Chart of the day --- Tom (slow)
>> phelps dodge, today closed at a 52-week high. the company is boosting their dividend, offering a special dividend of $2 a share and announcing management changes and basically, again, phelps dodge, in extended hours, up more than 1%, $88.62 a share, boosting the quarterly dividend to 20 cents a share from just own 18 cents per share and declaring a special dividend of $2 per share. moving on, trading is set to open in asia as foreign exchange investors confront ever stranger currencies. time for our regular look at the “chart of the day” with bloomberg news editor-at-large tom keene. welcome, tom.
>> there are stranger currencies and stronger currencies.
>> dusay stranger?
>> that’s ok, they are strange, they’re acting strange.
>> sorry.
>> it’s ok. they’re strange and they’re strong. the korean yuan back―the korean won back 20 years and the financial crisis of 1998, it was ugly, a 12 times devaluation. the korean won weaker and here’s the slow road back. down we come and have this support. and we’ve been here for quite some time and drop down and pause. this is the latest news. this is below the radar of most of our viewers, the thai baht, korean won, even the chinese renminbi in that narrow band the government keeps it in, these currencies are advancing against the dollar. this has the full focus of hedge funds and foreign exchange traders and it links directly into the american economy through federal reserve policy. so there’s a lot of moving parts going on and as they open in a few hours, the question is, looking again, back at the chart, will the won continue to advance, continue to be stronger, making new levels, going back a good eight years?
>> are economists in the u.s. concerned the won, as you’re illustrating, might get too strong?
>> the idea of too strong is important in that there are so many moving parts that it can get too strong and the way i look at that is it moves from economics to politics. we saw the leadership in thailand fall in the last 48 hours, really over separate matters. but you can get to a point where a currency hurts you. for example, the last time the euro dollar advanced and was strong, we heard the italian government screaming that it was beginning to really affect their ability to export goods. we haven’t heard that yet in a booming asia, certainly not from china where there’s no soft landing or hard landing and not in korea. but there’s a point where you may begin to see that language.
>> tell me more about asian currencies and the impact on the u.s. dollar.
>> the impact on the u.s. dollar debate is probably more of it is it’s the beginning of a weaker dollar and there’s a big debate among strategists over whether we will see stronger japanese yen or weaker japanese yen or the opposite side of that, will we see stronger or weaker dollar. but what’s very, very clear is within all of these dynamics, it is more than just a simplistic dialogue you hear about it. a lot of moving parts going on.
>> tom keene, thank you so much for bringing us today’s “chart of the day.” there’s a lot more ahead. one final time-out and get you caught up with all the latest world and national headlines and check today’s “world’s biggest mover.” we’ll have a look into a market relieved by a political resignation. we’ll explain as “after the bell” continues.
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Listen World news update-- Mark (slow)
>> i’m mark crumpton with a world news update. for the first time, members of the public will hear the cockpit recorder tape from united airlines flight 93. a federal judge ruled that the jury considering whether to execute zacharias moussaoui can hear the tape. the jetliner crashed in pennsylvania on 9/11. president bush says the issue of immigration is, in his words, a vital debate for america. the president thanked lawmakers he credits with working hard to get a bill done. he adds that he wants them to finish up as quickly as possible and pass what he calls a comprehensive bill. mr. bush says he wants a new immigration law that allows guest workers, strengthens the border and recognizes that foreigners are here working hard. house minority whip steny hoyer on “money & politics” after this.
