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The highly anticipated yuan-backed crude oil futures have been launched in Shanghai. China is the world’s biggest oil consumer, with eyes on rival benchmarks Brent and WTI as well as the US currency. Trading of the new oil futures contracts for September settlement started on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange at 440.20 yuan ($69.70) per barrel, reports Chinese daily the South China Morning Post. Some 18,540 lots have reportedly been sold and purchased so far. long-awaited step evoked a surge in global prices for oil with Brent Crude soaring to $71 a barrel for the first time since 2015. US...

The dollar’s upward march has sent the euro currency to its lowest level in 14 years, easing the financial pressure on traveling Americans but giving European exporters a boost. The euro, used by 19 countries, was down 0.1 percent at $1.0390 late-afternoon Tuesday, having earlier fallen to $1.0352, its lowest level since early 2003. Over recent days, the euro’s descent to the psychologically important level of one euro per dollar, has accelerated. A major factor has been the prospect of more interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve following a quarter-point increase in its benchmark rate last week. Higher...

ISIS is now issuing its own currency referred to as the ‘Golden Dinar,’ with engravings bearing the words “Islamic State.” The coins, currently being released in limited quantity, are to primarily be used by traders in the oil industry in areas under Islamic State control, according to reports on jihadi online forums. Activists in Deir ez-Zor, Syria reported oil traders have been ordered to use the new Dinar when purchasing from ISIS-held oil fields. Reports from the Iraqi city of Mosul have indicated the Golden Dinar is being introduced to the currency market as part of a serious attempt to...

Leading members of Congress are calling on President Barack Obama to fire one of his top advisers amid a deepening scandal over accusations the White House intentionally misled lawmakers and the American public about the contents of last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran, according to a letter sent Monday to Obama and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The lawmakers are pressing Obama to fire deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes following revelations he and other officials “spearheaded the charge to mislead elected lawmakers and the American people about the Iran nuclear deal and the negotiations that led to...

Severe shortages of U.S. dollars that are used as local currency in Zimbabwe have forced many residents into cash hunter-gatherers. This week, Zimbabwe’s central bank imposed measures in an attempt to ease the cash crunch, which reflects the country’s dire economic situation. The measures include reducing the amount of money that travelers can take outside the country and limiting daily cash withdrawals. …

The Obama administration may soon tell foreign governments and banks they can start using the dollar in some instances to facilitate business with Iran, officials told The Associated Press, describing an arcane tweak to U.S. financial rules that could prove significant for Tehran’s sanctions-battered economy. While no decision is final, U.S. officials familiar with internal discussions said the Treasury Department is considering issuing a general license that would permit offshore financial institutions to access dollars for foreign currency trades in support of legitimate business with Iran, a practice that is currently illegal. Several restrictions would apply, but such a license...

It was only a matter of time before asset managers said "enough" to Bernanke's plan of debasing the dollar day after day, and took appropriate measures. In a not very surprising, yet quite shocking at the same time, development, caught by Annuity IQ, Lazard's The World Trust Fund has had enough of the dollar. Lazard will "change the currency in which the Fund's shares are traded from US dollars to Sterling." Good work Mr. Chairman and Wall Street lobby. The reason for the seismic shift: In response to comments from a number of shareholders and potential investors in the Fund...

Eleanor Roosevelt is the current front-runner in the race to earn a spot on the soon-to-be redesigned $10 bill, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll released Wednesday. The poll showed that more than one in four Americans (27%) are hoping that when the U.S. Treasury Department unveils the new design, the former first lady will be the woman featured. African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman is the second most popular choice with 17% of the vote, followed by Native American explorer Sacagawea with 13%.

Currency wars and the growing trend away from dollar dominance in international finance, particularly in emerging markets, was highlighted in an interesting CNBC article this morning entitled “Is the Dollar Losing its Clout Among EMs?” It refers to the deliberate and stated policy of “de-dollarization” around the world, the decline in the use of the dollar in international trade and as a reserve currency, and the emergence of the new BRICS bank. The article quotes best-selling author and Pentagon insider, Jim Rickards. Rickards says that the status of the dollar as a reserve currency is still solid despite its decline...

[LINKS & SOURCES] Janjuah on 2015: Oil at $30; bonds to go crazy http://www.cnbc.com/id/102348346 How The FBI Invaded Martin Luther King Jr.'s Privacy -- And Tried To Blackmail Him Into Suicide http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/20/martin-luther-king-fbi_n_4631112.html Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/09/us/memphis-jury-sees-conspiracy-in-martin-luther-king-s-killing.html Court Decision: U.S. “Government Agencies” Found Guilty in Martin Luther King’s Assassination http://www.globalresearch.ca/court-decision-u-s-government-agencies-found-guilty-in-martin-luther-kings-assassination/5320024 Did You Know: US Gov’t Found Guilty In Conspiracy To Assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. http://newsone.com/2843790/did-you-know-us-govt-found-guilty-in-conspiracy-to-assassinate-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/ Markets expect decade of below-target inflation even as ECB readies QE http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/19/us-markets-bonds-ecb-idUSKBN0KS19K20150119 Draghi Sees Almost $1 Trillion Stimulus as QE Fight Waits http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-04/draghi-sees-almost-1-trillion-stimulus-with-no-qe-fight.html Davos Agenda: Euro-Zone Deflation, Terrorism,...

The biggest obstacle for Coca-Cola and Pepsi these days isn’t tied to taste tests, the declining popularity of sugary drinks or even their century-long rivalry. It’s the surging U.S. dollar. The two soda giants rely on overseas customers for roughly half of their revenue. When they turned in their quarterly results last week, both reported a drop in sales. The strong dollar made all the difference: strip it out and shrinking sales suddenly rise. The dollar has been a source of constant complaint this earnings season. Global corporations from Avon Products to Yum Brands have said their quarterly results would...

(Vladimir Putin, right, with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in 2014.) Iran is ditching the dollar. Iran is no longer using the US dollar in foreign-trade transactions and is replacing it with other currencies, t he deputy governor at the Iranian Central Bank Gholami Kamyab said, according to Sputnik News. "In trade exchanges with the foreign countries, Iran uses other currencies including Chinese yuan, euro, Turkish lira, Russian ruble, and South Korean won," Kamyab reportedly said. He also reportedly added that Iran was considering bilateral currency-swap agreements, which would allow partners to exchange one foreign currency for the equivalent...

Sergey Glaziev the head of the Russian central bank in her discussion with Vladimir Putin, unveiled an elegant technical solution for this problem and left a clear hint regarding the members of the anti-dollar alliance that is being created by the efforts of Moscow and Beijing. On June 10th, Sergey Glaziev, Putin's economy advisor published an article outlining the need to establish an international alliance of countries willing to get rid of the dollar in international trade and refrain from using dollars in their currency reserves. The ultimate goal would be to break the Washington's money printing machine that is...

As we have been reporting (and forecasting for the past several years), the Eurasian anti-US Dollar axis is rapidly taking shape, with recent events catalyzed and certainly accelerated by US foreign policy in Ukraine, which has merely succeeded in pushing Russia that much closer, and faster, to China. The latest proof of this came overnight when the FT reported that Russian companies are preparing to switch contracts to renminbi and other Asian currencies amid fears that western sanctions may freeze them out of the US dollar market, according to two top bankers. According to Pavel Teplukhin, head of Deutsche Bank...

Paul Bedard June 3, 2014 Influential financial publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes is out with a new warning that the U.S. faces an economic catastrophe due to the Federal Reserve's loose dollar policy, and returning to a strict “gold standard” is the only way to avoid disaster. In Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy -- and What We Can Do About It, Forbes blames President Obama's money team for the stagnant economy, high prices, declining mobility and big government. "[The Fed's] vastly misguided monetary policies are now setting the stage for a new...

Chronic problems have been flaring up in financial markets lately, and some of them may emanate from the United States. Yet none of these issues have seriously damaged the exalted status of what Washington Irving once called “the almighty dollar.” In fact, a familiar pattern has been emerging: When the world’s financial system runs into trouble, the position of the dollar as the world’s crucial currency becomes more formidable. Eswar S. Prasad, a Cornell economics professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has written a thoughtful new book that clarifies this counterintuitive phenomenon. Its title is “The Dollar Trap:...

Cuba will eliminate a currency pegged to the dollar as part of a move to end its unique double-currency system, which had become a symbol of economic inequality to many islanders, Cuba’s top economic official said Friday. Tourists currently use a convertible peso roughly equal to a U.S. dollar while most Cubans are paid in ordinary pesos worth about four cents. Many goods are easier to find in government stores that exclusively accept convertible pesos, a mechanism designed to keep the flow of the special currency under government control. The dual system has created special privileges for Cubans who work...

The US dollar sank against the euro Tuesday after fresh data on the jobs market pointed to the Federal Reserve not cutting back its stimulus before 2014. WASHINGTON: The US dollar sank against the euro Tuesday after fresh data on the jobs market pointed to the Federal Reserve not cutting back its stimulus before 2014. The prospect of the Fed's easy money program staying unchanged, after months of expectations of tightening, pushed the euro to its highest level on the greenback since November 2011. At 2100 GMT, the euro bought US$1.3780, compared to US$1.3681 late Monday. The September data showed...

Listen To Glenn Beck Now, on The Blaze Radio Network on www.iheart.com . Truth Lives Here Known for his quick wit, candid opinions and engaging personality, Glenn Beck has attracted millions of viewers and listeners throughout the United States with The Glenn Beck Program. His radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, is heard on over 400 stations and is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. It is the third highest-rated national radio talk show among adults ages 25 to 54. Looking for audio and video from the radio program? If you’re a TheBlaze TV Subscriber you can access all your...

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will begin circulating a $100 bill redesigned with high-tech security features this fall, more than two years after its initial target. The Fed has set a target date of October 8. The revamped note incorporates added security features, such as a blue, 3-D security ribbon and a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell that switches color from copper to green when tilted. The features are designed to thwart counterfeiters. The new notes, which cost slightly more to produce, also boast a large '100' that shifts colors as the viewing angle is tilted.