[Eli]

Something very big just blew up in Asia maybe Europe, and it caused a severe drop in world foreign exchanges , every currency sold off but the dollar.

[alokin]

link? or a bit more words, please, I do not speak Finance.

[biofuel13]

LINK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!?!

Really, you can't just post something that vague about such an important topic without a link.

Kinda like screaming "FIRE FIRE" in the luxurious, if slightly crowded, Peak Oil Theater.

[AlCzervik]

Credit to Rocc and others at LATOC.
http://market-ticker.org/archives/801-R ... ocess.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

[copious.abundance]

I noticed on CNBC the Euro tumbled vs the Dollar today.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24273207

All hail the mighty dollar!

[AlexdeLarge]

KD seems panicked! Not a good sign............

from his market ticker blog:

8:17 CT

I do not know what is going on here, and I don't think I want to.

Someone, apparently someone in Asia, wants dollars. A LOT of dollars. There is a forced-liquidation event underway that is massive, it is against all asset classes and it is spreading.

It originated at approximately 7:15 CT this evening and originated out of Asia somewhere. All of the primary currency crosses got hit at once - Euro, Pound, Yen - all weakened dramatically against the dollar and it is still going on. The Asian stock markets got walloped at the same time in coordinated waves of forced selling.

At the same time the US futures markets got nailed as well, down some six handles on the /ES in a near-vertical drop. While this sounds "not that big" to move these markets in a coordinated fashion like this is a trillion-dollar enterprise - this is not some small company that went bankrupt, or even a large company.

There is no news coverage at the present time identifying the source of this but it is not small and contrary to some reports it is not "automatic selling"; this is forced liquidation.

Folks, if this translates into Eastern Europe where there are severe instabilities already brewing literally everything in the financial world could come apart "all at once."

The worse news is that if this happens Bernanke will have killed us (in the US) by extending those swap lines all over the planet during the last six months. These will become utterly uncollectable and they are massive, in the many hundreds of billions of dollars.

To those who are reading this, I hope if you're in the markets you are prepared for extreme levels of violence. You must expect that the authorities will try to arrest the destruction if they are able, but you must also be prepared for the possibility that we have reached a "critical mass" point beyond which "duck and cover" is the only winning strategy.

Unfortunately.

I hope I'm wrong; this is going to be a long night.

[Eli]

That's it.

Yeah definitely not a good situation. Basically a massive scramble for dollars, Asian banks Japan getting hit, then Europe and then on to the US.

Basically this is what a global systemic collapse looks like, and it has the potential to bring every Government around the world to their knees.

It is big news and we will get a lot more detail tomorrow.

[AlexdeLarge]

Some are speculating the problem is with Woori Bank. Woori Bank, South Korea’s second- biggest, won’t exercise an option to redeem $400 million of subordinated bonds as it would be more expensive to refinance the debt than to pay penalty interest.

Domino Effect

Woori’s decision “may trigger a domino effect on Asian banks’ subordinated debt,” said Brayan Lai, a credit analyst with Calyon in Hong Kong. “The problem is, it doesn’t make sense economically for Woori to call the bonds in the current market conditions, even after taking into account the step-up cost they would need to pay not to exercise the call.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aHBRDJUdr0Mg&refer=asia

[ReverseEngineer]

I think the Chinese gave the warning last week when they said they weren't going to buy gold. I think they are pushing the button to send the whole ball of wax over the cliff. In any event, this has to be either a sovereign wealth fund or the Asian Holdings of the House of Rothschild. Nobody else could liquidate so much.

Reverse Engineer

[AirlinePilot]

Oh my! Mr Denninger is really spooked tonight. Shut down their forums to non donating members tonight. This looks very serious. US futures are down but not hugely ......yet. Going to be an interesting morning.

[jasonraymondson]

I Consulted my crystal balls and everything will be okay tomorrow. Just a small shakeup. We are nowhere close to the collapse yet.

[TheDude]

Hmmm.

Currency Reports & News | S.Korea denies forex crisis | 17 February 2009 | www.commodityonline.com

Asia’s fourth largest economy, South Korea on Tuesday dismissed market talk it could plunge into a foreign-exchange crisis in March, saying it could meet demand.

Speaking to reporters in Seoul, South Korea’s vice finance minister Hur Kyung-wook said "It is true that the won's volatility has increased recently. But it is not because of a crisis,"

The remarks came as the won's recent sustained weakness, down more than 5 percent against the dollar over the past week, gave rise to concerns that the country could fall into a foreign exchange crisis next month.

The country expects to post more than a $13 billion current account surplus this year, state-run banks have been borrowing from abroad and the central bank has been injecting sufficient dollars into the local money markets.

Update from Krazy Karl:

11:47 PM - It appears that FX has settled down although the equity market damage in Asia remains significant in many areas, with South Korea (one potential flashpoint) being off close to 4%. Europe opens soon with spreadbetter info up around 12:15 CT most mornings; if we get through the euro open without the crosses going nuts again this may remain capped. Watch the Euro crosses in particular; if there is an "ignition" sort of event you won't miss it (a ~500 pip near-vertical move would not surprise, on top of the 150 pips we've already taken tonight.) Last update on this for this evening unless something pops up.

[Aaron]

LINK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!?!

Really, you can't just post something that vague about such an important topic without a link.

Kinda like screaming "FIRE FIRE" in the luxurious, if slightly crowded, Peak Oil Theater.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=forex+news

[davep]

Excuse me, this is probably my fault. I transferred $4500 from Euros to Dollars this morning.

[wisconsin_cur]

Excuse me, this is probably my fault. I transferred $4500 from Euros to Dollars this morning.

the mob with their pitchforks and torches have been dispatched. Please remain where you are until they arrive.

[eXpat]

Excuse me, this is probably my fault. I transferred $4500 from Euros to Dollars this morning.

Shame on you davep! look what you did!
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE51C0VE20090217
No soup for you tonight

[davep]

Crap. I finally decide to do a bit of commodity wheeler dealing and end up bringing the forex market to its knees. Err, sorry chaps

[firestarter]

Denninger has predicted ten of the last no crashes. That's in spite of the fact that since Nov he has been calling for a bounce in the 100 to 105 range on the SPY.

On this FX dislocation, however, I think he might finally be on to something. It's OpEx week, which is generally volatile anyway. Also we have a technical four month triangle which looks like it might break down big--possibly 400 S&P points in the down direction. Perhaps the FX traders are preparing for a mini Armageddon, as they see the writing that the rest of us see smeared all over the wall?

[Leanan]

Denninger is now reporting that the Russian exchanges have been closed. Lock limit down.

[firestarter]

/ES @ 793. 741 was the intra-day low back in Oct. We bust that and it's air to 400.

ps--I love the speed of the website--PO.com-- now. I stopped coming here because it used to be soooo slow. Glad it's fixed and I'm glad to be back.