Currencies

Credit problems at a leveraged prime mortgage lender and lowered expectations from Wal-Mart conspired to send the Dow tumbling 200 points once more.

The Dow spent all day in solid positive territory on low volume, only to slip away at the death.

Global central banks had little choice but to inject liquidity into a rapidly freezing global banking system last week. But could this prove more harmful than beneficial in the long run?

It’s CPI week in the US and Europe. Inflationary numbers will provide an interesting dilemma. The RBA airs its thoughts today in a quiet week for Aussie data.

Wall Street gyrated wildly on Friday, ending virtually unchanged as the Fed and ECB stepped up their liquidity injections.

Last night the ECB made a startling move by injecting E95bn into the banking system as BNP Paribas froze three hedge funds through lack of liquidity. The Dow fell 387 points.

The Dow rose 153 points last night, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

As the US deals with a credit crunch, it would not be a good time for China to start dumping US Treasuries. But it is threatening to do so if the protectionist groundswell is not addressed.

It was a case of bad news can be good news on Wall Street as the Fed decided not to ease rates in the face of the credit crunch. The Dow pulled back losses to be up 35 points.

I was the biggest up-tick since October 2002, but traders remained unconvinced of the integrity of last night’s rally. Oil finally tipped over.