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This article is an interesting one because it focuses on the political side of currency manipulation. It delves into how currency purchases can be used to put political pressure on a nation and to increase one's clout in the world as an economy to be reckoned with. The specific focus of this article is how china is using currency purchasing in order to have a political effect.  

Brazil's central bank announced a $60 billion program on Thursday aimed at halting the slide of the Brazilian real, making Brazil the latest emerging economy to seek to prop up its sagging currency. Similar moves have been made by central banks in Indonesia and Turkey. I chose this article because it covers one of the most important aspects of foreign currency, which is the depreciation of it. The consequences of having a weak currency could be severe, as the value decreases in comparison with other currencies, for example Euros, therefore it will take more Brazilian Reals to buy Euros (1 Euro= 2.98804259 Brazilian Reals). In this case this depreciation of the currency has led to some action from the Central Bank in order to boost up the value of the currency. This does not only affect Brazil, it also happens to other emergent economies such as India.

It is an article about the Nigerian government that has banned the importation of foreign currency in order to protect the Nigerian currency. It is worth to point out that there were indications that the latest move was sequel to the bank's withdrawal of the operating licenses of 20 Bureaux de Change found to have purchased and sold huge sums of dollars with no documentation to show details of the transactions. The low value of the Nigerian currency has affecting negatively the society because more domestic producers are only accepting the dollar as a means of payment. The government reports that the continued import of dollars would have a devastated effect on the Nigerian economy because it would gradually become dorallized.

This article is of particular interest to us because it would be a great article to analyze for one of our blogs. It provides a great deal of quantitative data with regards to the different powerhouse currencies, like China's and the Dollar. 

This article talks about the recent shutdown of the US government and its effect on the American currency. The author of the article questions whether the US dollar will save its supremacy and will stay an international currency as it used to be. The government shutdown has seriously affected the value of the US dollar. Therefore, affecting everybody who has held their money in that currency, "China, the largest foreign owner of US treasury bonds, would feel much of the pain." This serves as an example of the factors that affect the currency and what are the consequences of it.

This article is ripe for examination as it presents the point of view of many different nations. The primary focus in the situation in Chile, put it allows us to see the perspective of a major currency trader (the AG) as well as the perspective of China, Chile's major trading partner. Moreover, we get to see the rational behind the valuation of currency, in this case related to commodities.

I enjoyed this article due to the fact that it was in a different light. Most of all the other articles are written in negative aspects but this one looks at the positives of how the Chilian peso is going to recover. It also shows us how important exports are to certain countries as they depend on them, in this case copper , to stabalize the economy.

This article gives an example of how the value of the currency may benefit the economy but also affect the economy in the short and long run. Venezuela has faced food shortages in the past years, so the government decided to devalue its currency, in order to ease this shortages that are progressively increasing. However, it is expected that this measure will increase inflation and eventually weaken the economy more than it already is. As bolivars are worth less, then less American dollars can be exchanged, affecting the economy and the shortages becauseless imports can be purchased, and some of these imports are really essential (e.g. cornmeal, chicken, sugar, etc), and as it is stated Venezuela is really dependant on imports. This is a perfect example of how a weak currency may be positive yet really negative at the same time.

To try and beat the recession Iran have decided to just print more bank notes but by doing this they have just reduced the value of their currency and this increase in supply has not really done anything to help them.

The author of the article talks about Indonesia. It focuses on the attempts of central bank of Indonesia to defend the rupiah, "which has slid some 12 percent so far this year amid a global emerging markets rout." The currency has fallen to its weakest levels since April 2009, as worries about the country's current account deficit and high inflation rate have sparked a sell-off of Indonesian assets. Sudden declines in rupiah and local stocks over the last week, necessitated central bank to take part. Emergency fiscal and monetary policies that were announced last week, had done little to improve the current situation. Therefore, currently to protect its currency, Indonesian central bank attempts to raise the rates.

The International Monetary Fund is reviewing whether China's currency should still be considered "substantially undervalued," in light of its rapid rise in the past year. The review could take months, but if the IMF decides China's yuan is just "undervalued," that milder label could undercut U.S. efforts to challenge Beijing's currency policy in an election year.

Here we have an article about the current value of the Euro. It is a perfect example of a situation when a country (in this case a group of countries) would like to have a weaker currency. Why the euro zone wants a weak currency? Because the country within UE are trying to increase employment and a low exchange rate means more exports and more domestically produced goods. The bad side of the weak currency is an increase in inflation however the rate of inflation in Europe is very low and unemployment is very high, so the European central bank will try to balance both values.

In this Article, Canada (the country that I am from) has its currency exchange rate compared to other nations and other currencies. The Canadian dollar to British Sterling did not change much recently as it remained at .6037 to the British Sterling. This means that 1 Canadian dollar would get you 60 pence. Also, the CAD - USD exchange rate continues to fluctuate. Right now the CAD is at .96 cents USD.

Japan's trade deficit increases in October as increase in imports exceed increase in exports to the US and China. Over the past years, weakening yen has helped promote exports, but also increases the cost for imports. The increase in cost for imports, such as crude oil, helped widen trade deficit. This shows the relationship between the current account and the exchange rate. Japan is currently going through a balance trade of goods and services deficit. This results in downward pressure on the exchange rate of the currency as there is an increase in the supply of yen due to increase in imports.

This article focuses on the trade deficit of Japan. Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled in October, as growth in imports outpaced robust increases in exports to the U.S. and China, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday. There are several factors that led to trade deficit. Firstly, the weakening of the yen over the past year had its significant impact on imports and exports. After meltdown of the nuclear power plant in 2011, Japan has faced loss of the generation capacity, therefore forcing Japan to import natural gas and oil. Overall, weakening in the Japanese yen over the past year has helped exports, but it has also increased the cost of imports.However, the exports are not as stable as they could be. Slowdown in economic growth of China has led to decrease in demand for Japanese exports.Overall the article talks about the details of the trade deficit of Japan.

This article shows how there are regional trade barriers within Africa.

The leaders of five East African countries signed a protocol on Saturday laying the groundwork for a monetary union within 10 years that they expect will expand regional trade.

This article is about the East African Community (EAC) choosing to pass a monetary union deal. The trade comprising of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania has decided to adopt a single currency for all the five countries. They plan to converge their currencies and establish a central bank, helping them to harmonize fiscal policies and increase commerce. Kenyatta, the leader of the biggest economy in the east Africa say that 'Businesses will find more freedom to trade and invest more widely, and foreign investors will find additional irresistible reasons to pitch tent in our region'.

Thailand's baht appreciated extending a rebound from last month's three-year low to 4 percent, as U.S. lawmakers' failure to resolve a budget issue decreased demand for the dollar. Thailand also sees an increase in exports shipments of 3.9 percent in August, allowing the country to see a current-account surplus of $1.3 billion for the month. This shows how currencies can appreciate as an effect of another country's depreciation. Here, we US dollar depreciating due to less demand for it. Moreover, Thai baht also increases, supported by a current-account surplus.

the U.S. dollar edged down against the British pound and euro on Wednesday as a House vote on a Republican bill to reopen the government and lift the debt limit was cancelled, and Senate leaders resumed talks. The euro rose to $1.3551 from $1.3528 late Tuesday, and the pound advanced to $1.6013 from $1.5997. This article is a perfect demonstration of the currency war and the debt crises where the USA desperately tries to raise the debt barrier as depreciation of the dollar still occurs.

Single currency remains under the cosh as investors bet that the ECB may consider easing monetary policy further in order to combat weak eurozone growth.

Asian markets have been hit with news of a liquidity squeeze in China's markets, but the South Korean won has hit a two year high. The country's current account surplus and the popularity of its bonds is strengthening the currency. However, because Korea is a heavily dependent export country, the government is intervening to stymie the growth of the won. In fact, the central bank has bought 2 billion dollars worth of the won to reduce the growth.

This is a perfect example of how a currency's value can effect the economy. In this case the article states that the appreciation of the the pound or sterling could effect the hard earned growth of the economy due to there being an increase in exports when the stirling was at a low of $1.49 and now that the value of the stirling is rising it will cause the costs of importing countries to increase and therefore lead to less imports ultimatley leading to less led exports, in the case of Britain. "The higher pound is going to be an issue for some exporters," said Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation.

Thai Baht has depreciated 0.6 percent to 31.305 per dollar in the previous weeks. This was the baht's weakest week in a month. This has been due to the recent political protests against the amnesty bill. Foreigners have been cutting holdings of the nation's assets in fear of instability. This shows how a demand for a currency can decrease due several factors, including political unrests. As foreigners fear that the nation future in terms of its economic performance is not stable, the demand for Thai baht decreased. People are more reluctant to invest as they fear the political unrests could lead to a fall in value for the assets.