The Most Significant Story of the Day...

...is also one of the most boring, but China raised the exchange rate on the yuan today after a decade of inaction. This will be a big boost to European and American firms who were having to deal with articially cheap Chinese imports. The key word here is 'artificially'. As a free-trader, I'm all for anything that benefits the consumer, but not at the expense of the huge trade deficits we have been running with a country that wasn't pegging its currency to a realistic standard.

For an alternate view, see Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who says the move, while good for China internally, won't benefit the U.S. as we will simply switch countries to import certain goods from. Still, and somewhat bafflingly, Greenspan called it 'a good start' (ultimately, the best thing would be to just let the currency float, with the price determined by the market).