Asian markets

These values (courtesy of Bloomberg) are prior to Asian markets opening on Wed.

The ¥, probably the most important Asian currency, is 98 to the $. In the last few days, it weakened even more to 99, then rallied to mid 90s & now is back at 98. The weaker ¥ is a very important to the Japanese economy, which is in a severe recession, because exports are so crucial.

Oil & gold prices are always important in the world economies. As said in the prior post, it looks like gold is searching for new 2009 highs above 54.

These bond yields may be new to some investors. Australia has the only yield higher than the US (at 2.65%).


CURRENCIES

	VALUE	CHANGE	% CHANGE
USD-JPY	98.1370	0.2755	0.28
USD-HKD	7.7501	0.0000	0.00
USD-SGD	1.5114	-0.0028	-0.18
AUD-USD	0.6982	0.0026	0.37

COMMODITY FUTURES

	VALUE	CHANGE	% CHANGE
Oil	53.60	-0.38	-0.70
Gold	932.00	6.00	0.65
Natural Gas	4.34	-0.00	-0.05

BONDS

	PRICE	YIELD
10-Year Japan	100.36	1.27
10-Year Hong Kong	97.26	1.94
10-Year Singapore	116.67	2.05
10-Year Australia	106.66	4.43