Word: euros
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...average couch potato about the slumping euro, and you'll probably hear all about Svetlana Khorkina's early mistrials on the uneven bars in Sydney. Far more meaningful, though, are the mistrials of the virtual currency that much of Euroland adopted in 1999 to simplify trade and build economic muscle. A spendable euro won't be in print before 2002. Until then, it's a calculation that 11 nations peg their currencies to, and so far it hasn't worked well for Europeans. Underscoring the trouble: Denmark last week elected not to join the Euro union...
Initially, there were grand plans for the euro to replace the dollar as the currency of choice in international trade. That never developed, and now the euro is on a prolonged descent that all but assures it will remain second fiddle to the buck. Why? To stretch an Olympic metaphor, the gold-medal U.S. economy has been sticking the landing for years, while Europe's economy, like Khorkina, has at times stumbled to the mat. The U.S.'s stability has attracted foreign investment at a brisk pace, tending to bolster the dollar...
...first song, "Judy Don't You Worry," starts off with Cracknell's lilting vocals washed over a simple background of a solo piano. It moves on quickly to Euro-sounding dance tracks such as "How Far" and the samba-tinged "Taking Off For France." The album does take a recess from beat-heavy percussion and veers towards further flirtation with retro-lounge electronic tunes, with Cracknell voicing her lyrics breathily in a manner not unlike Dusty Springfield. But the closing track, "Anymore," ends the album with more bleeps and heavy backbeats. While it's the strongest track in the album...
...Well, almost. There was hardly any suspense at all this time about the actual decision. This is election time, when the stringently apolitical Fed just doesn't want to get involved unless it absolutely has to, and after last week's twin interventions on behalf of both the euro and oil prices, this was not the time Greenspan wanted to roil the markets in any way. But there are clouds on the horizon, and when Greenspan mentioned one of them - rising oil prices that could exert inflationary pressures - investors had a little sell-off, stopped, and then sold again until...
...Will oil prices, which can act like a tax and dampen consumer spending, continue to do the Fed's soft-landing work for it? Or will they smother the boom? Will corporate earnings pick up? Will the euro ever recover? As the Fed chairman made clear with those ever-so-slightly-hawkish comments about energy prices, Uncle Alan may be on the sidelines - but he's watching. And he'll see us in December...