The News Review:

- Forex – Euro dives as Germany’s Ifo survey falls short of…
- Forex – Pound falls on weak UK retail sales figures
- Internet ‘spurring forex trade’
- Forex – Dollar higher in afternoon session on view Fed may be done…
- Forex – Dollar strengthens after weekly jobless claims improves UPDATE
- Taiwan prosecutors probe Chunghwa Telecom forex option deal
- Kenya: Stanchart And Faulu Reach Deal On Forex Risks

Forex – Euro dives as Germany’s Ifo survey falls short of…
Forbes – Apr 24, 2008
The German Ifo April business climate index fell to 102. 4 from March’s 104. Analysts had expected a much smaller fall to 104.

Forex – Pound falls on weak UK retail sales figures
Forbes – Apr 24, 2008
The Office for National Statistics said retail sales dropped 0. 4 percent in March from February, roughly in line with analysts’ forecasts for a fall of 0. 5 percent and the sharpest decline since January 2007′s 1.

Internet ‘spurring forex trade’
Gulf Daily News – Apr 24, 2008
Before the Internet came along only banks, corporations and very wealthy individuals could trade currencies because to use the trading systems involved opening an account that cost as much as $1 million, Forex Trading Expo and Conference organiser Arabcom Group founder and president Katia Tayar told delegates in her opening speech at the event. “Our event today represents a summit for the global village created by the new virtual realities, whose networks have been established, and whose components have been connected, through information and communication technologies,” she said. “Thanks to advances in online technology today investors with only a few thousand dollars can have access the forex markets 24 hours a day online wherever they are. ”
“The Forex Trading Expo and Conference will meet the demand from traders and investors in the Middle East and the world over for educational resources on currency. The conference aims to give traders more choices and opportunity to profit from the currency trading market’s potential and its volatility,” she said.

Forex – Dollar higher in afternoon session on view Fed may be done…
Forbes – Apr 24, 2008
dollar headed higher against the euro and the yen in afternoon Asian trade Thursday on speculation the Federal Reserve is close to ending its recent cycle of interest rate cuts. While the Fed is widely expected to further ease rates next week, the size of the rate cut could be just 25 basis points, the smallest this year, as the world’s biggest economy has to grapple with accelerating inflation, said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics. ‘They (Fed policy makers) will be biased toward a steady rate going forward and will probably express more concern about inflation,’ Cohen said.

Forex – Dollar strengthens after weekly jobless claims improves UPDATE
Forbes – Apr 24, 2008
weekly jobless claims data offset a dip in durable goods orders. The number of individuals filing new claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending April 19 decreased 33,000 to 342,000, less than the 375,000 claims economists polled by Thomson’s IFR Markets were expecting. Thomson IFR Markets analyst Peter Stoneham said the data ‘came in with a better than expected return and the dollar has moved ahead versus Europe.

Taiwan prosecutors probe Chunghwa Telecom forex option deal
MarketWatch – Apr 24, 2008
) TAIPEI (MarketWatch) — Taipei prosecutors are looking into a 10-year foreign-currency options contract that Chunghwa Telecom Co. signed with Goldman Sachs Inc. in 2007, Fred Lin, a spokesman for the Taipei Prosecutors Office, said Thursday. Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest phone company by revenue, signed the contract to hedge against volatility in the U.

Kenya: Stanchart And Faulu Reach Deal On Forex Risks
AllAfrica.com – Apr 24, 2008
A cross currency swap (CC Swap) is an instrument used to hedge against adverse currency movement and involves the swapping of the interest-rate and currency risk on a loan. GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”);Faulu Kenya has obtained a subordinate loan of Sh491 million in Euros from Deutsche Bank Micro Finance Funds in New York. Through the deal, Standard will lock the exchange rate for the loan over a seven year term. "As all our business is based in Kenya shillings, it became necessary to hedge the foreign currency risk.