While that the changes that has taken place will likely hold, with traders that are waiting for fresh incentives so that currencies could be pushed in new directions, as the summer vacation season begins to reduce trading flows and volatile trading is possible.

Key events that could have their effects on currency markets next week include the summit meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight countries in Italy which would begin from Wednesday.

On one side the negative correlation between equities and commodities markets and on the other side the U.S dollar that has in recent months governed currency trading will likely remain in play, although it’s not anticipated that it will generate enough momentum to push any of the major currencies out of recent trading ranges.

Read the full story

Despite advances in technology and all the fancy money counting machines, Counting money by hand is still considered the most reliable and popular method.

Counting money fast is an art. It is not easy to count a lot of cash. See this video on how money is counted by cashiers in different parts of the world.

So, next time you visit a bank or money exchanger, do check out how the cashier counts your money before handing over to you.

Source

All of us who live in the United States, have spent all our lives looking at the same style of paper currency: those things that say “Federal Reserve Note” and have a dead President in the center of the bill in an oval frame. Every now and then the Bureau of Engraving and Printing starts distributing a new design of U.S. currency, we’ve started seeing some variations in the theme; certainly we get to see the details of the portrait engravers’ work much more clearly. Still, though, we rarely stop to appreciate the skill and artistry of the engravers… after all, it’s just money. We just take it out and spend it.

But what if the Bureau of Engraving and Printing decided, as they did in the 1890s, to use our paper money as a showcase for art?

Silver certificates are an older form of U.S. currency; their value was backed by silver held in the U.S. Treasury, and they could be redeemed at the Treasury for silver dollars. An 1886 Act of Congress authorized the creation of a new series of silver certificates, and so it came to pass that the Secretary of the Treasury gave the Bureau of Engraving and Printing the task of designing and printing the new currency.

Claude M. Johnson, then Chief of the BEP, had definite ideas about the role of art in paper money. By 1893 Johnson and the BEP had decided on four artists – the muralists Edwin H. Blashfield, Will H. Low, C. S. Reinhart and Walter Shirlaw – to design the new currency, and planned to award a commission of $800 for each design the BEP accepted.

1896 $1 USD Note

The noted artists, together with the BEP’s talented engravers, created a new currency of unparalleled beauty – extraordinary designs, the likes of which had never been seen before in the U.S. and have never been equalled since.

Will H. Low’s design for the $1 note

Will H. Low’s design for the $1 note, entitled History Instructing Youth, shows a female History with a young student standing beside her, gesturing to an open book of history before her. An olive branch rests against the book, holding it open to show the Constitution of the United States upon the page. Both the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Dome can be seen in the background landscape. The outside border of the note shows 23 wreaths, each bearing the name of a noteworthy American – not surprisingly starting with Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, but also including such names as poet Henry Longfellow, inventor Robert Fulton, and author Nathaniel Hawthorne, among many others. The seal of the Treasury appears in the lower right.

Low’s original painting, which now hangs in the BEP’s Washington, D.C. offices, was slowly and artfully reproduced as an intaglio printing plate by the BEP’s talented engraving staff.

Shortly after the $1 bill was released to the public, Bureau engraver G.F.C. Smillie was informed by a friend that the word tranquillity was misspelled in the tiny Constitution that adorned the book. “Rats,” Smillie reportedly replied. “The word was spelled that way in the original Constitution…”

Smillie was, of course, correct… even though, at the time, tranquillity (with two “l”s) was the accepted spelling.

“Now at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing we must ‘follow copy,’” a Bureau spokesman later stated, “and cannot demonstrate superior knowledge in the face of absolute authority. Hence, ‘tranquility’ is on the new note. There is plenty of authority for spelling that word economically in respect to ‘l’s.”

1896 $1 USD Currency Note

The $1 note was released to the public on July 14, 1896, the first of the series to be put into circulation. Because of the public’s unfamiliarity with the new money, though, some people began illegally “raising” the values of the bills by changing the numbers in the corners and then passing the notes off as “the new $5s” or “the new $10s”.

The memory of this may be why the present-day U.S. Treasury chose to release the highest denominations of our new currency first, and then slowly proceeded downwards as people grew accustomed to the new designs. (It would make little sense for a counterfeiter to take a new $100 bill and try to persuade people it was a new style of $1.)

The back of the 1896 $1, featuring intricate geometric lathe work and a winged, shield-bearing Liberty in each of the upper corners, carries traditionally-styled portraits of both George and Martha Washington. The portraits were engraved by Alfred Sealey and Charles Burt, respectively, and the overall design of the back was the work of Thomas F. Morris.

Recently made the Chief of the BEP’s engraving division, Morris had his own concerns about the 1896 note designs. They were the only notes since 1861 which had no geometric lathe designs on the face of the notes, and the intricate lathe-work served as a strong deterrent to counterfeiters. Perhaps this accounts for the unusually intricate and thorough lathe-work which Morris applied to the backs of the 1896 designs.

People being what they are, there were several public statements that the central “One” on the note was irresponsible. The reasoning was thus: “no one should come between George and Martha Washington”.

Don’t blame me. I don’t make the news. I only report it.

Read the full story

I have started my journey into world of Forex. It is a learning experience and I will share it with you as I stated in this post on my Forex Blog. I will be posting as I learn and discover. here is an excerpt of what I wrote today.

Introduction to Forex (currency exchange)

Foreign Exchange Market is known with many names; Currency Market, Forex Market or FX Market.  Obviously it is a market where people exchange currencies from different countries. Transactions are simple. People purchase a block of one currency by paying with a block of another currency. Naturally it is the most liquid market in the world. The daily volume of trade currently exceeds USD $5 trillion.

Major Players in the Market are:

• Large Banks
• State/Federal Banks
• Currency Speculators
• Large Corporations
• Governments
• Financial Institutions (Hedge Funds, Investment Firms, Brokers)

Major Forex Trading Centers

• London
• Newyork
• Tokyo
• HongKong
• Singapore

The Trading virtually goes on forever as the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, followed by the North American session and then back to the Asian session. This 24/7 nature of market is only disrupted by weekends. So we can safely say that Forex Markets remain open from 5pm EST on Sunday until 4pm EST Friday.

Click here to continue and read more

Popular media is painting a very bleak economic outlook. It is a time when people are confused about their savings and economic future. There are also people out there who see every challenge as an opportunity to make money. It is like Forex market to them. You can make money both ways, up or down. We have listed below the reasons why people think that this is best time in history to make lot’s of money and become filthy rich.

1. Invest in Stock Market.
   Stock Markets are belly up and prices are really hitting the floor. There are some really cheap stocks out there.. i.e. Google is available at bargain prices.
   Economy is going to get out of recession in few months or an years time and you will get capital gains of up to 10 times of  your investment. Read the full story