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The dollar shed some of its recent gains against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as investors trimmed their bets on the currency before testimony from the U.S. Federal Reserve chief. Ben Bernanke, who testifies to Congress at 1400 GMT, may strike

The dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Friday, trading near a 10-month high as debate over whether the Federal Reserve would wind down its asset buying programme later this year gathered pace. The dollar's strength, along with expectations

Consumer sentiment rebounded in early May to the highest level in nearly six years as Americans felt better about their financial and economic prospects, particularly among upper-income households, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson

The Reason Financial Geniuses Are Becoming Rare (Advisor One) In its May newsletter, investment firm Research Affiliates says financial geniuses are rare – just as scientific geniuses like Einstein are – and they may be becoming rarer. The firm

One of Morgan Stanley's investment strategists, Gerard Minack, is retiring. This is a bummer. Minack's work was lucid and helpful. But as a parting gift to clients, Minack wrote a two-page farewell note that contains the best investment advice you

Gold bears are dominant again after prices resumed their slump and billionaire George Soros joined investors selling holdings in exchange-traded products that have retreated to a two-year low. Seventeen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to

Brace perhaps for another wave of slash-and-burn gold forecasts, with Credit Suisse leading the charge this time and gold GCM3 -2.06% looking at a weekly loss of over 5%. Ric Deverell, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse Group, told

The US dollar is capping this week's strong performance with new gains and the Dollar Index is at new highs for the year. It was the dollar-bloc currencies that had the dubious honor of being the weakest currencies over the past week, taking the

The European Central Bank won’t cut the rate it charges on overnight deposits anytime soon and even if it were to, the effect might not be as desired, say economists. Their remarks come after ECB Governing Council member and Bank of Italy Governor

In a 13-F release issued by the SEC after market close yesterday, it was reported that Soros Fund Management LLC, founded and chaired by billionaire financier George Soros, significantly increased its gold related holdings, most notably, through the

An independent Scotland would have a vastly oversized financial sector that would leave it vulnerable to a Cyprus-style banking crisis, Britain's finance ministry says. Before a referendum due in September 2014 on whether Scotland should split from

France played a decisive role in shaping not only the euro system but the entire European project. This history has predisposed French leaders to the goal of preserving the euro at all costs. Those costs, as we explained in Part 1 of this article

Gold went down the toilet again on Friday, and is now close to revisiting its April lows. This gold weakness is causing a lot of consternation to fans of it who don't understand how the precious metal can keep falling, when central banks around the

It was a tough week for the IRS (and gold) but not so for stocks: Friday capped four straight weeks of gains for Wall Street as the Dow and S&P 500 climbed to fresh new highs, continuing the "relentless rally" that has given investors a fantastic

Central bankers claim that they aren’t starting a currency war. They deny that their policies are aimed at the competitive devaluation of their currencies. Let’s call it competitive ultra-easing. Consider the following: (1) BOJ is going wild. On

Euro-area data this week will probably reveal economic scars of the sovereign debt crisis confirming that the region is now suffering the longest recession since the single currency’s creation. Gross domestic product in the 17-nation economy fell 0.1

It's another quiet morning, but just as with yesterday, markets have begun to the downside. In Asia, Japan had a rare day where it didn't surge 1% or more (it ended about flat) and China lost 1.1%. In Europe, Italy is off 0.5%. And Germany is off

The European Central Bank set up a clash with Germany as Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen pushed back against the country’s incremental approach to building a banking union. Asmussen called today for the European Union to create a central agency

Mathematics is full of counterintuitive facts and problems that push your mind to new areas and challenge your cognitive versatility. The next nine facts are just a few of those puzzles; problems that have a habit of sparking arguments and debates

The bull market has run right past the Wall Street economists paid to figure out when it will buckle. In less than five months, the S&P 500-stock index is up 200 points, reaching the level Goldman Sachs (GS) analysts had predicted for the end of the