Daily FNArena News - FYI

Weekly musings from your editor. The Aussie at parity with the US dollar? It’s not as unthinkable as it might seem.

The Dow fell 148 points last night as bullish faith in the American consumer took a hit and S&P and Moody’s began moving in on the sub-prime mortgage market.

The Australian dollar is at long-term highs against the US dollar but according to ANZ Bank conditions remain supportive and further gains appear likely.

Mugabe has rounded up and arrested 1300 shopkeepers. Clearly they are the source of Zimbabwe’s inflation problem.

Westpac suggests rather than overshooting the Australian dollar is likely to strengthen further against the US dollar as fundamentals remain supportive.

US employment data released on Friday was taken as a positive by Wall Street. This week sees local data released which should have a bearing on the RBA’s August rate decision.

It was happening all over the world last night.

A prominent US hedge fund has suspended redemptions and an Italian bank is in trouble.

Weekly musings from your editor. This week the theme is which stocks to choose for the year ahead?

Strong economic data overnight put paid to interest rate rise fears allowing the Dow to rally but causing the US dollar to fall. The Aussie is now testing US$0.86.