Currency analysts will watch the dialogue that will emerge at the APEC meeting on Monday and Tuesday. Asia is awash in dollars gleaned from their exports to the U.S. These dollars are reinvested in U.S. Treasuries and are vital to the financing of the U.S.'s twin deficits.
Financial market analysts were surprised when Condoleezza Rice, the president's National Security Adviser, spoke out in some detail about the continued need for a "strong dollar" and the goal of the administration to have such countries as China and Japan move toward a market-driven value for their currencies. International economic policy - and exchange rate policy in particular - traditionally has been the purview of the Treasury Department beginning with Richard Nixon.
Little new information will be available on the economic front next week, so investors will be focused on earnings reports to ferret out economic trends. However, the week will be the calm before the deluge of economic data that follows!
Last Week's Highlights Global Stock Market Indexes Recap of Global Markets Currencies Indicator Scoreboard
The Bottom Line Looking Ahead
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