In a blink of an eye, the U.S. dollar has collapsed against the Euro, Japanese Yen and other major currencies. The trigger was comments from Tim Geithner who said that the U.S. is "quite open" to China's suggestion of moving towards a Special Drawing Right (SDR) linked currency system

The Treasury has finally released the details on their Public Private Investment Program (PPIP) aimed at taking toxic assets off of bank balance sheets. Investors are cheering this announcement as they have been eagerly awaiting these details since the program was first announced 2 months ago.

Details of the Geithner plan have been leaked to the press and according to the New York Times they are comprised of three key proposals. “The plan to be announced next week involves three separate approaches. In one, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will set up special-purpose investment partnerships and lend about 85 percent of the money that those partnerships will need to buy up troubled assets that banks want to sell. In the second, the Treasury will hire four or five investment management firms, matching the private money that each of the firms puts up on a dollar-for-dollar basis with government money. In the third piece, the Treasury plans to expand lending through the Term Asset-Backed Secure Lending Facility, a joint venture with the Federal Reserve.”

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner laid out the Obama Administration's game plan for restoring stability in the financial markets. Unfortunately the price action in the currency markets suggests that investors are disappointed by the lack of details and are skeptical about the effectiveness of getting the private sector involved.

The US dollar and the Japanese Yen, the two lowest yielding G10 currencies continue to be the two best performing. It is important to remember that the dollar and the Yen are not rallying because investors have grown more optimistic about those currencies but because they are more pessimistic about the outlook for the US and global economy. We have seen an unusual amount of currency related comments made by central banks and government officials around the world because of the sharp rally in the dollar and the Japanese Yen. As these currencies continue to rise, the risk of a reversal grows. Tim Geithner has been confirmed as the new US Treasury Secretary but rather than cheer his confirmation, analysts are worried about some of the comments he made at his confirmation hearing.

Uncertainty about the future of President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet and staff are mounting. We are now met with controversy over one of the most crucial positions, Treasury Secretary. It was recently reported that the nominee for the position, Timothy Geithner, failed to pay a large portion of his taxes, casting doubt upon the certainty for his seemingly inevitable nomination. These indiscretions involved $34,000 of unpaid social security and Medicare payments.