Dollar holding up (so far), despite credit, stock market woes

Joseph Lazzaro — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:28:00 EST

Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Federal Reserve, Recession

A flight to the dollar? Amid the United States' worst financial crisis in more than 20 years, perhaps since The Great Depression of the 1930s? It seems almost paradoxical, but that's the reality. So far. Stay tuned, an economist says.

The dollar has lost ground versus the world's other major currencies, amid this latest round of write-offs, bankruptcies and mortgage-asset-related stress on Wall Street, but the greenback has not plunged. In fact, the dollar is off its lows registered early Monday.

In early Tuesday trading, the dollar rose about a half-cent versus the euro to $1.4198, 1.5 cents versus the British pound to $1.7854, and a half-cent versus the Swiss franc to $1.1101. However, the dollar fell about 1 yen to 103.68 versus Japan's yen.

Themes: flight to quality, de-leveraging

Economist David H. Wang told BloggingStocks Tuesday the dollar's recent track displays two tendencies: a flight to quality and an unwinding of the carry trade -- i.e. a global de-leveraging.

"Although the U.S. Government and taxpayers are likely to spend more to deal with this financial crisis, and that implies more dollars in supply and inflation, institutional investors fear a decline or collapse in stock markets around the world, and are piling into the dollar," Wang said. "That is offsetting the dollar-weakening-effect of more U.S. Government spending. Essentially, it is flight to quality, so far."

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MBIA calls latest Ackman proposal 'no more credible' than open-source model

Joseph Lazzaro — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:22:00 EST

Filed under: Other Issues, Rumors, Market Matters, Recession, MBIA Inc (MBI)

Bond insurer MBIA (NYSE: MBI) said hedge fund founder William Ackman's proposal for a restructuring of U.S. bond insurers is no more credible or viable than his flawed open-source model, The Wall Street Journal reported [subscription required].

"Like Mr. Ackman's open-source model, his statements in the media and the barrage of letters he has sent to regulators and the rating agencies -- which contain half truths, innuendo and faulty analysis -- this proposal is simply a continuation of Mr. Ackman's campaign to profit from his short positions and credit default swaps in the bond insurance industry," MBIA said. MBIA added that it is continuing to work with New York State Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo and his advisers to evaluate options for maintaining the highest rating for its policyholders.

Furthermore, MBIA, the nation's largest bond insurer, said it agrees with a spokesman for the New York Insurance Department who said Ackman's proposal would split the company and likely lead to a substantial downgrade for the structured side.

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