Risk aversion and interest rate compression are crushing the euro, and because money typically pours into the lowest yielding currencies in a recession, the damage is likely to continue.

In times of economic uncertainty gold prices ordinarily take flight; this process has been suspended, at least temporarily, as the recent flashpoint in the credit crisis has been accompanied by a resurgent greenback.

Following a growing trend in the exchange world, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) announced that it would close its trading pits and transition to fully electronic trading beginning Dec. 19.

This article says the core of the crisis lies in the legal provisions of limited liability. Europe and the world need stricter rules for financial traffic which are vital for the functioning of the financial capital markets.

The loss of up to 2000 more jobs at Aquarius Platinum’s Everest mine will bring the number of likely job cuts in the mining industry to more than 14,000 in the past six months.

The constituent companies in the Private Investor portfolio, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly, have been selected on the major criterion that their bottom-line earnings per share are expected to improve more rapidly than the inflation rate.

The question of who will regulate CDSs remains unanswered, but the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have agreed that CDS trades could be cleared by one or more central counterparties very soon.

The credit market meltdown stoked efforts to form central clearing facilities and trading platforms for credit default swaps (CDS). CME Group, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), NYSE Euronext and Eurex all have proposals in the works. On Oct. 7, CME Group and Citadel announced plans to launch a trading platform fully integrated with a central counterparty clearing facility for CDSs . Its proposal will use CME Group’s clearinghouse to clear the trades. Shortly after the announcement, Citadel gave up its place on the board of the Electronic Liquidity Exchange (ELX), but maintains its ownership stake.

Mankind can forego many things, such as jewellry baubles—gold, silver, and diamonds—but eating isn’t one of them. Moreover, with rising world population of some 75 million/year, and the populace of developing nations wanting higher quality protein (grain converted to meat by poultry, pigs, cattle etc.), more productive agriculture is crucial. And, among the commodities, there’s a tacit recognition that bulk minerals like potash are different from metals and fuels. Indeed, one could say that, with lower cost agricultural inputs (steel, copper etc. for machinery and oil for fuel), farmers’ margins are somewhat enhanced by the world financial-sector downturn. So they can more readily afford greater outlays for fertiliser to enhance crop yields.

Are autocracies less integrated in the world economy than democracies? This article provides an overview of recent research on this question and argues that autocratic states trade less with the rest of the world than democracies. This may be one reason why many autocracies have failed to develop economically.