Then yen took some lumps over the last 15 years. Japan has a huge trade surplus and its citizens would rather save than spend. One top of that, exports from the country boomed and the carry trade took off and sent the yen down another 45% between 1995 and 2007, reports Stephen Gallo for The Financial Times. [How to Play the Carry Trade With ETFs.]

The tide turned for awhile; Japan’s exports are on the decline and the country’s population is older. Both have eroded yen outflows and have lent strength to the currency. But now, says Mike Kulej at iStockAnalyst, the yen has once again become the cheapest currency to borrow. [3 Things Japan Needs Now.]

Miho Nakuchi for MarketWatch reports that market players who bought the safe-haven Japanese yen did so on growing speculation that the European Union isn’t likely to announce any more specifics on how to solve Greece’s debt problem after the E.U. finance ministers’ meeting. [ETFs to Play Japan.]

For more stories about currency ETFs, visit our currency ETF category.

• PowerShares DB G 10 Currency Harvest (NYSEArca: DBV): DBV can hold positions in any of the following 10 currencies: The U.S. Dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the Aussie, Canadian and New Zealand Dollars, the Norwegian Krone, the Swedish Krona, the British Pound and the Swiss Franc. DBV tracks an index made up of long futures positions on the three G10 currencies associated with the highest interest rates and short futures positions on the three currencies associated with the lowest interest rates.

• iPath Optimized Currency Carry ETN (NYSEArca: ICI): ICI tracks the Barclays Intelligent Carry Index, which also follows the G10 currencies. Note that ICI is an exchange traded note, so it’s a debt instrument backed by the credit of the issuer. [Differences Between ETFs and ETNs.]

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY)

Read the disclaimer; Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex|SGI.

The dollar jumped today after traders succeeded in pushing it through some key levels against the euro and the yen, sending it to its highest level since Sept. 7, reports Fabio Alves for The Wall Street Journal. The euro has been pushed down to $1.43 for the first time in a quarter. [How is a weaker euro affecting ETFs?]

The dollar’s renewed vigor has PowerShares seeking an additional 240 million shares for the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish (NYSEArca: UUP), which has seen a spike in volume this week. Trading in the fund was halted after it ran out of shares, similar to what happened in the fund in November. Edward Krudy for Reuters reports that the fund has rallied 5% since late October, and many believe that the dollar has hit a low.

Trends are working in favor of the U.S. dollar as the health of the domestic economy shows increasing signs of stabilization. Since Dec. 3, the greenback is up 5.6% against the euro and 3% against the yen. [How currency ETFs can be a defensive play in this market.]

Greece was facing up on Friday to a crucial budget debate this weekend as the country struggled to confront its massive debt, which has put pressure on the euro and alarmed markets worldwide.[Stocks are mixed on news about a strong dollar.]

The bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged yesterday, putting further pressure on the yen, reports Alves. Japan is seeking to curtail deflation, and strategists say interest rates in the country could remain low as a result.

• CurrencyShares Euro Trust (NYSEArca: FXE): up 2.7% year-to-date

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY): up 0.22% year-to-date

• WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen (NYSEArca: JYF): up 1% year-to-date

• PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Bullish (NYSEArca: UUP): down 6.8% year-to-date

For more stories about currency, visit our currency category.

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

Software maker Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) beat expectations in their earnings reports. The news lifted hopes that tech companies would finally begin to boost revenues. iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index (NYSEArca: IGM) is up a little more than 1% this morning; Oracle is 4% and Research in Motion is 1.5%.

The U.S. dollar is continuing its gaining streak today, hitting a two-week high against the Japanese yen. Japan kept its interest rates unchanged, which led to pressure building on the currency overnight, reports Fabio Alves for The Wall Street Journal. The CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY) is down nearly 1% this morning.

Oil prices rose close to $74 a barrel today as traders begin to expect OPEC to leave its production levels where they are at next week’s meeting, reports the Associated Press. Prices are also gaining thanks to cold weather on the East coast. United States Oil (NYSEArca: USO) is up nearly 2% this morning.

The Associated Press notes that today could be especially volatile as traders close out positions ahead of two shortened trading weeks and the new year.

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

Japan’s economy has been walloped lately: the yen has surged to a 14-year high against the U.S. dollar and deflation has taken hold. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has signaled that if bold steps aren’t taken to get the economy back on track, it could return to a recession. (The war Japan is waging).

The stimulus is equal to about 1.5% of Japan’s GDP, reports Hiroko Tabuchi for The New York Times. Japan has been growing for the last two quarters, but consumers in markets to which Japan exports to aren’t going on buying sprees just yet. The strength of the yen has only further exacerbated the situation. (Three signs of growth in Japan).

The package will put $39 billion toward regional growth, $9 billion will go to environmental programs and $6.8 billion will go toward creating jobs. The remaining amount will be used to offer loan guarantees for small companies, reports Jason Simpkins for Money Morning.

• iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 (NYSEArca: ITF): up 4.4% year-to-date

• SPDR Russell/Nomura Small Cap Japan (NYSEArca: JSC): up 5.3% year-to-date

• WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend (NYSEArca: DXJ): up 1.9% year-to-date

• iShares MSCI Japan (NYSEArca: EWJ): up 4% year-to-date

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY): up 0.7% year-to-date

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

Consumer prices and deflationary pressures have been facing Japan for months, but this summer the pace began to quicken. On Nov. 20, Japan’s Cabinet Office issued a monthly report that for the first time since 2006 acknowledged that the country was suffering from deflation, reports The Economist.

In September, prices slumped by 2.2% from a year earlier. This is partly because the country is still loaded with excess capacity after the collapse in exports during the global financial crisis, and partly because oil prices were lower in September than in the same month last year. (What a strong yen means).

Japan has to face down more hardships in the near future. The country’s aging population is forcing retailers to cut prices to gain market share. The Bank of Japan does not see deflation as a threat and believes that a surge in private sector demand will cause the economy to turn around. (Signs the economy could turn around).

James Simms for The Wall Street Journal reports that the domestic demand deflator plunged 2.6%—the largest drop since 1958—indicating that companies are losing their ability to price goods and services. (How Japan’s small-caps could benefit).

Besides deflation, the economic front looks decent:

• Third-quarter gross domestic product figures show that stimulus measures had their desired effect, luring shoppers into car dealerships and electronics stores;
• Capital investment rebounded after last year’s demand shock and exports to Asia were strong;
• Growth also was more balanced than in the prior quarter; GDP is up 1.2% more than the previous quarter, twice what analyst were forecasting;
• Another stimulus package is being whispered about in Tokyo and another election is expected this year

It’s interesting to note that while Japan-focused ETFs are down year-to-date and below their long-term trend lines, Asia ETFs that exclude Japan are doing just fine.

For more stories about Japan, visit our Japan category.

• iShares MSCI Japan Index (NYSEArca: EWJ): down 2.3% year-to-date



• iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 (NYSEArca: ITF): down 2.5% year-to-date



• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Japan (NYSEArca:PJO): down 5.9% year-to-date



• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY): up 1.3% year-to-date

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex|SGI.

A weak U.S. dollar helps U.S. manufacturers, U.S. exporters and U.S. multinationals, writes Gary Gordon for ETF Expert. But a weak dollar means foreign exporters and foreign manufacturers are hurting as they try to sell to the U.S. market. (What’s so great about a weak dollar?)

For example, the strong euro is bad for business in the Eurozone. In August, exports dropped 6% from the previous month because of an appreciating euro. (More on the eurozone).

• CurrencyShares Euro Trust (NYSEArca: FXE): up 5.1% year-to-date

Japan is another country watching its currency appreciate. The Japanese yen is likely to stay stable since the island nation is heavily export dependent.

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY): up 0.2% year-to-date

Both FXE and FXY are in an uptrend, tracking above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

As it stands, Europe and Japan don’t have much room to further decrease the value of their currencies through monetary policies since interest rates are already so low. Still, the U.S. dollar can’t go on depreciating forever.

For more information on world currencies, visit our currency category.

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Most recently, policy makers have boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, report Ye Xie and Anchalee Worrachate of Bloomberg.  The currencies of choice are the euro and yen, which account for nearly 63% of new cash. Read more about using currency in your portfolio here.

The world is flush with dollars as the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesn’t drive away the nation’s creditors.  This, in turn, is making the dollar less of a diversifier for investors. To add to the currency’s woes, foreign corporations and economies are starting to feel the effects of a weak dollar, as well.

From an investor’s perspective, one can play the PowerShares DB Dollar Bearish (NYSE:UDN) which is up 7.6% year-to-date.

For a more optimistic approach, one can play the Euro through the Rydex CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE) which is up 6% year-to-date.

As for the yen, it can be played through Rydex CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY) which is up 0.4% year-to-date.

By holding non-dollar-denominated assets, such as emerging market equities, investors  can hedge against weakness. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: EEM) is up 60.9% year-to-date. Read about what emerging markets can do for your portfolio here.

A weak dollar can also be hedged with commodity ETFs, including United States Oil (NYSEArca: USO) and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU). Dollar-denominated assets tend to become cheaper for overseas buyers, which often leads to a spike in prices.

For more stories on currency ETFs, visit our currency ETF category.

Read the disclaimer, Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of EEM.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

The Japanese yen is gaining strength, which is putting exporters on guard because of the threat it poses. Strategist Fumiyuki Nakanishi said the dollar-yen rate and the performance of exporters would likely determine the Nikkei’s direction this week, with the ultimate goal of keeping the ratio above 1,000.

Many analysts and insiders say it is not “right” to deliberately weaken the yen through market intervention, report Colin Ng and V. Phani Kumar for The Wall Street Journal. The dollar-yen rate and the performance of exporters would likely determine the Nikkei’s direction this week.

In response, Japanese government bonds were higher as Tokyo shares dropped steeply. The stronger yen may hurt exporters, but ETF investors can capitalize in a few ways:

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen (NYSEArca: FXY): down 0.42% year-to-date

• WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen (NYSEArca: JYF): up 0.6% year-to-date

For more stories about Japanese yen, visit our Japanese yen category.

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

The Japanese yen has been on an upswing in recent weeks as investors search for the safest assets. Deborah Levine for MarketWatch reports that the overall sentiment over the global economy, mixed with down Japanese data has been causing the yen to rally.

The Macro Trader on Seeking Alpha reports that although inflation will not be here tomorrow, governments have printed lots of currency. Until that money is circulating, the super inflation many anticipate will not kick in. Rather than seek the Japanese yen for its usual carry-trade appeal, many are turning to the yen as a safe haven from inflation.

Macro Trader notes that each time investors have fled risky assets such as stocks and corporate debt, they have flocked to the yen (among other things) as an alternative. The currency and fixed income markets are good indicators of high and low risk and could be a part of your strategy and trend following plan in tumultuous times.

• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY): up 7.2% over three months

• WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen (JYF): up 7.2% over three months

For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of FXY.

For more stories about the Japanese yen, visit our Japanese yen category. For more information about currency trading, visit our currency special report.

The Forex Market

The foreign exchange market, also known as the forex market, is the largest market in the world. In 2007, for example, it garnered $3.2 trillion worth of transactions each day. It’s the quiet giant of finance and dwarfs all other capital markets worldwide.

Unlike most other trading, such as futures, stocks or options, forex trading doesn’t happen on an exchange. It’s not controlled by any governing body, has no central exchange and there are no clearing houses involved guaranteeing trades. It’s a global network, made up of banks, corporations and individuals. The forex is also the most liquid market – there are always ready and willing buyers and sellers for the currency someone is seeking to trade.

The vast majority of currency trading is done bank-to-bank, and when each party enters into an agreement, they both take on the counterparty risk of the other. They’re not only competitors, but they’ve got to cooperate, as well.

There’s no actual buying and selling in the currency market – only trading, hence the need for cooperation.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have made entering this market much easier than it used to be. Prior to the launch of currency-related ETFs in 2005, the forex was a challenging market for individual investors to gain access to. Many investors might find this simplified access appealing, especially when you’re talking about a market that’s open 24 hours a day. If you’ve been eager to play this market, there are a rapidly growing number of opportunities to play the currency markets in the form of both ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs), which we’ll detail later.

Currency Basics

When entering the currency market, much of the focus is on the eight major currencies, which give you the best over- or under-valued opportunities. The eight major countries that make up the currency trading market are the United States, the Eurozone (Germany, France, Italy and Spain), Japan, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

There are many, many more currencies beyond the eight majors, such as the Brazilian real, Polish zloty and Hungarian forint.

Some of the key points to consider when you’re investing in currencies are:

• When trading currencies, yield drives return. Every currency has a yield.
• The forex allows huge leverage; often as high as 100:1 – which means that you can control $10,000 worth of assets with as little as $100 of capital. Remember, leverage works both ways, though.
• Since currency values never stay the same, the carry trade became a popular theory. Carry traders hope to earn not only the interest rate differential between the two currencies, but also look for their positions to appreciate in value. We’ll discuss this in more detail in the next section.
  
• Interest rates matter – a lot. Becoming familiar with the economics of the country in which the currency you are trading holds will help you understand when inflation is looming and when opportunity is knocking.

In currency markets, there’s always a bull somewhere. Why? The foreign exchange market is all about opposites and all about relativity. As one currency gains value, another has to be losing.

Dan McCabe, CEO at Next Investments, points out that one of the biggest advantages to investing in currencies is that it’s a great way to get non-U.S. dollar exposure.

“As an investor, I have nearly all my stuff in U.S. dollars. When I want to buy something, it’s often foreign-made. If I don’t have a hedge for the fact that the U.S. dollar may depreciate, I’m just losing my buying power on the world stage.”

For example, have a look at this five-year chart of the euro vs. the U.S. dollar. For the last three years, the euro steadily gained before falling off mid-way through 2008:

This means that as the euro gained strength, perhaps tourism in Europe suffered as Americans couldn’t afford to go over there and spend as much. But on the flip side, it likely brought tourists over here who were itching to spend and find bargains. Currency is all about relationships, and a currency being either weak or strong doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad or good.

McCabe sees currencies as more of a buy-and-hold hedge instead of getting caught up in trading. “You’d rather just come in, buy it and put it away and look at it like a foreign money market account,” he says.

The Carry Trade

One of the most popular ways for institutional investors to play currencies is with the carry trade. Putting it simply, the carry trade involves borrowing currencies from countries with low interest rates and investing it in high interest rate countries. The strategy aims to take advantage of the wide spread in interest rates between certain currencies.

As of June 24, some interest rates for various currencies were:

• Australian Dollar, 3%
• New Zealand Dollar, 2.5%
• Euro, 1%
• U.S. Dollar, 0.25%
• Japanese Yen, 0.1%

You can track these interest rates at Daily FX.

With these interest rates in mind, an investor utilizing the carry trade would want to buy Australian dollars with the much lower-yielding Japanese yen, which is one of the most popular carry trade combinations around.

The carry trade isn’t a risk-free strategy, though. One of the biggest risks is if the exchange rate devalues by more than the average annual yield. If you’re using leverage, your losses could be even greater.

ETFs have simplified the carry trade for retail investors. The PowerShares DB G-10 Currency Harvest (DBV) tracks the interest rates of the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, British pound, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Norwegian krone and the Swedish krona. DBV looks at the three-month interest rates of the G10 currencies and goes long on the three with the highest rates and short on the three with the lowest. The ETF seeks to capitalize on the trend that the currencies with high interest rates generally tend to rise in value relative to currencies that have low interest rates.

Currency Risks

McCabe points out that currencies are non-correlated assets. “The risk you have oftentimes is performance vs. the underlying currency you’re purchasing in.”

As an example, assume that $1 equals 1 yen. If the dollar increases in value, you might get 1 yen for 90 cents – great if you’re traveling to Japan when this happens. However, it’s not so great if you have an asset priced in yen that you bought when dollars and yens were of equal value.

The flip side also works: if the dollar falls against various currencies, you stand to make money on assets based in those currencies if you bought them before the dollar weakened.

When searching for currencies to invest in, McCabe looks at the country behind it. Political upheaval can wreak havoc on a currency.

“I would look for a stable country with strong jurisprudence and rule of law…a country you believe is going to be stable, in case of turmoil.”

Why Use ETFs Instead?

Investing in currencies on your own, without an ETF, can be an arduous task. The currency market is one that never closes. Twenty-four hours a day, trillions and trillions of dollars in trades are taking place. You could find yourself sitting up in the middle of the night, waiting for a key signal to pounce on a trade.

That probably doesn’t sound like the average retail investor’s idea of a good time.

There are now two options for exchange traded currency investing: ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs).

Two key differences between currency ETFs and ETNs are:

1. Currency ETNs (like all ETNs) are backed by the full faith and credit of the issuer. If the issuer goes under, you have to get in line with all the other creditors. It’s a small risk, but it’s one to keep in mind.
2. Currency ETNs linked to a single currency are treated like debt for federal tax purposes, according to a 2007 IRS ruling. It means that any interest is taxable to investors, even though the interest is reinvested and not paid out until the ETN is sold or upon maturity of the contract. It also means that investors can’t elect capital gains treatment.

Not all exchange traded currency products are structured in the same way, either.

McCabe points out that it’s wise to be aware of what makes currency products different from one another. For example, Rydex’s CurrencyShares funds are grantor trusts – they hold the actual currency.

The interest earned on them is accrued on a daily basis and reinvested monthly. This reinvested interest is then reflected in the fund’s net asset value (NAV).

On the other hand, PowerShares‘ currency ETFs, PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP) and PowerShares DB US Dollar Bearish Fund (UDN), hold futures contracts and are registered as open-ended ETFs. Any gains from futures contracts are subject to 60/40 tax treatment, in which 60% of the gains are long-term, 40% are short-term.

In the bullish fund, the futures contracts are designed to be long on the U.S. dollar against the euro, yen, pound, canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. The bearish fund is designed to be short on the U.S. dollar against those currencies.

WisdomTree’s currency income ETFs invest in either non-U.S. moey market securities, or in a combination of money market instruments designed to provide exposure to non-U.S. money market securities or rates. They are not money market funds. They seek to give investors current income reflective of foreign money market rates available to U.S. investors, as well as exposure to changes in the value of a specific currency relative to the U.S. dollar.

Market Vectors‘ currency ETNs are senior, unsecured debt securities that give exposure to the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and foreign currencies. The underlying indexes are also affected by movements in interest rates in the country of the underlying currency and that of the United States’.

Market Vectors and ProShares also have some double long and double short ETNs for investors looking to enhance their exposure. They aim to double the daily performance of a specific currency. Know the risks of short and leveraged funds before you invest, however. They aren’t for everyone.

Barclays’ iPath currency ETNs measure the relative values of two currencies. In the EUR/USD fund, for example, when the euro rises against the U.S. dollar, the fund increases, and vice versa. The provider also has a currency carry ETN, iPath Optimized Currency Carry (ICI), that seeks to capture the returns potentially available from a carry trade. The pool of currencies the index may apply its strategies are known as the “G10″ currencies, which includes the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc.

How to Choose

At this point, there are enough ETNs and ETFs targeting currencies that investors have a whole range of choices when it comes to figuring out how they want to play them. When choosing currency ETFs, consider the differences between the available funds, how they access currencies and their tax treatment. In short, know what you own.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways is via a broad basket of currencies, which help spread out the risk and lessen the blows a volatile stock market can deliver. Some examples:

• Barclays Global Emerging Market Strategy [GEMS] Asia 8 Index ETN (AYT)
• Barclay’s iPath Optimized Currency Carry Exchange Traded Note (ICI)
• PowerShares DB G10 Currency Harvest Fund (DBV)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Emerging Currency Fund (CEW)

There are a number of single-currency funds available, as well, along with a number of others that are in registration:

• PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP)
• PowerShares DB US Dollar Bearish Fund (UDN)
• CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Brazilian Real Fund ETF (BZF)
• CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB)
• iPath GBP/USD Exchange Rate ETN (GBB)
• CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (FXC)
• Market Vectors – Chinese Renminbi/USD ETN (CNY)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Chinese Yuan Fund ETF (CYB)
• CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE)
• iPath EUR/USD Exchange Rate ETN (ERO)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Euro Fund ETF (EU)
• Market Vectors – Indian Rupee/USD ETN (INR)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Indian Rupee Fund (ICN)
• CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY)
• iPath JPY/USD Exchange Rate ETN (JYN)
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen Fund ETF (JYF)
  
• CurrencyShares Mexican Peso Trust (FXM)
• CurrencyShares Russian Ruble Trust (XRU)
• CurrencyShares Swedish Krona Trust (FXS)
• CurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust (FXF)
  

There are also leveraged funds, which enable investors to maximize the movements of a particular currency. The following funds all double exposure by 200%:

• ProShares Ultra Yen ETF (YCL)
• ProShares UltraShort Yen ETF (YCS)
• ProShares Ultra Euro ETF (ULE)
• ProShares UltraShort Euro ETF (EUO)
• Market Vectors Double Long Euro ETN (URR)
• Market Vectors Double Short Euro ETN (DRR)

In registration include CurrencyShares for Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa, as well as WisdomTree funds for the Czech koruna, Chilean peso, Israeli Shekel, the Russian ruble and many more.

Read the disclaimer, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

For more stories on currencies, visit our currency ETF category. For more special reports, view our special report page.