Morning Brief – US Dollar and JPY and CNY

Lawrence Binyon-For the Fallen 1914.

US Dollar and JPY and CNY

One of our readers has asked the very pertinent question as to why the USD falls on what is positive global news ie the election of a new and more moderate President and the development and impending release of an anti Covid vaccine. The answer is that due to its safe haven status, the USD rises on bad news and falls on good news as the market unwinds its flight to safety trades. In the same way, the safe haven Japanese Yen also fell yesterday falling to a three week low against the USD. The Chinese Renminbi Yuan which is not seen as a safe haven currency, having been gradually strengthening since May, hit two and a half year highs earlier in the week.

White Truffles

In this period of LockDown 2 add to the list of essential workers in North East Italy,  truffle hunters, who are permitted to travel to rural areas to hunt for the elusive white truffles that are picked at this time of year. The Italian White Truffle or Tuber Magnatum goes for USD 7,541 per kilo or EUR 6,364 at current exchange rates. Truffle enthusiast and all round galloping gourmet, SGM-FX’s Charles Porter has poured over the charts for the past ten years and tells us that the low was a price per kilo of USD 5,632 and a high of USD 9,765. Apart from announcing the obvious, that current white truffle pricing is bang in the middle of the historic range, Charles is unable to answer the question as to whether we should be buying or selling Italian White Truffles at current levels. What he did say however is that the Tuber Indicum otherwise known as the Chinese Black Truffle may be a lesser imitation of the Tuber Magnatum, but it does come in at USD 171 per kilo -even if it does glow in the dark.

The First Lady of Love

Also known as Donna Summer had a hit this day in 1978 with her disco version of the Jimmy Webb ballad, MacArthur Park which went to Number 1 on the Hot Billboard chart. If like me you have long puzzled about what “Someone left the cake out in the rain” means, it does apparently refer to the end of a love affair. Sadly Donna Summer departed this world at the age of 64 in 2012, so we are unable to confirm that, but her music lives on and on and especially in MacArthur Park:

Spring was never waiting for us dear
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance

MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh, no
I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground beneath your knees
The birds like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing Chinese checkers by the trees
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it…

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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