Skyrocketing Yuan Hits Benchmark

French, American presidents meet at White House

(NEWSER) - President Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy discussed ways to stabilize the world economy and prevent another global financial crisis today at the White House ahead of the G8 and G20 meetings, Bloomberg reports. While the two countries would seem to be at odds on world finance—many French officials believe that the US dollar should be used less often as an international reserve currency—Sarkozy acknowledged that the dollar has a "key role." More»

Weak dollar doesn't help anyone—except the US

(NEWSER) - Central banks around the world are stepping up measures to keep the American dollar strong and their own currencies weak. The dollar 's drop to near 15-month lows this week sparked fears that exports will become uncompetitive, threatening their fragile economic recoveries. Pacific Rim countries are especially concerned that China—which links its currency to the dollar—is able to keep exports low and price out competition, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Fears of a looming currency crash are overblown

(NEWSER) - With the US economy in a prolonged slump and the Fed likely to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future, many worry that a dollar crash will be the next shoe to drop. Currency pessimists can point to a 6-month decline in the dollar; this week the currency hit $1.50 against the euro. But concerns of an imminent full-on crash are exaggerated—the dollar’s recent decline is a normal readjustment after the shocks of the financial crisis. More»

Shackling the yuan to the dollar threatens world economy

(NEWSER) - China has been allowed to get away with its outrageous currency policy for far too long and it's time the world did something about it, writes Paul Krugman. The nation has been keeping its currency effectively pegged to the dollar, and this policy will result in even greater trade imbalances as the yuan falls along with the dollar, Krugman writes in the New York Times. More»

(NEWSER) - China is speeding up efforts to encourage the use of its currency in international trading, with analysts predicting that the Chinese renminbi will become one of the three top currencies by 2012, reports the Times of London. In recent months Beijing has inked currency-swap deals with central banks from Korea to Argentina and expanded the currency's use in financial powerhouse Hong Kong. It's a major change for China, which holds trillions in US currency. More»