Foreign Exchange Business News
What was the news like this past week on the foreign exchange front? Well, stock markets in Europe and Asia took a tumble on somewhat disappointing news from the United States, leading to a fall of the euro against the dollar, foreign exchange observers watched as the FTSE in London and the Nikkei average in Tokyo dropped so precipitously that it seemed all of the earnings from the beginning of 2006 until then were going to be wiped out. But the foreign exchange markets recovered by the end of the week, meaning that there were no seriously drastic changes in the exchange rates between international currencies.
Still of great concern for both those trading currencies on the foreign exchange markets and regular stocks has been the price of oil due to increased tensions with the Islamic Republic of Iran, oil prices seemed to fall this weekend as tensions with Iran neither rose nor fall, especially as the focus came increasingly to be on the potential of a long-range ballistic missile test (violating a self-imposed and agreed-upon-with-Japan moratorium of such tests) of the Taepodong 2 missile, which is potentially capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States (and with modifications, theoretically anywhere in the U.S.).
As news of the North Korea tensions broke, foreign exchanges were closed throughout most of the world, though Japanese worries about the potential of any parts of a North Korean missile falling on the Japanese islands could cause a shakeup in markets, especially if, as was reported by news agencies, Japan might come to regard such a thing as an attack. Foreign exchange observers are likely watching the news from Asia with concern, as a move by the United States and Japan to send North Korea to the United Nations Security Council in the event of a launch may have an adverse effect on foreign exchange rates.
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