Fallout continues from the Swiss National Bank’s recent decision to drop it cap on the Swiss franc’s value in trading against the euro. This latest salvo in what’s being called the new currency wars is having some surprising effects not just in Switzerland’s European...
Can a Strong Dollar Stifle Profits?
Can anything stop Apple? The computer giant posted record earnings for its most recent quarter, fueled by sales of its flagship device, the iPhone. Though it looks as if nothing can make a dent in Apple’s performance, one thing might: the performance of the dollar in...
US Banks Hit By Swiss Franc Fallout
In the tightly knit world of global finance, what happens halfway around the world can have devastating effects at home. Case in point: the fallout from the recent Swiss bank decision to drop its cap on the franc, which is hitting even US banks and the sturdy dollar....
Who’s Winning the Currency Wars?
It sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction movie. A mysterious, invisible war is going on behind the scenes of the world’s major banks, with cutthroat brinkmanship and dirty strategies to get the upper hand in the global currency markets. It’s not the plot of a...
Interest Rates: Trends for 2015?
With every new year comes a round of predictions about the financial future. This year, as in many others, the fate of interest rates in 2015 and beyond is the subject of speculation, most of it pessimistic. Financial experts and economists are once again predicting...
The Bitcoin Bounces Back
After a rough couple of years, the Bitcoin is surging back with a vengeance. Just a year after its fall from grace in the Silk Road drug site scandal, the digital currency’s market value has even beaten gold in the world’s markets. Whether hailed as a welcome...
The Dollar: The World’s Go-To Currency
When your country’s facing economic turmoil, who you gonna call? For worried consumers around the globe, the obvious answer is the trusty US dollar. Just ask the Russians. As Russia slides deeper into economic crisis, dollars are in high demand, followed by the euro....
Looking Ahead: Another Financial Crisis?
As the US economy regains its feet after the massive financial collapse of 2008, economists are turning their gaze to the future: what will trigger the next major economic crisis – not just for the US, but also for the global economy as a whole? And a bigger question:...
Drug Lord or Hero: The Silk Road’s Founder Confounds Expectations
The Silk Road is dead. That eclectic online marketplace for trafficking in illegal substances of every kind was raided and shut down in 2013 by the FBI and other federal agencies, who confiscated its multimillion dollar store of Bit coin. But its mysterious founder,...
Shady Trading Bilks Small Investors
In the end, Secure Investment was neither. The popular currency trading site for small investors vanished in early 2014, never to return. It took more than $1 billion in users’ money with it, and the situation offers a graphic demonstration of how to spot a financial...