7 Reasons Why The Euro Is Headed To Parity With The US Dollar


euro dollar

Markets celebrated throughout the world last week when the European Central Bank decided to follow the lead of the US and the UK by printing money by the bucketload.

The euro, since it has existed, has been a strong and reliable currency. This isn’t because of the underlying governments, which are as bad as governments anywhere. Nor is it because the economies have been strong or weak. It’s because the Germany’s influence on the ECB prevented it doing anything idiotic, such as printing money, buying sovereign junk debt, or keeping interest rates at absurdly low levels.

As a result, the US dollar fell from 1.07 euro at the start of Bush Jr’s term to 0.77 at the end. The result: a 28% decline in the value of the US dollar. It would have been over 40% if the financial crisis hadn’t been engineered.

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New Citibank Cash Back Platinum Credit Card


citibank

Recently, Citibank launched new Citibank Cash Back Platinum Credit Card which offering up to 5% cash rebate on purchase. This card is much better than their Classic and Gold Cash Back Card as no carry forward balance is necessary to enjoy high cash rebate rate.

Two months ago they just introduced on Citibank Platinum Credit Card where they are offering 5X Rewards Points on purchase made at major department stores and supermarkets or hypermarkets. The new offering make us more difficult to choose which card to apply.

With this card you don’t have to wait for specific days or special promotions to enjoy the most cash back from your purchases. Also no pre-registration and no minimum spending is required. Your cash back is automatically credited into your account.

Below are the details on the cash back rate.

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2010 IMD World Most Competitive Countries

IMD

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) is the world’s most renowned and comprehensive annual report on the competitiveness of nations, ranking and analysis of how a nation’s environment creates and sustains the competitiveness of enterprises.

IMD analyze the countries based on four main criteria namely Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure.

Each of these factors is divided into 5 sub-factors which highlight every facet of the areas analyzed.

In 2010, Malaysia managed to to emerge as the 10th most competitive country in the world from number 18th.

The table below shows the ranking of 58 countries in 2010 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

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Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 Open for Subscription

kementerian kewangan

As posted before on Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 (S1M 2010) , starting today 20th May 2010, fund subscription is opened to public. The subscription period is between 20th May to 9th June 2010.

If you are interested, make sure you subscribe quickly because the similar Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat (SSR) with bigger fund size launched last year was fully subscribed within 9 days. Assuming similar subscription rate, Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 may be fully subscribed in 4 to 5 days.

The main different between S1M 2010 and SSR is you may sell or purchase after the subscription period subjected to fund availability. However, please bear in mind that any purchase made after the subscription period you will be charged 0.1% from purchase value.

If you want to know how to calculate profit made from S1M 2010, you may refer to the formula below.

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Risk Associated with Unit Trust Investment

unit trusts

Prior to making an investment, prospective investors should consider the following risk factors carefully in addition to the other information set forth elsewhere in this Prospectus.

Although unit trust management companies seek to minimize risks by investing in a diversified portfolio, investors should be warned that there are potential risks in investing in unit trusts.

They include:

1. Market risk

Market risk cannot be eliminated by diversification. It stems from the fact that there are other economy-wide perils, which threaten all businesses. That is why investors are exposed to market uncertainties, regardless of numbers or types of investment held. Fluctuation in the market caused by uncertainties in the economy, political and social environment will affect the market price of unit trust Fund.

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