What makes a currency strong — and why a strong currency is not always good news
Exchange rates reflect interest rates, trade and confidence. A rising currency helps some parts of an economy and hurts others.
Currencies
Following the money: a guide to how global payment systems actually settle
Tapping a card or sending money abroad feels instantaneous. Behind it sits a layered architecture of messages, ledgers and central bank accounts that determines when a payment is truly final.
What moves commodity prices: supply shocks, storage and the dollar
Oil, metals and grains trade in markets where small imbalances can produce large price swings. Understanding why requires looking at inventories, futures curves and the currency in which they are priced.
Fixed, floating or somewhere in between: how exchange-rate regimes differ
Every country must choose how its currency relates to others. The choice is a trade-off between stability, monetary independence and openness to capital — and no country can have all three.
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Podcast
Markets, Explained: a sample episode
A weekly guide to how markets work, one concept at a time. This is a demonstration episode.
Market coverage is editorial analysis, not live data. Figures are attributed in each article and may be delayed.