Growth rate starts cooking again in China

Today the National Bureau of Statistics reported that China’s GDP grew at a 7.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter. That was up from a 7.4% rate in the third quarter. Economists had speculated that China’s economy had bottomed in September and would show a higher growth rate for the rest of 2012 and into 2013. The fourth quarter results brought the growth rate for 2012 to 7.8%.

Euro climbs against both the dollar and the yen, and looks set to continue that trend

The European Central Bank clobbered the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen today when it left EuroZone interest rates unchanged at 0.75%. In trading today the euro climbed 1.4% against the U.S. dollar to $1.3252, that’s the highest level since July 5, 2011. The euro also rose 1.9% against the yen. The yen fell against the dollar as well to 88.41, the low since July 2010.