Currency Wars: Trading The Driver$

Abridged from the November edition of TRIGGER$

Gordon T. Long

Since September, the Currency Wars have escalated. It isn’t just because ofthe seminal monetary events of the Federal Reserve’s QE III “unlimited” and the ECB’s OMT “Uncapped”. It is highly likely, more about the fact that China announced its eleventh agreement that effectively bypasses using the US dollar with China’s strategic trading partners. The latest agreement with Russia places trading oil, in non-US dollars, into the spotlight. The infamous petrodollar has had its destructive profile raised.

The Petrodollar has long been the cornerstone that solidified the US dollar as the key currency reserve holding. The Petrodollar strategy is arguably more important that the Bretton Woods agreement which officially made the US dollar the world’s reserve currency at the end of WW II. This is now being called into question. Minimally, it suggests a weakened requirement for holdings of the current levels of US dollars in sovereign reserve accounts.

For the sake of space I won’t lay out all the details of this but instead refer you to two recent video releases I have produced and participated in on the subject.

• Currency Wars: The Failing Petro$$ Strategy- YouTube
• Triffin’s Paradox & the Rule of Law – YouTube

What is important to Traders is what it means to your trading strategy in the short to intermediate term. To Investors it has profound longer term consequences.

To determine short term effects, we first need to understand the relationship of the Driver$ involved. The three critical currency relationships near term are the US$, the € and the ¥. Then we need to understand how they will effect US Treasury yields.

First however it is important to understand the controlling mechanism of global fiat currencies.

THE $67 TRILLION SHADOW BANKING SYSTEM (The Fiat Currency Control Block)

The Global Economy is approximately $70 Trillion. According to a just released report by the Financial Stability Authority (FSA), charged with investigating it globally, the Global Shadow Banking System was $67T in 2011.

It is up a staggering $6T in 2011.

This means that unofficial, unregulated, offshore entities now effectively control the pricing of global fiat currencies.Through the $637 Trillion SWAP market (also unregulated and offshore trading currency, interest & credit default swaps) they in turn control global interest rates.

The major currency domiciles within the Shadow Banking Industry. It’s called absolute control.

1. ¥: The Early December Japanese Election is likely to result in dramatically increased BOJ Liquidity, Negative yields and the political process dictating to the Bank of Japan in attempt to devalue the Yen for competitive trade advantage as the Japanese trade balance worsens.
2. $: A political resolution to the Fiscal Cliff that results in a Credit Downgrade of US Debt.

 continue at GoldSeek.com:

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1353945900.php

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