US Dollar down sharply against YEN and Euro
"...Tokyo stocks opened lower Monday due to economic uncertainties following powerful earthquakes that hit northern Japan over the weekend. The U.S. dollar was down against the Japanese yen.
...The dollar bought 106.61 yen at 9 a.m. local time Monday, down 0.98 yen from late Friday in Tokyo and below the 107.26 yen it bought in New York later that day..."
Gold up 4$ Plus in Hong Kong Trading.
The dollar is taking a beating in overseas trading. Rumor has it one or more Asian countries are in process of selling dollars and buying gold. The extraordinary number of commercial gold shorts must be the most alarmed of all.
Russian Central Bank has been selling Billions of USD off...now ceases to support USD
[update: Crude Oil Prices Hug All-Time High
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/041024/oil_prices_2.html]
"...Crude oil prices stayed within range of their all-time high Monday amid concerns among traders over supply ahead of the coming winter and data showing that China's big demand for petroleum is likely to increase.
...The price of crude futures for December stood at $55.18 early Monday in Asian after-hours electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up a cent from its record close Friday when the U.S. Energy Department reported a fifth straight fall in heating oil stocks.
November heating oil hit new record high of $1.6030 per gallon Friday. It was $1.5951 early Monday.
Analysts and traders said they also were on the lookout for increasing demand from China, which on Friday released its third-quarter economic growth figures showing gross domestic product climbing a blazing 9.1 percent on the year and 9.5 percent for the first 3 quarters of 2004.
....Elsewhere, Iraqi officials said there have been 250 guerrilla attacks on pipelines and other oil infrastructure, squandering between $7 billion and $12 billion in potential export revenue.
"What Iraq needed to do was rehabilitate the industry, but the focus has been on repairing the damage from sabotage," said Walid Khadduri, an Iraqi who edits Middle East Economic Survey, an oil journal based in Nicosia, Cyprus.
..."
Watch out the stock market opening on Monday, it's not going to be pretty.