ShareI tend to think so. Yesterday, Ben Bernanke made what some media outlets are calling hawkish statements.  This, combined with heavy currency intervention by Asian central banks, helped to strengthen the U.S. dollar. However one must ask if there is anything fundamental about these moves.
Just a few days ago, we got a sensational article via [...]

ShareEarlier today we learned that the Singapore PMI was much weaker than expected for September 2009, coming in at 50.6 versus 54.4 for August. While this demonstrates that the manufacturing sector there is still rising, it is doing so just barely.  This was the lowest reading since April and should be seen as a clear [...]

ShareThe data being reported out of Asia is in marked contrast to what we are seeing in Europe and North America.  Last week, I noted that Singapore had put up big numbers.  China is also expanding robustly. Compare that with the data coming out of Europe like the UK growth numbers released today and you [...]

ShareBack in April, I mentioned a story about BTA, a bank in Kazakhstan that had been nationalized by the state in February.  The interesting bit about the story was that interested parties from abroad (including Morgan Stanley) had significant Credit Default Swap contracts (CDS) written against losses in the banks bonds.  In essence, foreign investors [...]

ShareThe Economist released its remarkably telling Big Mac Index this past weekend.  The index looks at the relative cost of Big Mac in various countries to gauge how over- or undervalued the currencies in those locales are.  Judging from this Index, there are some monster distortions in the currency markets right now.

The numbers marked [...]

ShareTalk about V-shaped recoveries.  Here’s one that’s actually for real.  It’s in Singapore and it’s huge.
Singapore appears to be emerging from its worst recession on record after the economy expanded at an annualised rate of 20.4% between April and June.
The rapid expansion compares with a revised contraction of 12.7% in the first quarter from January [...]

ShareThe fundamentals in Asia are much stronger than they are in the U.S. or in Europe. This bodes well for a recovery in the region.  Nevertheless, there is reason to worry because here is a video warning about an Asian-wide bubble in the making. I have warned about the Chinese bubble.  Frederic Neumann talks about [...]

ShareDavid Rosenberg is out today with a bullish Asia commentary.  In today’s “Breakfast with Dave” comments, he says:
Asia Revival May Be For Real: Unless the data are lying, we are seeing spreading strength across the continent. This is bullish for the commodity complex, which is now breaking out. Gold, copper and oil have all broken [...]

ShareMarc Faber participated in a roundtable discussion on CNBC this morning about the dreadful figures coming out of Europe (see articles here and here).
At one point, the German CNBC correspondent made a very good comment about Eastern Europe getting killed by a falloff in internal demand due to a severe banking crisis and this being [...]

ShareOn Monday, I mentioned that the Asian Development Bank Fund was a clear sign that Asia was cutting loose from the west and looking to take care of things domestically.  WIlliam Pesek of Bloomberg News put out a piece this morning echoing those sentiments, but also adding a lot more background regarding the events leading [...]