is derived from exports. Although India has strong domestic consumption, economic growth in the rest of the world's emerging markets is primarily driven by foreign demand for their exports.

By itself, this might not be so troublesome. But the US economy is the primary engine propelling global economic growth. Now, as a result of the slumping US housing market and other domestic factors, the US economy is slowing down, and in the next year it can be expected to slow even more. Already, it is evident that this US slowdown is resulting in slowing global economic growth. In 2007 we can expect a much slower pace of global demand, and therefore slower growth in all of the export-dependent economies of the world.

During the last few years of robust American economic growth the supposedly buoyant economies in Continental Europe have only managed to eke out an economic growth rate about half that of the US. This is because the core economies of the Eurozone have not been politically able to address structural reforms, and have remained dependent on external demand. Now, as the US slows from an average rate of growth of GDP of 3.5 or 4.0 percent per year to a much slower 2.0 percent per year - or even less - world economic growth will fall back. It is incorrect to evaluate European export prospects in terms of exports to the US. European exports to the whole world are likely to suffer as global growth slips. In a context of slowing global growth, the Eurozone is likely to fall back to stagnation, or possibly even stagflation.

Some economic analysts argue that the US economy is not the only engine of global growth. They argue that China has become the "other engine." But the momentum of China's economy is highly sensitive to export demand. This is not simply a matter of exports to the US; it is a matter of dependence on worldwide demand for Chinese exports. The Chinese government and most Chinese business leaders have not yet considered the damage that might be wrought by a global slowdown, but there can be little doubt that the pace of growth in China will suffer shocks from weakened external demand. The Chinese economy cannot remain an independent engine of growth if the US economy slows - and now, the US economy is slowing.

As global economic growth slows, the growth of world trade will also decelerate. If the dollar becomes markedly weaker, it is helpful to the US economy, because US exporters can steal market share in competition in a weakening world marketplace. But the US gain will be at the expense of other nations like Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, and Japan. Small wonder then that European finance ministers are already grumbling about excessive strengthening of the Euro. They are fearful that the Euro's continued rise will bring to a halt the recent improvements in the economies of Continental Europe, and return the bigger economies of the Eurozone to higher unemployment and stagnation. If the dollar is to fall much further, the Euro correspondingly will have to rise much more - to the breaking point, so far as Europe's hopes for continued recovery are concerned.

In a context of global slowdown, central banks and private investors alike will have to rethink where to park their financial assets during times of economic trouble. There will likely be what financial analysts call a "flight to quality." The safest parking place in times of trouble is the US dollar. It is still the primary currency dominating trade and investment transactions worldwide. It is the largest, most liquid financial market in the world - easy to enter, easy to adjust from one type of asset to another, easy to sell when you want to sell - and US dollar assets are one of the most legally protected types of assets available in the global marketplace.

Is there any alternative market or group of markets big enough to absorb a massive flight from the dollar? The gold market is far too small. Sterling and the Eurozone financial markets are simply not big enough and especially not liquid enough to absorb a massive shift from dollars - and European governments anyway would simply not allow the Euro to rise sharply as a result of a big swing to the Eurozone. Some speculative capital has sought refuge in commodities, or in real estate and other assets. But all of the alternatives are less liquid than remaining in dollar-denominated assets. In times of potential world economic trouble, the safest parking place for capital is the biggest, most liquid market, which is the dollar-based market.

In the context of slowing global growth, and potential recession in some countries, there will eventually tend to be a return of foreign capital to US Treasuries, or to US dollar-denominated debt instruments like corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, and the explosively growing array of other securitized assets and financial derivatives. A dollar decline combined with global slump will bring about a rebound in demand for the dollar eventually.

In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has essentially lost control of US market rates of interest. The Fed can set short-term rates, but long-term rates have already fallen below the Fed's target rate, signalling that investors in the US and throughout the world believe that an economic slowdown is under way and that the Fed will have to yield next year and begin cutting US interest rates. The flow of capital into the US debt market is growing, and this is driving down long-term interest rates in the US, and reducing the spread between interest rates on private debt and on US government debt

As for other major central banks, they are beginning to feel this economic downdraft, as longer-term interest rates in their markets are falling to, or even below, their short-term targets. The European Central Bank (ECB) is still talking publicly about the need to be "vigilant" about inflationary pressures, but its members are well aware that a continued rise in ECB rates next year would plunge European economies into recession, in a context of flagging global economic growth.

Many press and media commentators have expressed alarm that the governments of China, Japan, the OPEC countries, and other major holders of US Treasuries in their reserves might panic and sell of their dollar holdings as the dollar declines. They repeatedly argue that present "global imbalances" are unsustainable, and that a global currency meltdown lies ahead, perhaps triggered by the dollar's decline.

Would central banks really sell of dollar holdings and rush to assets denominated in Euros or other currencies? Consider China: The currency reserves of the Chinese government now include dollar-denominated assets totalling nearly one trillion US dollars. Some Chinese authorities recently suggested that Chinese reserves need to be "diversified." A common interpretation in the press has been that this means selling off the dollar, but so far that has not happened. A massive sell off of Chinese holdings of dollars would not only weaken the dollar, it would cut the value of their remaining dollar holdings. The Chinese government has too large a stake in dollar assets to allow an unwanted reduction in the value of their reserves.

Chinese monetary authorities have actually been diversifying the composition of their dollar-denominated holdings, but not by selling of dollar assets. Instead, they have gradually been reducing the share of US Government Treasuries held and increasing the share of other dollar-denominated debt instruments. For example, there has been a huge increase in Chinese official demand for higher-yielding US private, mortgage-backed securities. From the Chinese point of view, this is an appropriate risk management practice, to seek assets with a higher return to offset potential moderate dollar weakening.

Stepping back from the technicalities of Chinese management of the composition of their national reserves, it is evident that Chinese government policy has strongly resisted significant strengthening of the value of their own currency. US and European financial authorities have pounded the Chinese government about the need for a significant appreciation of the Yuan, but the Chinese have defiantly refused to comply. They have allowed a very small adjustment, and made vague promises about additional, gradual adjustments in the future, essentially ignoring foreign pressures.

This stubborn resistance to appreciation of the Chinese Yuan is primarily motivated by domestic politics in China. The Chinese national leadership is finding itself in a predicament. The leadership wants to maintain its political power over the nation, but it is rapidly losing its grip on an economy which is increasingly managed locally, by local governments and local businesses which are unresponsive to Beijing's demands. The Chinese economy is evolving into wild-west capitalism, functioning under the Golden Rule: Those who have the gold make the rules. Disparities in incomes and disparities between the rich coastal provinces and the interior are growing dramatically. Local governments, operating in corrupt relationships with local businesses, are increasingly exploiting local populations and confiscating their land. Incidents of public violence at the local level now occur throughout China at a rate of several a day - though the scope and intensity of this violence is little reported in world press and media.

In this volatile Chinese political situation, currency policy is decided by the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party, not by the central bank or the ministry of finance. The Politburo leadership knows that a weak currency helps to keep unemployment from exploding. A stronger Yuan would severely hurt inland farmers and rural business and banks, generating far more violence and a river of people flowing from the interior to the coastal cities in search of jobs. For the Politburo, a major change in the relationship of the Yuan to the US dollar could mean the collapse of the central government leadership. I have often said about China that it is a country with one flag but many governments. A severe shock generated by a big currency swing could potentially threaten the survival of the current Communist leadership, and even bring about a China with more than one flag. This is too big a risk for the current members of the Politburo. In essence, the political leadership does not want the dollar to decline significantly. Selling off US Treasuries or the dollar is inconceivable in this volatile political context.

What about Japan's vast holdings of US Treasuries? The Japanese government has not intervened in currency markets for a very long time. The current weakness of the Yen is not the result of currency intervention, but rather the result of the low domestic interest rate policy of the Bank of Japan and the government. For example, speculative investors throughout the world continue to borrow funds in Japan at absurdly low interest rates and then sell the Yen proceeds in order to buy other currencies to be used for investment in assets in many other markets. Japanese households increasingly seek to invest in foreign-denominated assets which provide much higher yields than the miniscule interest on Japanese savings accounts or Japanese government bonds.

Japan's domestic interest rate policy thus results in a weak currency. If world financial market forces brought about a modest increase in the value of the Yen, the Japanese government would not resist. But the Japanese central bank and government are not about to jack up domestic interest rates sharply in response to pressures from General Motors for a stronger Yen - Japan's newly emerging economic recovery is far too delicate to sustain a big increase in domestic borrowing costs. Japanese authorities are preoccupied with keeping a tentative, modest economic recovery alive, especially now before next July's Upper House elections. A big interest rate hike is politically out of the question. I expect Japanese interest rates to rise, but only very, very gradually, over years, not months.

Some central banks, like those in the Arab OPEC countries, assert a dislike of dollars, but if we look closely, the vast surpluses generated by rising oil revenues tend to be managed by professional money managers in various financial centers around the world, and they in turn place a dominant share of these surpluses into dollar-denominated assets. They, too, see no alternative. The OPEC producers will also not panic and sell off all their dollar holdings.

Some analysts say the answer to all this confusion and the dangers of continued "global imbalances" must lie in an official realignment of currencies. This has been talked about for years, but the major governments around the world want no part of it. Politicians in Europe and Asia do not want to be seen to be responsible for allowing a big rise in the value of their currencies, especially since it would cripple their economies. An official realignment is not politically possible, especially now, in the context of a global economic slowdown.

For the US, as I have said, a moderately falling dollar could be beneficial for US exporters. Even more beneficial has been the strong flow of domestic and international capital into the US public and private debt market, because this is bringing long-term interest rates down in the US economy. Mortgage rates are consequently falling, gradually putting in place a shock-absorber under the US housing market. But it must be recognized that the housing slump is not over. Only recently, former Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan pronounced the housing downturn to have hit bottom. No one directly involved in the housing market agrees. Most builders foresee many more months of weakening demand and falling valuations of homes, before the bottom is found. About one-third of all new jobs created in the US are directly or indirectly generated by home construction, so we can expect continued downward pressures on the US economy. Households will gradually feel growing pain as the values of their homes appear to fall. Employment figures will look increasingly weak. Household consumption will become increasingly cautious. The most likely result of all these forces, together with falling US interest rates, will be a slowdown, but not a recession. However, we cannot rule out an American recession. It is too early to tell where the bottom lies.

For the rest of the world, the 2007-08 outlook is gloomy. A continued weakening of the dollar in this context is good news for the US, but bad news for everyone else.


Harald Malmgren


[ENDS]

-----Original Message-----
From: Intelligence Unit
Sent: 01 December 2006 11:58
To: 'atca.members@mi2g.com'
Subject: ATCA: Sterling trading at 14 year record of nearly 2 Dollars; Emmott -- The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News; The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions


Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

Re: Sterling trading at 14 year record of nearly 2 Dollars


The British Pound (GBP) remained close to its highest level against the US Dollar since Sterling left the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992, despite positive economic news from the United States. Sterling strengthened to USD 1.9670 moving towards USD 2.0 by end-of-December according to Forex forecasters as fears over the US economy persisted in the face of better-than-expected growth figures in the US.

The dollar has been struggling since late last week over fears that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in a bid to boost the ailing economy. The strong pound is good news for Britons heading to New York for their Christmas shopping with tourists getting as much as 1.93 US dollars for every pound at high street exchanges. It also benefits firms importing goods from overseas as they get more for their money, although it is bad news for British businesses reliant on exports as it makes their goods more expensive to buy.

The dollar managed to recover slightly against the euro, however, as European officials warned about the Euro's recent surge. The euro softened from its 20-month peak of 1.3218 US dollars to 1.3170 US dollars after French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the Euro's rise was weighing on competitiveness. French finance minister Thierry Breton also warned that strong movements in currencies are never good.

It came as the US Commerce Department said US gross domestic product increased at a 2.2% annual rate in the third quarter - well above the 1.6% initially expected. The figures bolstered views that the US Federal Reserve can hold off a cut in interest rates which could undermine the dollar further. It fell sharply yesterday as a spate of disappointing US economic news added further weight to the view interest rates will be cut.

[ENDS]

We look forward to your further thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.

Best wishes

For and on behalf of DK Matai, Chairman, Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA)

-----Original Message-----
From: Intelligence Unit
Sent: 29 November 2006 12:21
To: 'atca.members@mi2g.com'
Subject: Response: Bill Emmott -- The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News; ATCA: The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions

Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

We are grateful to Bill Emmott, based in London and Somerset, England, for his response, "The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News" to the ATCA think piece, "The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions."

Bill Emmott was the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, the world's leading weekly magazine on current affairs and business, from 1993 until March 31st 2006. He is now an independent writer, speaker and consultant. After studying politics, philosophy and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, he moved to Nuffield College to do postgraduate research into the French Communist party's spell in government in 1944-47. Bill has written four books on Japan -- The Sun Also Sets: the limits to Japan's economic power, Japan's Global Reach: the influence, strategies and weaknesses of Japan's multinational corporations, both of which were best-sellers, and Kanryo no Taizai (The bureaucrats' deadly sins), published only in Japanese. Most recently, he wrote a book version of an extended essay, published in The Economist in October 2005 and called "The Sun also Rises" to echo his 1989 book. This longer, book version was published in Japanese translation under that same title (Hiwa Mata Noboru) by Soshisha in January 2006. In February 2003 he published a book about the global issues of our times called "20:21 Vision - 20th century lessons for the 21st century". Bill writes a column on international affairs for a Japanese monthly magazine, Ushio. He is currently working on a new book, about the rivalry between Japan, China and India.

Bill Emmott is a member of the executive committee of the Trilateral Commission, a member of the BBC World Service Governors' Consultative Committee, a director of Development Consultants International, a Dublin-based company, a member of the Swiss Re Chairman's Advisory Panel, a director of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, and co-chairman (with The Hon Roy MacLaren) of the Canada-Europe Roundtable for Business. He was a director of The Economist Group from 1993 until 2006. He has honorary degrees from Warwick and City Universities, and is an honorary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He writes:

Dear DK and Colleagues

Re: The Falling Dollar is unequivocally Good News

The fall of the dollar is unequivocally good news, both for America and for the rest of the world. Everyone has known for years that America's economic path could not continue in the same direction for ever: economic growth financed by ever-increasing borrowing from abroad and by a reduction in households' saving rate, that has boosted consumption, was not in itself either bad or wrong, but it was simply unsustainable. We cannot know in advance whether this drop in the dollar truly signals an end to that (long) phase of development or not, but if it does it would be healthy. These huge capital imbalances are best thought of through the metaphor of avalanche risk at a ski resort: resorts need snow just as economies need capital, but if too much accumulates then there is a risk of a sudden adjustment, as in an avalanche. It is better if the adjustment can be managed more steadily.

Can it be? Like Alan Greenspan, I would place some faith in the flexibility of the American economy. Falling house prices will hurt those who have borrowed excessively on the collateral of homes and will depress consumption more widely. The falling dollar will begin (slowly) to compensate for that by helping American exporters. Monetary policy is likely either to be left unchanged or to be loosened as growth slows, so that may act as some support too. There is some fear of inflation, but if America's economy really does slow substantially or even go into recession, then the resulting drop in demand for oil and gas in the world's largest energy consumer is, other things equal, likely to bring about a further fall in energy prices worldwide, somewhat easing the inflationary pressure. Of course, other things may not be equal: supply disruptions caused by terrorism or other conflict could intervene. But although such factors are unpredictable, at least I would say that the likelihood of American military attacks on Iran, which have been the subject of some speculation, must now be extremely low. If all the aforementioned speculation proves correct, then we could reasonably expect America's flexibility in the allocation of resources to produce what might be called a "fast in, fast out" recession.

Some people worry that the dollar's collapse could be so rapid as to force the Fed to raise interest rates sharply, worsening the recession; or so rapid as to produce a big jump in bond yields, raising the cost of corporate borrowing and worsening the recession in that manner. One cannot rule such an outcome out altogether, but I take some comfort from the fact that overseas dollar holdings, in the form of US Treasury bonds, have been so concentrated in the hands of central banks in China, Japan and the Gulf. Such authorities are less likely to rush headlong for the exit doors than are private investors. In both political and financial terms, they know that a dollar collapse would not be in their interest. If anyone can manage this adjustment in a steady, careful way, it would be them.

Best wishes


Bill Emmott

[ENDS]


-----Original Message-----
From: Intelligence Unit
Sent: 28 November 2006 23:19
To: 'atca.members@mi2g.com'
Subject: ATCA: The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions


Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

Re: The Weakening US Dollar and the changing China & Japan Positions


The US Dollar (USD) extended its declines on Tuesday, sending the Euro above USD 1.32 for the first time since March 2005, as US data supported expectations the US central bank -- The Federal Reserve -- may cut interest rates early next year. The USD fell to a new 20-month low against the Euro on Tuesday, as a spate of disappointing US economic data further dimmed the prospect of higher interest rates in the world's largest economy. A long-term factor behind the weakening Dollar is the widening US current account deficit and many market watchers say that the Dollar is just beginning to catch up with the fact that the United States is deep in debt, a significant chunk of which is held by China and Japan. Both the Asian powers are beginning to review their entrenched positions in regard to the value of their own currencies and the mix of their foreign reserves and holdings.

China's foreign reserves are thought to have exceeded USD 1 trillion after officially hitting USD 987.9 billion by late September. To keep its own exports cheap, China has been artificially controlling the value of the Yuan, which is significantly undervalued in terms of real market rates. The country's central bank on Monday bumped up the Yuan's official level to 7.8402, and the currency traded at a record high versus the US Dollar. Still, daily movements are limited at 0.3 percent above or below the official level -- a trading system set up in July 2005. China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, refused to comment Tuesday on rumours that Beijing is shifting its foreign reserve holdings away from US Treasuries. Speaking in Beijing Friday, the bank's Vice Governor, Wu Xiaoling, allegedly noted the risks arising from the US Dollar's decline for East Asian holders, triggering further Dollar selling.

Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department said foreigners sold more Treasuries than they bought in September for the first time in three-and-a-half years. However, the selling was led by Japan, the largest holder of US Treasuries. Japan's holdings fell in September to USD 639.2 billion from USD 644.3 billion in August. China, the second-largest holder of US Treasuries, boosted its stake to USD 342.1 billion in September from USD 339.1 billion the prior month.

A US government report showed October orders for long-lasting goods and equipment fell 8.3 percent, the biggest decline since July 2000, ie, more than six years. The median home price saw its largest year-over-year decrease ever, and consumer confidence fell to its lowest reading since August. The reports -- which suggest to investors that the slowing US economy may not be able to withstand a rate hike -- were enough to overshadow comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that inflation is 'uncomfortably high.' Higher interest rates, a weapon against inflation, tend to strengthen a currency by making investments in that denomination more attractive and vice-versa.

Since the US Dollar began to weaken last Wednesday, the Euro has strengthened by more than 2 percent, taking its gains for the year to around 11 percent. Another report on Tuesday showed sales of existing US homes rose in October for the first time since February. That caused the Dollar to pare its losses, although traders cautioned against reading too much into the one-month move. A weakening Dollar can be a double-edged sword for the US economy; it decreases Americans' purchasing power, but it makes US goods cheaper for foreigners, and therefore more competitive in the global market.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking at an investor conference Tuesday, said concerns over the US Dollar were unnecessary if the US economy stays flexible. He added that forecasts about the Dollar's direction are about as reliable as a coin toss: "Everyone has an opinion on which way the Dollar will go ... and half of them will be right.

[ENDS]

We look forward to your further thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.

Best wishes


For and on behalf of DK Matai, Chairman, Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA)


ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence, ATCA addresses opportunities and threats arising from climate chaos, radical poverty, organised crime & extremism, advanced technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI, demographic skews, pandemics and financial systems. Present membership of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished members from over 100 countries: including several from the House of Lords, House of Commons, EU Parliament, US Congress & Senate, G10's Senior Government officials and over 1,500 CEOs from financial institutions, scientific corporates and voluntary organisations as well as over 750 Professors from academic centres of excellence worldwide.


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[ENDS]

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