Like right out of the movie “Groundhog Day,” Phil Connors wakes up on Monday morning (any morning in the movie) that greatly resembles last Monday where government officials say the stimulus spigot will remain wide open, the US$ weakens and markets rally. Last weekend the G20 kept the green light on and this weekend was the turn of the Asia Pac group to do the same. Interestingly, in ’06 the US Nat’l Film Registry deemed “Groundhog Day” “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” but I digress. Q3 GDP in Japan grew 4.8% annualized, well above forecasts of a 2.9% rise but Japanese stocks and bonds were little changed in response. At 12:15 Bernanke speaks about the economy and this will follow a comment over the weekend from a top Chinese official that said low US interest rates and a weak US$ is “seriously impacting global asset prices and encouraging speculation in stock and property markets.”
