If pessimists like the strategists at HSBC predicting a technical recession with two quarters of negative growth in the US in 2001 are correct

If pessimists like the strategists at HSBC, predicting a technical recession with two quarters of negative growth in the US in 2001, are correct, we will soon be talking about the euro climbing back above parity. If not, the single currency’s recovery will peter out.Against the backcloth of this drama, other currency moves are sideshows. The yen has weakened sharply, as the spring and summer flurry of optimism about Japanese growth dissipated. Its new lows reflect official comments suggesting the Japanese authorities are relying on a weak exchange rate to keep the economy growing at all next year.Meanwhile, the pound is gaining against the dollar and yen, but weakening against the euro. This is a welcome shift as more than half of UK exports go to the EU. The only concern would arise if the sterling index fell enough to alarm the Monetary Policy Committee about imported inflationary pressure.

For now, the markets believe UK interest rates are more likely to fall than rise. But the outlook for the pound, too, will depend on how events unfold across the Atlantic.. Tiger Woods wins, or has a chance to win, almost every time he plays His strike rate is approaching unprecedented proportions. But the gross statistics of his year’s competition – 12 victories and in excess of $10m in prize money – should not blind us to his greatest achievements on just a few days last summer. Tiger Woods wins, or has a chance to win, almost every time he plays His strike rate is approaching unprecedented proportions.

But the gross statistics of his year’s competition – 12 victories and in excess of $10m in prize money – should not blind us to his greatest achievements on just a few days last summer.
An Olympian perspective may help In tour golf there is always tomorrow, always next week. But in the major championships, as at the Olympics, tomorrow never comes. Once more in Sydney, we were reminded that without performing at peak efficiency on a certain day, any hopes of a medal have to be deferred for four years.Golf’s majors come round at a slightly quicker rate, four every year, but some are more special than others. To celebrate the latest millennial midsummer, the venues for the game’s most prestigious championships were chosen appropriately.