Mad Finance

In historical periods of financial crisis, where did investors turn? The answer: the US. Some analysts thought that this logic would be turned on its head during the current credit crisis, since the reputation of the US as investing safe haven would surely be undermined by its role in the global economic slowdown. Over the last couple weeks, however, investors have returned en masse to US capital markets, sending US equities as well as the US Dollar to new highs. This has created a self-fulfilling cycle whereby a more valuable Dollar is driving commodity prices lower, which in turn, will benefit the US economy and drive the Dollar even higher. Perhaps the new logic is not so different from the old: that although it was the US that is primarily responsible for the credit crunch, it is also the US which is most likely to lead the global economy out of it. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Whether we come out of this first remains to be seen. But some grim economic data from Europe and Japan in recent weeks at least confirm that the slowdown has gone global. In that sense, the U.S. is the devil you know.

Read More: Homecoming time: Money pours back into U.S. markets


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