Asia and Europe
Not surprisingly, shares in Japan have dropped amid a backdrop of attempts to recover from the “world’s worst nuclear crisis in decades.” But Japan’s tragedy didn’t impact shares in Europe which steadied following a statement made by the region’s Central Bank chief, Jean-Claude Trichet on its decision to raise interest rates in the near future. This could lead to an increase in “the value of the single currency and returns on euro-denominated investments.”
It’s not even clear exactly what’s going on with Japan financially yet. This is due to the fact that it seems like it’s going to take some time for companies from the country to put in their full-year financial reports as they need time to assess the impact from the country’s damage as well as what kind of effect the power outages across the country that are preventing them from resuming business. As well, this is impacting production in other regions such as Europe and North America as parts manufactured in Japan for them are currently on hold.
Euro: Under Pressure
Due to sovereign debt problems in the region, the euro is undergoing a significant amount of stress. The current instability of Germany’s political system following its ruling party’s loss of a key state election has not exactly helped the situation either. Last trade figures for the euro stood at $1.4075, compared with $1.4078 late in New York on Monday.
Yen Getting it Globally?
The yen is really not doing so badly considering. Of course there was everything that happened in Japan that could have resulted in its total crash. Indeed, once the Fukushima plant encountered a plutonium leak, things really could have gone completely belly-up but actually the yen firmed against the dollar. Even the unrest in Libya and the Middle Eastern “stoked some safe haven demand for the Japanese currency.” The dollar dropped a tad, at around 0.2 percent to 81.68 yen, moving away from its March 18 high after banks around the world stepped in to try and rescue the yen.
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