Daily Archives: November 30, 2005

THE EUROPEAN RATE DEBATE

The dollar has found a reprieve in the last three months, in part due to the stillness that has characterized the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. The ECB has kept the Continent’s benchmark rate at 2% for the last 30 months while the Fed has incessantly raised the price of money since June 2004 to the current 4.0%, thereby creating a tidy premium in dollar assets over euro-based counterparts. Although that premium isn’t about to evaporate any time soon, the ECB may start lifting rates, giving dollar bulls new reason to worry.

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