Dollar Revival Reaps Roses and Thorns for Investors
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VOL. XXVI NO. 139 MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008 Œ2.90 Œ2.90 Michael Phelps’s future - Spain - France looks to go swimmingly BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 | PAGE 12 Dollar revival reaps roses Œ3.20 Sk 100/Œ3.32 - Finland A flagpole builder hits new - Slovakia Œ3 Dkr 22 heights in Central Asia and thorns for investors ON OTHER FRONTS | PAGE 32 - Portugal - Denmark U.S. stocks could rise Zl 10.50 Kc 110 on profits, mergers; - Poland commodities caution Nkr 27 What’s News— - Czech Republic By Jeff D. Opdyke 7 7 - Norway Business&Finance World-Wide And Craig Karmin HRK 20 Œ2.90 The dollar’s resurgence could Medvedev said Russia will be- ease U.S. inflation and help curb gin pulling troops out of Georgia Suddenly, it is all about the U.S. - Croatia commodity prices, but it also Monday, under rising U.S. and dollar. But it won’t necessarily get threatens to slow the U.S. export - Netherlands European pressure, but he pro- any easier to make a buck. Œ2.90 boom and add to earnings pres- vided no firm deadline for the After struggling for several Dh 24 sure on multinationals like GE. completion of any withdrawal. years, the dollar is back in vogue. It - Belgium £1.40 Friday, the dollar hit a six-month Moscow’s occupying actions has gained 8% against the euro in Œ3 - Morocco high against the euro and rose have sent a brutal message. the past month. On Friday, the dol- against the yen. Pages 1, 21 Merkel said NATO could help lar rose again and now one euro Œ2.90 - Austria n A drop in commodity prices with reconstruction once Russia equals $1.4673. Last month, a euro Pages 1, 2, 3, 16, 17 – United Kingdom is raising hopes that inflation withdraws. $2 is peaking in many parts of the n Russia’s war in Georgia has be- Lk 370.00 - Luxembourg The buck is back Dubai the sheikh’s businesses. meters. (The pole flies the flag of developing world. Page 1 come a source of support for big AVID Chambers builds Mr. Chambers doesn’t have an en- the Arab revolt, during which Aqaba U.S. weapons programs that have Dollar’s gains may quell inflation L£ 4000 n Lehman Brothers is likely to the tallest flagpoles in gineering background, but he was captured from the Ottoman Em- had to battle for funding. Page 3 and curb U.S. export boom.21..... Guy Chazan/WSJ the world. His current cli- quickly pulled together a team and pire in 1917.) report another big quarterly loss, analysts say, raising the n A coastal guard car was hit during a Russian bombing raid targeting a large - Lebanon Pakistan’s ruling coalition ent wants him to stop. sketched out a plan. In July 2001, Trident manufactures the steel - U.S. Military (Eur) commercial port in Poti, a Georgian town on the Black Sea coast. This month, Mr. Cham- the group raised its first record segments of the poles in a fabrica- prospect it will need to raise stepped up pressure on Presi- was worth $1.60, and bullish ana- Œ2.90 Page 7 Dbers is erecting a pole in the wind- holder, at about 123 meters. tion yard in Dubai. Then it ships additional capital. dent Musharraf to resign, as lysts say a euro could be worth just YTL 4.25 swept Azerbaijan capital of Baku. At He left his employer shortly af- them to their future home. Using gi- - Italy n The sale of Reed Elsevier’s his legal team prepared to chal- $1.40 by next summer. The dollar lenge his impeachment. Page 11 almost 162 meters, it will be the tall- ter to start up his own company, Tri- ant cranes, Mr. Chambers’s team Œ2.90 trade-magazine division enters has rallied the same amount against - Turkey As pressure rises, Russia est flagpole on record. Azerbaijani dent Support Corp. In addition to re- hoists them on top of each other and a crucial phase, with the com- n India’s prime minister said the British pound and a bit less against the yen. officials, eager to savor the feat, ally tall flagpoles, the firm manufac- bolts them together. The price tag pany’s bankers asking bidders Friday the peace process with have asked him to hold off building a tures smaller ones, along with cell- can stretch to several million dol- S£ 150 to submit second offers. Page 6 Behind the surge: slowing econo- - Ireland (Rep.) Pakistan was in danger of failing taller pole for a year, he said. phone towers and stadium lighting. lars. n mies across Europe. Data released to begin leaving Georgia - Syria Auto makers are angling to because of attacks like the bomb- Clients “always tell us they want He also provides the flags— Ft 530 last week show the euro-zone econ- Meanwhile, officials in the court carve out their own niches in ing of its embassy in Afghanistan. this to be the last record,” Mr. Cham- some of the world’s largest, measur- omy contracted 0.2% in the second Under rising pressure from Eu- safe here if it isn’t under their con- of King Abdullah II of Jordan fuel-efficient design with new n Indian police arrested the al- bers said from his small office in started looking for someone to ing about three-quarters the length SF 4.80 quarter, the first decline since be- rope and the U.S., Russian President trol,” said Georgian Economy Minis- - Hungary offerings in the U.S. Page 6 leged leader and eight others in a Dubai’s sprawling port. “But they build a super-tall pole in the capital, of a football field. Trident trains fore the euro’s introduction in 1999. Dmitry Medvedev Sunday said he ter Yekaterina Sharashidze. “The n group they say was behind blasts know, in general, that we’re on a Amman. “His majesty knew that the teams to raise and lower the giant Œ2.90 The recent steep rebound by Falling oil prices have helped, too, will begin pulling his troops out of goal is to create an economic and hu- small-cap U.S. stocks belies fun- that killed over 50 people in roll, and we’re gonna build more flags and to repair damage. - Switzerland Georgia Monday but provided no manitarian disaster that will re- highest one was in Abu Dhabi,” a Ahmedabad last month. Page 11 Please turn to page 31 poles.” Last fall, the Azerbaijani govern- - Greece damentals and shows why firm deadline for the completion of bound on the government” and top- Œ3 A monster-flagpole building ment ordered a flagpole measuring kr 27 many are having a hard time n Obama raised over $51 mil- any withdrawal. ple it. boom is sweeping across Central 150 meters, enough to break the picking market winners. Page 19 lion last month, more than But even if Russian forces now Events in Poti, a Georgian town on Germany For information or to subscribe, visit www.services.wsje.com or call +32-2-741-1414 — Albania Asia and the Middle East, and Mr. Aqaba record with plenty of pole to 86-meter pole in Vancouver, British Sweden n U.S. Treasurys are near lev- McCain’s $27 million, but he start to withdraw, Moscow’s actions the Black Sea coast, highlight the way Chambers, an American entrepre- spare. But midway through con- Columbia, made an appearance in els they haven’t breached for spent several million dollars Easing prices Russia has used the conflict to draw a neur, is at the center of the frenzy. In struction, Mr. Chambers got a call the record books. It wasn’t techni- several months, but more gains more than he took in. Page 9 By Guy Chazan in Poti, Georgia, noose around Georgia’s economy. the past eight years, he and his from Baku. cally a flagpole, though. It sup- will be hard to come by. Page 21 and Marc Champion in Gori, Though hundreds of miles from the small company have built the He says he was told the country’s ported a 62-meter ice-hockey stick. n Clashes in Afghanistan killed of commodities Georgia fighting in Georgia’s separatist prov- n Gold futures have given up world’s four tallest “unsupported,” president wanted to top North Ko- Since his Abu Dhabi pole went up 73 Taliban fighters and nine pri- ince of South Ossetia and clearly not a all their gains for this year, and or freestanding, flagpoles. The Baku rea’s 160-meter-tall flagpole, near in 2001, Mr. Chambers has domi- vate security guards over the over the past week—occupying military asset, Poti’s huge commercial silver has fallen harder as the pole will top all of them. the border with South Korea. It sits nated the category. He thinks the weekend, while a roadside blast soften worries chunks of Georgia’s territory, stran- port was targeted 10 days ago in a Rus- dollar’s advance has caught in- “He pretty much has a monop- atop a tower—so it doesn’t qualify highest flagpole he can build would killed 10 policemen, officials said. gling its economy, cutting transport vestors off guard. Page 21 sian bombing raid. The town itself has A sharp drop in commodity links and damaging key investment oly,” says Craig Glenday, editor-in- for Guinness’s “unsupported” cate- probably be some 220 meters tall. n A suicide bomber in Baghdad seen daily incursions by Russian That’s only because of the current n BHP is likely to report strong prices is raising hopes that inflation projects, while the authorities in chief of London-based Guinness gory.