Despite having the lowest overnight rate of the Group of Seven nations, Japan’s central bank unanimously voted today (Friday) to keep its key interest rate steady at 0.5%.

Interest rates are set to rise next month!

I was delayed on my way in this morning. By the Luftwaffe. Yes, an unexploded bomb in east London played havoc with the District Line.

In the currency market, the dollar tanked against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.5568 vs. $1.5435 on Wednesday.

After voting to hold rates steady at its monthly meeting today (Thursday), European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said a rate hike in July is “possible.”

Consumers are suffering because the stupid European governments boosted spending for a decade or more, the money financed by debt, and it is all of this spending that has made the purchasing power of the euro to fall. How do we fix this? The Mogambo has an answer.

President Bush insists the US economy is in a “downturn,” but legendary investor Warren Buffett warned today that the US is in a recession — one that will be more severe than most people expect.

“This will not be short and shallow,” said Buffett on CNBC. “I think consumers are feeling gas and food prices and not feeling they’ve got a lot of money for other things.”

Speaking about the ongoing US credit crisis, Buffett said: “I think there will be rippling secondary, tertiary effects …

The Bank of England (BOE) cut its interest rate 25 basis points to 5.0% yesterday (Thursday) while the European Central Bank (ECB) held its rate steady at 4.0%.

Ben Bernanke’s British and European Union counterparts may be gearing up to pump more money into the global banking system, says Bloomberg.

Lloyds predicts King’s next step will be to accept more types of collateral for loans. Trichet will pump more money into banks, RBS forecasts. Such measures would take Europe’s two biggest central banks further down the path laid out by Bernanke this month.