Leaders from around the world gathered in an attempt to solve the crisis facing the global economy. This meeting was being billed as “Bretton-Woods II” and the markets were counting on some action. But the meeting was largely a non-event, as leaders did little more than point fingers and try to pass the blame for the financial crisis. President George W. Bush and his counterparts from the Group of 20 blamed the looming global recession on imprudent investors who sought higher yields without an adequate appreciation of the risks. They also mentioned the regulators who failed to address the dangers building in the market were at fault, but no mention at all of the Wall Street banks and investment houses who concocted complicated investment vehicles, bought them a AAA rating, and sold them to unsuspecting investors. Granted, these investors who purchased them without proper due diligence are partially to blame, but some fingers should also be pointing in Wall Street’s direction.

But pointing fingers won’t solve our problems, so what did the G-20 come up with to rescue the markets? Nothing more than a statement calling for higher capital standards and stronger risk management at banks, hedge funds, and credit rating firms. I agree that more regulation is needed, but the markets were looking for a coordinated response to the current crisis, and this announcement will undoubtedly disappoint them.

I received a phone call from a Reuter’s reporter on Friday asking my thoughts on the probably outcome of the G20 meeting. I told her I had little expectations for any market moving announcements, and that the most likely result would be the agreement to have another meeting later next year. That is exactly what occurred, with the leaders scheduling another meeting for the first quarter of 2009.

The dollar fell vs. most of the major currencies, as with the British Pound turning in the best performance, increasing 1.28% vs. the US$. Chuck had a reader send him a very important newsflash from the Telegraph UK paper. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has completed a liquidity/stability stress test on the capital ratios of UK building societies and found that they’re much more stable than the Banks. This undoubtedly helped the pound rally, but this move up could prove short lived, as the underlying fundamentals for the pound are weak, and getting weaker.

The Brazilian Real was the biggest loser vs. the US$ over the weekend, as weak economic data caused investors to move out of the emerging markets. I continue to believe that the commodity based currencies hold some of the best values in today’s markets. The stimulus package announced by China, along with government infrastructure which will likely be announced here in the US, should increase demand on raw materials. More and more governments will try to ’spend their way’ out of the global slowdown, investing into big infrastructure construction projects. These projects should bring commodity prices back up, which would be supportive of the Brazilian real and the Australian dollar two of the major exporters of raw materials.

Today we will get the Empire Manufacturing data, which will likely show more rot on the vine for manufacturing in the NY area. The number is expected to show a record drop for November. We will also see the Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization numbers for October. The Industrial Production number is actually expected to show a slight pick up after falling almost 3% in September.

The rest of the week will bring even more data on the US economy, with PPI and TIC flows scheduled for tomorrow; CPI, US Housing starts, and the minutes of FOMC’s October meeting on Wednesday. And to finish the week, the jobs numbers will be printed on Thursday along with the Leading Indicators. None of this data should be dollar positive, as the fundamentals of the US economy continue to deteriorate. But as readers know, bad economic numbers have had a dollar positive effect, as investors flock to the ’safe haven’ of US treasuries. So the dollar could actually see more strength as the bad numbers roll in.

This is what happened with the Japanese Yen over the weekend, as Japan announced GDP fell .4% during the third quarter. Japan’s economy, the world’s second largest, entered its fires recession since 2001 last quarter and the government economists say conditions may get even worse. The bad news was met with currency investors buying the Japanese yen. Yes, investors moved back into yen as they reversed carry trades, selling high yielding currencies to pay down loans in Japan. So poor economic data in the US and Japan are driving investors back into these currencies.

Crazy days!

Currencies today 11/17/08: A$ .6485, kiwi .5564, C$ .8119, euro 1.2646, sterling 1.4922, Swiss .8352, ISK (No Quote), rand 10.13, krone 6.9728, SEK 7.923, forint 212.13, zloty 2.9817, koruna 20.07, yen 96.51, baht 34.99, sing 1.5231, HKD 7.7501, INR 49.3375, China 6.8270, pesos 13.062, BRL 2.305, dollar index 86.97, Oil $55.54, Silver $9.50, and Gold… $742.84

Source: Nothing Comes Out of the G20 Meeting