I was on CNBC Squawk Box Asia last night talking about all things Asia including the outlook for Japanese Yen, Korean Won and Chinese Yuan.
Here is the clip if you missed the segment
Category Archives: chinese yuan
China’s Currency Tango
I was on the Canadian Broadcast Network last night talking about the outlook for the Chinese Yuan. Click on the image to access the video
Reaction to Australian Rate Hike, Outlook for Canada Rate Decision
I was on the Business News Network this morning talking about my reaction to the Australian rate hike, the IMF’s report on Chinese Yuan undervaluation and my outlook for the Canadian rate decision
Click on image to access the video
China’s Dollar Trap
Here is a very well written article about China’s predicament with the U.S. dollar and explains why they won’t be talking down the dollar anytime soon:
The Dollar’s New Best Friend
Beijing warms up to the greenback–because it has to.
by Gordon G. Chang
Last Tuesday, Brazil, Russia, India, and China–the so-called BRIC nations–met in Yekaterinburg, Russia, for what was supposed to be an anti-American gabfest. The main agenda item for the first formal meeting of the four largest developing economies was the future of the dollar. In recent months, Beijing and Moscow have led a global charge against the greenback, and Brasilia has been a willing co-conspirator in the effort. The BRIC post-summit communiqué referred to the world’s currency problems but, to the surprise of observers, did not attack the dollar head on.
What happened? Beijing, apparently, stopped the other nations cold. The Chinese called the tune at the Moscow meeting–their economy is almost as large as the other three combined–and so the surprisingly nonconfrontational tone of the BRIC official statement mirrored Beijing’s recent climbdown on the currency issue.
The Chinese government in the last few weeks seems to have radically changed its tune on this issue. In March, Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of China’s central bank, called for the replacement of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency in a widely reported text released to the public. In May, however, Beijing officials took a different tack, going out of their way to talk about the dollar’s unique status.
Chinese Yuan: The New Reserve Currency?
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about whether a new currency will replace the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. I have often repeated my opinion that this possibility will not become reality over the next 10 years. However, we cannot underestimate the importance of the euro and the Chinese Yuan and the fact that they will become a more widely used currencies over the next few years.
In my article yesterday, Could America Lose Its Triple A Rating, I talk about how a ratings downgrade of U.S. debt would be the perfect excuse to push through an alternative reserve currency to replace the dollar because it would strip the confidence of sovereign funds.
In the NY Times Today, Nouriel Roubini touches on this point in detail:
Traditionally, empires that hold the global reserve currency are also net foreign creditors and net lenders. The British Empire declined — and the pound lost its status as the main global reserve currency — when Britain became a net debtor and a net borrower in World War II. Today, the United States is in a similar position. It is running huge budget and trade deficits, and is relying on the kindness of restless foreign creditors who are starting to feel uneasy about accumulating even more dollar assets. The resulting downfall of the dollar may be only a matter of time.
But what could replace it? The British pound, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc remain minor reserve currencies, as those countries are not major powers. Gold is still a barbaric relic whose value rises only when inflation is high. The euro is hobbled by concerns about the long-term viability of the European Monetary Union. That leaves the renminbi.
I encourage you to read the entire Op-ed article The Almighty Renminbi?