China devalues yuan for third straight day, adding to fears of currency war

[inanna]

Source: The Guardian

Thursday 13 August 2015 04.32 BST

China cut the reference rate for its currency for the third straight day on Thursday, after the surprise devaluation of the yuan this week unsettled global financial markets.

The central bank put the yuan’s central parity rate at 6.4010 yuan for US$1, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said, a drop of 1.11% from the previous day’s 6.3306.

It was also lower than Wednesday’s close and comes after China adopted a more market-oriented method of calculating the currency rate in a move widely seen as a devaluation.

The cuts have put financial markets on edge, sparking worries of a “currency war” as other countries feel pressure to devalue and raising questions about the health of the world’s second-largest economy, where growth is already slowing.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/china-devalues-yuan-for-third-straight-day-adding-to-fears-of-currency-war

[progree]

1. Perspective: Trade-weighted yuan index has risen 43% over the last decade

Trump's China attack ignores what charts say, Reuters, 8/12/15
http://news.yahoo.com/trumps-china-attack-ignores-charts-210209932--business.html

&quot China) continuously cuts their currency, they devalue their currency," Trump said on Wednesday during a campaign stop in Birch Run, Michigan. "They've been doing this for years - this isn't just starting."

...Over the last decade, the trade-weighted yuan index, a measure of its value against the currencies of China's main trading partners, has risen by 43 percent, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements.

So if they ease the yuan's value back a few percentage points, its probably not really the greatest crime against humanity of all time.

[davidpdx]

2. We have three days of devaluation, do I hear four days?

[Aerows]

3. No one could have foreseen this...