| Complaints pile up about online investments involving foreign ...
Ellen Whitmore never takes a risk. She watches her expenses closely and describes herself as a conservative investor.
But last November, Whitmore, 50, of Fort Lauderdale, did something out of character while surfing the Internet: She made an impulse purchase after a pop-up window claimed that buying Iraqi currency was a good investment. She has since learned the hard way, as financial experts and consumer watchdogs warn, that investing in foreign currency with online companies could be a risky proposition.
"It sounded very legitimate," said Whitmore, who never received the 2 million Iraqi dinars she purchased for $1,480 through the Web site of Illinois-based United World Exchange, www.usdinar.com.
Whitmore, a part-time volunteer with a local nonprofit organization, is one of a growing number of consumers who have filed complaints against United World Exchange with the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and the Illinois attorney general's office.
Foreign exchange market braces for rise of algorithms
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Global investors using complex, computer-driven models will increasingly pump up the foreign exchange market's volume, creating both opportunities and headaches for market makers. In algorithmic trading, hyper-fast computer programs based on mathematical models essentially make split-second financial decisions to find optimal prices. With hedge funds and other high-frequency investors gravitating to so-called algos, the programs are already helping to keep trading volume robust even as volatility in the currency markets generally declines, according to panelists at an industry conference sponsored by FX Week magazine this week. "The barriers to entering this market have decreased, yet how does one on the buy side or the sell side manage liquidity when it is spread across so many different venues," said Darren Jer, regional FX sales manager with ICAP.
Reuters, CME Team Up To Open Spot Currency Exchange
This morning Reuters and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced the official opening of FXMarketSpace, allowing for anonymous trading in spot foreign exchange against the dollar on the euro, yen, sterling, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar as well as four cross-currency pairs. The companies are claiming that although the exchange just opened, customer numbers are already "significantly ahead of expectations." Reuters is using its know-how to provide trading access, trade notification and market data with the CME is bringing clearing and trade matching services to the mix. Each company has 50% ownership. The global market for ForEx trading currently stands at greater than $2 trillion a day and many analysts predict that number could cross $3 trillion by year's end. The companies expect the exchange will be profitable by 2008.
Yen Snaps Two-Day Loss as G-7 May Show Concern Over Weakness
April 4 (Bloomberg) -- The yen snapped a two-day loss on speculation finance chiefs and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations will express concern over the currency's weakness. The yen has dropped against all 16 of the world's most- actively traded currencies the past month as the lowest interest rates among major economies encouraged investors to buy higher- yielding assets overseas. The yen's loss may be discussed at the April 13 G-7 meeting, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said today in an interview in Tokyo. ``Going into the G-7, the yen is likely to get a boost from political speculation over the weaker yen,'' said Nobuaki Tani, a senior currency dealer at Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. ``It could become a catalyst for yen-buying.'' The yen traded at 118.85 per dollar at 7:07 a.m.
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